Your First 30 Minutes
This is the honest walkthrough of setting up Vitae Dux, minute by minute. No step is hidden and none of it is padded. By the end you will have a real goal, a real plan, tasks with named owners, and your first Accountability Scorecard computing.
Before you start
Have two things ready:
- An authenticator app (Google Authenticator, 1Password, Authy, or Microsoft Authenticator). Two-factor authentication is required for every Vitae Dux account, not optional. Your team's client work deserves nothing less, and we hold ourselves to it too.
- A password of at least 12 characters. We check it against known breach lists at signup.
Total time: about 30 minutes if you invite your team, closer to 15 if it's just you today.
Minutes 1 to 5: your account ~4 min
Go to vitaedux.co/create-account. The Create Account tab asks for your name, your Organization / Team Name (this becomes your workspace, so use your real company name), email, and password. Tick the Terms box and hit Create Account. You can also sign up with Google.
Check your inbox for an 8-digit verification code (it's a code you type in, not a link you click). Enter it and press Verify & Activate.
Minutes 5 to 8: two-factor ~3 min
Right after your email verifies, you'll see Set up two-factor authentication. Scan the QR code with your authenticator app, type the 6-digit code it shows, and press Verify & Enable MFA.
In a hurry? There's a Skip for now button that works up to three times over your first 72 hours. After that, enrollment is required and your workspace data stays locked until it's on. We'd rather you just do it now; it's three minutes once and your account is protected forever.
Minutes 8 to 18: the setup wizard ~10 min
The wizard builds your workspace with real work in it, so you never land on an empty screen. Five quick screens:
1. Pick your look. Light or dark. You can change it any time.
2. Choose your path. Two cards: Just feeling out the app takes you straight to the dashboard to explore. I'm serious about reaching a goal is the one this guide follows.
3. The Goal. What do you want to accomplish? Name it, say why it matters in one sentence, optionally give it a date. Real example: "Every client deliverable ships on time in Q3."
4. The Plan. Name the project (or up to three) that gets you there. Each project is owned by exactly one person, starting with you.
5. The Work. List the first few tasks. Every task has an owner from the moment it exists. Press Build my workspace.
You'll see Your accountability plan is live with a summary of what you just created, then land on your dashboard.
Minutes 18 to 25: your command center ~7 min
Two things greet you on arrival: a short welcome walkthrough and a guided tour that highlights each part of the dashboard the first time you visit it. Let them run; they're 30 seconds each and every one has a skip button.
The thing to actually look at is the View Scorecard button. The Accountability Scorecard is the reason this product exists: one table showing who committed to what, what shipped, and what slipped, rolled into a letter grade from A to F. It weights goals heaviest, then tasks and projects, then how you handle blockers and how the team is moving. Right now it's computing from the goal and tasks you just made. By Friday it will be telling you the truth.
The rollup works underneath everything: completing a task moves its project's progress automatically, and project progress rolls into the goal it serves. Nobody updates status by hand, so status stops being an opinion.
Minutes 25 to 30: invite your team ~5 min
Open the Team tab and press + Add Member. Enter their name, role, and email, and tick Also send them an onboarding invite. They get a one-click link, create their own account (same 8-digit code, same required two-factor), and land in your shared workspace in the role you chose.
The free tier includes 2 seats, which is you plus one teammate. Enough to feel what shared accountability changes.
What Friday looks like
Here's the payoff, and it takes zero extra work. You created tasks with owners on Monday. All week, blockers got raised the day they appeared instead of hiding in a thread. On Friday you open the Scorecard and read, in ten seconds, what actually got done, what slipped, and where the grade moved. No status meeting required. That ten-second read is the whole product.
The free tier, honestly
Free includes 3 projects, 50 tasks, 3 goals, and 2 seats. That's a real trial of everything in this guide, not a crippled demo. When you hit a limit the app tells you plainly and nothing is ever deleted; if you ever go over a limit (say, after a downgrade), the overflow is frozen read-only, never lost. Pro is $15/mo with 3 seats included, Exceptional is $30/mo with 5. And if you're one of the first ten teams, the code FOUNDING10 at checkout takes 50% off forever. Founding teams also get a private line to me and, once ten of you exist, a founders-only group where you'll shape what gets built next.
Not ready? Try the demo
If you'd rather poke around before creating anything, the live demo opens a fully seeded workspace: a four-person team, three goals, five projects, a blocker in progress, and a Scorecard sitting at 87. No signup, nothing saved, close the tab and it's gone.
Ready? Create your account and start the clock.
Stuck anywhere in these 30 minutes? Write us. The person who answers is the person who built it.