How to install WorkBuddy? From download to getting the first task running

Installing software is usually not worth writing about, but tools like WorkBuddy are different:What you say in your first sentence after installation determines whether you'll find it "useful" or "marginal" over the next month.

I've seen too many people start like this: install it, open it, enter "hello," watch it reply with a few polite phrases, then close it and never open it again.

This article addresses two things: how to install it properly and how to phrase the first instruction. After reading, you should be able to get it to hand you a genuinely usable file within half an hour.

Confirm three things before installing

First, whether the OS is correct.The list given on the official website is as follows—

• Desktop: Windows and macOS both have installers; according to the official website, Linux is installed from the system app store; there is also a HarmonyOS PC version.
• Mobile: iOS, Android, and HarmonyOS are all available; there is also a WeChat Mini Program, which works by scanning a QR code and is suitable for asking a quick question or two.

If you just want to try it first, the mobile client or Mini Program is the fastest to install. But for work like "reading files and producing documents," you still need the desktop client—your folders aren't on your phone.

Second, your account.The client requires login before use; the methods are listed on the login page, just follow them. This step is mandatory and cannot be skipped.

Third, figure out the first task you want it to do.This sentence isn't filler. If you wait until after installation to think "what should I use it for," it will most likely degenerate into a chat box. Pick onewith clear rules, a result you can judge as right or wrong at a glance when done, and that takes you one or two hourssmall task, such as:

• Organize a dozen or so invoices into one reimbursement form
• Extract the key clauses from a contract into a checklist
• Turn a pile of meeting recording transcripts into action items
• Condense a long report into one page

I suggest choosing the first task to be something like an “expense reimbursement form,” because it has clear answers: whether the amount is right, whether the date is right—you can tell at a glance. The clearer the judgment criteria, the better you can tell whether it is actually reliable.

Download and installation

Go to the official website (workbuddy.cn) to find the download entry, and choose the corresponding version for your system. Two points are worth noting during installation:

One is the installation location.The default installation in Program Files on the system drive is fine; no need to change it. But you need to know where it is, because you'll use it later for troubleshooting.

The other is the permission prompt.On Windows, a prompt may appear asking “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device”; that is normal installation authorization; macOS may require you to allow it in “Privacy & Security.” Follow the prompts; don't click Deny every time—otherwise don't be surprised if it won't open after installation.

After installation, the first launch will be a bit slow; this is normal, not a freeze. Give it ten or so seconds.

First real task: give it a “workspace”

This is the setting most easily overlooked in the whole software and the one that most affects the experience.

A workspace is just afolderEverything you let it read and the files it produces are in this folder. In other words, this is the only opening between it and your computer.

When creating a workspace, my suggestion is:Create a separate empty folder,for example, D:AI工作区and then put the files needed for this task into it.

Two things not to do:

• Don't point the workspace at an entire disk or the desktop.It will traverse everything inside, which is slow, and it can easily see files you don't want it to see.
• Don't point the workspace at system directories or program directories.That is asking for trouble.

This principle is simple to state, but it is the dividing line between "safe" and "not messy":Give it only the one folder needed for this task.After finishing a project, switch to another folder, or clean out the old one.

First instruction: don't ask "hello"; give it the task directly.

This is the core of the whole article. Here is a three-part formula I have been using:

Background + Requirements + Deliverable

• Background: What this is, who will see it, and what constraints there are. ("These are the travel invoices for month 9, to be submitted to finance for reimbursement; the company requires the tax amount to be listed separately")
• Requirements: What to do, what the acceptance criteria are, and what not to include. ("Extract the invoice date, amount, tax amount, and seller; write dates uniformly in the format 2026-09-01; keep amounts to two decimal places")
• Deliverable: What format is required, where to put it, and what to name it. ("Output an Excel spreadsheet, place it in the workspace root directory, filename 报销清单-9月.xlsx")

Missing any of the three parts will cause problems. If you only give background, it doesn't know what to do; if you only give requirements, it doesn't know where the focus is; if you don't give the deliverable format, it may give you a long block of chat text, and you still have to copy and paste it yourself.

Below is a task I have actually run; you can adapt it to your own:

There are 5 invoice images in the workspace. Please make a reimbursement list:

1) For each invoice, extract: invoice date, seller name, amount, and tax amount;
2) Write dates uniformly in 2026-09-01 format, and keep amounts to two decimal places;
3) Leave unclear cells blank and mark them "Needs verification"; do not guess;
4) Output Excel with filename 报销清单.xlsx in the workspace root directory;
5) Finally, tell me in three lines: total number of invoices, total amount, and which invoices need manual verification.

