---
title: 'Your first project: from a URL to a writer-ready brief in one session'
description: 'Create a project from a URL or a sentence, know when the niche is ready, and take one idea to a downloadable brief on the free plan, in a single session.'
slug: your-first-project
group: getting-started
order: 3
keywords:
  [first project, create_project, niche analysis, asset mapping, first brief, expand_idea, download_brief_markdown]
related: [what-varynforge-is, connect-your-agent, from-your-own-ideas, data-backed-path]
updated: '2026-10-26'
---

This page follows one project from nothing to a brief you can hand to a writer. Everything on it runs on the free plan. It assumes your agent is already connected; if not, start with [Connect your agent](/docs/connect-your-agent).

## Create the project

Your agent calls `create_project` with one of two things: a `website` URL, or a `nicheDescription` of up to 200 characters when there is no site yet. Pass both if the site alone would not say what the business is.

```json
{ "website": "https://example-bakery.com" }
```

When you say whose site it is, the agent also passes `siteRelation`: `mine`, `client` or `prospect`. It asks only when that is unclear. To put the project in a shared organization rather than your personal one, it passes `organizationId` from `list_organizations`.

The free plan holds 3 projects per organization. A fourth `create_project` returns a structured wall that suggests reusing a project, or repointing one at a new market with `update_niche`.

## What runs in the background

`create_project` returns a `projectId` at once. Two jobs then run without your agent waiting on them:

- **Niche analysis** reads the site or the sentence and writes the niche profile: the market, the audience, the related terms that later seed keyword discovery.
- **Asset mapping** runs only when you gave a URL. It reads the site's pages so later work can tell what you already cover.

The project is ready to rely on when `get_project` reports `niche.analysisStatus` as `ready`. While it reads `analyzing`, the agent checks back rather than building on a half-written profile. If it reads `error`, the niche analysis failed, and the web app offers a free retry or a different website.

## Destinations are optional

A destination is where you publish: a website, a local listing, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X or LinkedIn. Your first brief needs none. The agent reads what exists with `list_destinations` and adds one with `add_destination` after confirming the type and name with you. Editing and removing happen in the web app.

## Competitors are discovered

Your agent will not ask who your competitors are. Setup proposes a starting set from your site and niche, and a research run replaces it with the competitors found in real search results. After a run, the one lever you hold is `set_competitor_importance`, which [the data-backed path](/docs/data-backed-path) explains.

## The free road to a first brief

With the niche `ready`, the shortest road is your own idea:

1. `expand_idea` with the idea in your words. It writes nothing. It returns a title, an angle, the search intent, related queries, a `demandEstimate` of `low`, `medium` or `high` and a niche fit from 0 to 100.
2. You look at the score and say yes. The agent calls `accept_idea`, which stores your idea verbatim and starts the brief. No second call is needed.
3. The agent reads `get_article_brief` until the suggestion reports `brief_ready`. On the free plan, past the daily cap, the brief reports `queued` with a `queuedUntil` time instead.
4. `download_brief_markdown` returns the brief as one markdown file, ready for a writer.

On the free plan, forging a brief spends one of 10 slots in a 24-hour window that starts with the first brief. [From your own ideas](/docs/from-your-own-ideas) covers the scoring, the live search check and the cap in full.

## What the web app shows meanwhile

The web app at app.varynforge.com reads the same project. A new project created there walks four screens: the origin box, a reading screen that narrates what it finds, a one-sentence reverse brief you can correct, and destinations, which you can skip. The project overview shows a loading screen while the niche is `analyzing` and an error card with a retry if it fails. Once ready, it shows stat cards for research, your site and topic clusters.

Briefs appear on the Desk, the cross-project inbox, once they reach `brief_ready`. The Desk also has an idea box that does what `expand_idea` and `accept_idea` do, for when you would rather type.

## Where to go next

Three paths lead to more briefs:

- [The data-backed path](/docs/data-backed-path): a paid research run, ranked opportunities and a content plan.
- [From your own ideas](/docs/from-your-own-ideas): score ideas, accept them and check them against live search, free.
- [From the market radar](/docs/from-the-market-radar): rising topics turned into timely angles.