Onboarding checklist software
Give new users a clear path. A persistent launcher opens a checklist whose items tick themselves off as users take real actions — with ordered unlocking and a satisfying finish.
- ✓Create a project
- ✓Invite a teammate
- ✓Connect your data
- ✓Publish a guide
Auto-completing items
Items check off when users actually do them — click an element, visit a page, finish a guide, or fire an event.
Ordered unlock
Reveal steps one at a time so users are never overwhelmed.
A finishing moment
Celebrate completion with a checkmark or a burst of confetti.
Live in three steps.
List the tasks
Add the actions that mean a user is set up.
Set completion
Choose what marks each item done.
Publish
The launcher rides along on every page.
A setup checklist that completes itself.
Self-reporting checklists lie — users tick boxes they have not done, or abandon lists that will not acknowledge progress. The whole trick is automatic completion on real actions.
Define done, per item
Four items for a helpdesk product: Connect inbox (completes on the inbox_connected event), Invite a teammate (on visiting /team with an invite sent), Set office hours (on a finished settings tour), Answer a ticket (on first_reply).
Order the unlock
Enable ordered unlocking so "Answer a ticket" stays locked until the inbox exists. A checklist that lets users do step four first is a to-do list, not a path.
Place the launcher
The persistent launcher sits in the corner with a progress ring. Users open it when they want, close it when they do not — it survives page loads and sessions.
Finish loudly
The final completion earns the celebratory finish — the one moment of ceremony users genuinely like. Then the launcher retires; done means gone.
What to expect: Setup completion becomes a number you can watch per item in Reports — and because items complete on real events, the number means what it says. Checklists are exempt from rate limits, so the launcher is always reachable.
When not to use checklists.
No pattern fits every job. Here’s where we’d point you at something else — sometimes ours, sometimes not.
Products with one setup step
A checklist with two items is bureaucracy. If activation is a single action, a tour or a well-aimed tooltip gets users there with less furniture.
Tasks users repeat forever
Checklists are for reaching "set up", once. Recurring work — weekly reviews, content calendars — belongs in your product's own workflow, not an onboarding pattern that celebrates finishing.
Forcing a fixed path on experts
Users migrating from a competitor may do step four first and resent locks. If your audience skews experienced, leave unlocking off and let the ticks accumulate in any order.
As a dumping ground
Eight items is a chore list. Four or five items that genuinely predict retention beat a complete inventory of your settings — cut anything users can discover later.
How do items complete automatically?
Each item completes on a real signal: a click on an element, a page visit, a finished guide, or a custom event you fire (Wakeline("track", ...)). Manual ticking is not the model — progress reflects what actually happened.
Does progress survive logouts and devices?
Yes for identified users — completion state lives with the user, not the browser, so a checklist finished on the laptop stays finished on the phone. Anonymous visitors keep progress per browser.
Can I force items in order?
Ordered unlocking is a toggle. On, items unlock as prior ones complete — right for setup paths with real dependencies. Off, users tick in any order — right for experienced audiences.
Where does the checklist live on screen?
A persistent launcher widget in the corner, with progress visible at a glance. It stays across pages and sessions until the list is done, and it is never suppressed by rate limits — deliberate: users chose to keep it.
What completion rate should I expect?
Watch two numbers: launcher opens and per-item completion. A healthy setup checklist sees most items completed within the first week for activated users. One item stuck at a fraction of the others is your friction point — fix that step in the product.
See it on your own app.
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