Start here

Quick start

By the end of this page you will have run your first report and know how to read it. Winston is an analyst plugged into your POS (Treez, Dutchie, or Blaze), Metrc, Google, and whatever else you connect: ask in plain English, it pulls the real numbers and shows its math.

Not a guesser

It states the store, dates, and formula it used. When it estimates (lost sales, for example), it says so.

Not autonomous by default

Winston's finished files and tasks stop in Work Audits for an Approve. Two things skip the queue: scheduled deliveries, and systems connected with write access.

Not infallible

Treat a result like work from a sharp new hire: fast, usually right, worth a 60-second check.

Your first 15 minutes

Someone on your team invites you by email. No email? Check spam, then ask them to resend.
Open the email, click the link, click your company.
First time only, Winston asks a few questions about your store. Don't skip them: your answers give Winston its starting context about your business, and they pick the starter prompts you see on Learn Winston, the last item in the left menu. Nothing is locked in: change any answer later under Edit answers. A prompt is an instruction you give Winston; a starter prompt is a ready-made one.
Learn Winston → Run this on Store by store reorder report. This only reads your POS.
Wait. Progress lines appear ("Only one store exists… Downtown"). Leave and come back if you want.
Read the answer at the bottom. Find Missing fields / limitations.
Reply "Give me this as an Excel file." That goes to Work Audits for your Approve.

Timing: a simple question returns in under a minute; heavier reports take 2 to 4 minutes; the first competitive analysis on a new workspace can take 30. Stuck runs and what to do about them: Troubleshooting.

Workspace vs. store

A workspace is your company: one Winston, one credit balance, one team. Your stores live inside it, with the names your POS uses. Not sure what they're called? Ask in Chat: "List my stores." If the Select Workspace screen lists several companies, you belong to more than one account. They are separate.

Select Workspace screen — Sign in lands on Select Workspace. Most people see one card.

Starter prompts

Starter prompts are training wheels: each one is a job Winston already knows how to do well, so you see what a good result looks like before you start writing your own prompts in Chat. Learn Winston is the catalog of them; each card runs a real piece of work with one click and tells you what to expect first. Show all prompts opens the full catalog of 54, listed with descriptions in this guide's Prompt library. Some run on public information the moment you sign up; the rest need your POS or another connection, and a padlock marks which. At the bottom of the page you can also describe a task in your own words: name the job that eats an hour every week and let Winston propose how to automate it.