Note items 3 and 5. Item 3 prevents it from making up numbers—the most common mistake for such tools is reading a blurry character as a "seemingly reasonable" number. Item 5 makes it disclose risks itself, so you do not have to verify them one by one.

What to watch while it runs

After the task starts, it will show what it is doing: which file it read, which tool it called, what it generated. Do not skip this process, especially the first time.

There are only two things you need to watch:Whether it read the file you wanted、Whether it did anything you did not ask it to doThe former determines whether the result is correct; the latter determines whether you dare use it again next time.

After it finishes, do not rush to open the file. Look at its final three-line summary—how many files, total amount, and whether there are items needing verification. If it says "all 5 invoices recognized successfully" while you know one of them was taken crookedly, you need to go back and check.

Then open the file and check two places:Amount和DateIn my own experience, these two columns have the most errors, because they look similar and are easily "filled in casually."

How to fix wrong results (do not start over)

The most common reaction of beginners is: if the result is wrong, delete it and send it again; if it is still wrong, give up.

The correct approach isAdd instructions to the original taskBecause the context is still there, it knows what it just did. Three ways to append:

First, point to the specific location.“The amount in the 3rd image was read wrong; it should be 1280.00, not 1280.60. Please check for similar errors and update the table.” is a hundred times more effective than “the result is wrong.”

Second, ask it to provide evidence.“Where on the image did you read this tax amount from? Explain the corresponding area in the original image.” If it cannot provide evidence, that means it was guessed.

Third, narrow the scope and rerun.If the whole batch is a mess, change “5 images” to “do the 1st image first; continue after I’ve checked it.” Small-step trial and error saves more time than full rework.

Three things you should set up the first time

After you get one task running, set these three up while you’re at it; you’ll keep benefiting later:

First, a fixed workspace.Don’t create new ones every time. Create a folder for each common task, such as “reimbursement,” “writing,” and “document organizing”; fix the paths, and you won’t lose track of files yourself.

Second, output habits.Tell it directly: “For things you give me from now on, default to Chinese, default to Word or Excel, don’t write pleasantries in the body, and put the conclusion first.” Say it once, and it will follow it next time.

Third, basic settings about you.Your industry, the parties you often deal with, and what kind of writing you hate. For example, I explicitly say “don’t use words like ‘empower’ or ‘assist.’” Stating such preferences once can save countless reworks later.

Five pitfalls every beginner is bound to fall into

Pitfall one: dropping 50 files at once.It may not necessarily fail to process them, but you have no way to verify the results. Keep the first batch to no more than 5.

Pitfall 2: letting it "find the file itself"."Go find that report I had before"—eight out of ten times it finds the wrong one. State the filename and path clearly.

Pitfall 3: not giving acceptance criteria."Organize it a bit more clearly"—what counts as clear? Specify the number of items, the format, and the word count.

Pitfall 4: handing it over without checking.Especially things to be sent to clients, leadership, or finance. It's not that it doesn't make mistakes; it's that its mistakes look very much like correct answers.

Pitfall 5: carelessly pointing at the workspace on a company computer.For anything involving company data, first ask clearly whether external tools can be used to process it. This is a compliance issue, not a technical one.

What happens after it runs successfully?

If you've already had it deliver the first file, congratulations—you've passed the hardest step. What's left is to solidify this way of using it into a habit: for the same type of work, on the second run just fine-tune according to last time's requirements; by the third run, you can basically explain it in one sentence.

Further on is "letting it run by itself": set it as a scheduled task, automatically do it once every morning, and send you the results. This part is covered in Step 6.

The next post is an interface tour—many people have used it for two weeks and still haven't figured out what "Skills", "Connectors", "Automation", and "Experts" each handle, and end up doing all the work that could be automated manually. If the previous post (What WorkBuddy is and what it can do) you haven't read yet, I suggest spending ten minutes finishing it first, then come back and get hands-on; don't reverse the order.

In addition, if what you want is "turn a fixed process into a pipeline and run it every day", that's another kind of tool; you can check the site's n8n introductory article—the two don't conflict; the usual approach is: fixed processes go to n8n, and things requiring on-the-spot judgment go to WorkBuddy.