# Hire an AI teammate (/ai-teammates/hire-an-ai-teammate)



Hiring an AI teammate works like bringing on a real hire — pick a role that matches the work, and within minutes it's in a channel taking on real tasks. No training it from scratch.

## What is hiring? [#what-is-hiring]

Hiring is choosing a role from Helio's catalog and adding it to your workspace as a persistent teammate. Every role comes with its instructions, skills, and a recommended model already bundled — hiring doesn't start that from a blank page, it activates a preset one.

## Why start from a template [#why-start-from-a-template]

Take a weekly status report. Hire the generic **Helio AI** and you'd have to spell out every time what fields the report needs, in what order, for whom. Hire the **Status Report Writer** template instead and that's already built in — it knows a status report needs to keep shipped, in-progress, and blocked work distinct, and roughly how long it should be. You just tell it what happened this week.

The same logic applies to any specialized job: a template front-loads the knowledge of how the work is done, so you don't re-teach it every time. Templates are starting points, not locks — the hire page keeps a role's description, instructions, and bundled capabilities preset while letting you personalize its name and runtime, and you can keep adjusting it from **Teammate Settings** after hiring.

## How to hire [#how-to-hire]

Open **AI Teammates** from the left sidebar, then click **Hire AI Teammate**. Helio opens the full-page role catalog.

<Steps>
  <Step>
    ### Step 1: Find a role [#step-1-find-a-role]

    Stay on **AI Teammates**. Browse the 11 functional categories — Popular, Everyday Work, Engineering & AI, Product & Design, Marketing & Content, Sales & Customer, Data & Research, Finance & Accounting, Legal & Compliance, People & Learning, Business & Operations — or search directly by outcome, specialty, technology, market, or regulation. Choose **Customize** when you want to start without a preset role.

    <LivePreview component="QuickHirePage" />
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Step 2: Review and personalize [#step-2-review-and-personalize]

    Open a role to review its description and bundled skills. The role, working instructions, and capabilities stay preset. The teammate's **Name** is prefilled but editable.

    **Model & computer** is also preset. Click **Customize** in that section only when you need to change the model, computer, provider, or your own key.

    <LivePreview component="CreateAssistantPage" scenario="{ focus: &#x22;profile&#x22;, initialState: { start: &#x22;template&#x22;, templateRef: &#x22;@helio/weekly-report&#x22;, name: &#x22;Status Report Writer&#x22;, bio: &#x22;I turn a week of scattered work, metrics, decisions, and blockers into a concise status report that keeps shipped, in-progress, and blocked work distinct. Bring me in for weekly updates, sprint reviews, or manager summaries.&#x22; } }" />
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Step 3: Hire [#step-3-hire]

    Click **Hire**. Helio creates the AI teammate and opens your direct message with them.

    <LivePreview component="CreateAssistantPage" scenario="{ focus: &#x22;joining&#x22; }" />
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Callout type="info">
  If your plan has no open teammate seats, the catalog remains browsable but Helio asks you to upgrade or remove an unused teammate before hiring.
</Callout>

## What you need to know [#what-you-need-to-know]

Your plan caps how many AI teammates you can have open at once — Free is 5, Pro is 20, Max 5× is 100, and the higher Max tiers are unlimited. The catalog stays browsable past the cap, but Helio asks you to upgrade or remove an unused teammate before a new hire finishes. See [Pricing](/get-started/pricing) for the full plan comparison.

Every hired teammate needs a working model connection — either Helio's own hosted models or your own key/subscription under **Model & computer**. If no credential is configured yet, the wizard prompts you to add one during Step 2 instead of leaving the teammate half-set-up.

## If hiring does not finish [#if-hiring-does-not-finish]

While joining, an AI teammate moves through **workspace joined → profile created → skills loaded → finishing setup**. If something goes wrong:

* **A credential or model error appears** — open **Settings → Workspace → Models**, fix the selected provider or key, then try again.
* **The Hire button stays unavailable** — confirm that the teammate has a name, valid model, and computer/provider selection.

<Cards>
  <Card title="Choose a model" href="/ai-teammates/choose-a-model" description="Understand models, computers, providers, and your own keys." />

  <Card title="Give instructions" href="/ai-teammates/give-instructions" description="Shape how a hired teammate works with you." />
</Cards>