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Your first day: a 10-step setup checklist

Ten steps that take you from an empty workspace to taking real bookings, with the exact page for each one.

Updated 2026-10-03

Right after onboarding, your dashboard shows a Welcome to FurKisses! card with the main steps. Owners and Admins keep seeing it on the dashboard until every step is done or someone hides it with the close button (that hides it for the whole business). Use this list as your full checklist.

Who can do this: the Owner or an Admin can do every step. Managers can do most of them, but not business details, branches, WhatsApp templates, integrations or booking policies.

The checklist

  1. 1Business details and tax: in /app/settings/business, add your logo, address and tax registration (your GSTIN in India), check the Default tax rate % and set your Invoice prefix. See Business details, tax and invoices.
  2. 2Services: in /app/settings/services, edit the starter services, set real prices and durations, and add size-based prices if you use them. See Services, add-ons and size-based pricing.
  3. 3Rooms (if you offer boarding, daycare or vet care): in /app/settings/rooms, add kennels, suites, wards and play areas. See Rooms and kennels.
  4. 4Branches and opening hours: in /app/branches, open your first branch and set its hours. Online booking slots come from these hours. See Branches and opening hours.
  5. 5Staff: in /app/staff, click Add staff for each team member, then invite the ones who need to log in.
  6. 6Customers: add a customer from /app/customers/new (New customer), or bring your existing list in with Import at /app/customers/import.
  7. 7First booking: in /app/calendar, click New booking. The "Booking confirmed" alert is queued for the customer by itself, and the booking page has a WhatsApp panel for sending messages by hand.
  8. 8First invoice: in /app/billing, click New invoice, or ring up a sale at the till in /app/pos.
  9. 9Share your booking link: click Copy link on the welcome card, or open the avatar menu (top right) and choose Online booking page ↗ to see the page your customers use at /book/your-link. Put the link in your Instagram bio and Google profile.
  10. 10WhatsApp: connect your WhatsApp Business number in /app/settings/integrations (phone number ID and access token) so alerts send by themselves. Until you do, they wait in the Outbox for a one-tap send, which costs nothing. See connect WhatsApp and what it costs and WhatsApp templates and reminders.

Four more steps worth doing in week one

These aren't on the welcome card, but they decide what your customers receive and what they pay.

  1. 1Alerts for pet parents: in /app/settings/alerts, choose which WhatsApp alerts go out (confirmations, reminders, check-in and pick-up updates, daily report cards, vaccine reminders, feedback requests), set their timing and edit the wording. See automatic alerts: what pet parents receive.
  2. 2Booking policies: in /app/settings/policies, set which bookings ask for a deposit, the free-cancellation window, the multi-pet discount, how long a waitlist offer is held, and your Google review link. Deposit and fee amounts are set on each service. See booking policies.
  3. 3Peak & discount pricing: in /app/settings/pricing, add rules that raise prices on holidays and weekends or lower them on quiet days. See peak, holiday and weekend pricing.
  4. 4Connect a payment gateway: in /app/settings/integrations, connect Razorpay or Stripe with your API keys and a webhook, so customers can pay invoices and deposits from a link and the payments record themselves. See accept online payments.

Good to know

  • On the welcome card, "Add your team" only counts as done once you have at least two staff (you plus one more). "Share your booking link" ticks off once you use Copy link on the card or your first online booking arrives. "Connect WhatsApp" ticks off only when WhatsApp can actually send (enabled, with a phone number ID and access token saved).
  • Online booking is on by default. You can turn it off with Accept bookings at /book/your-link in /app/settings/business.
  • Online booking only offers times when a bookable staff member is free during branch opening hours. If customers see no times, check steps 4 and 5.
  • Time-based alerts (reminders, report cards, vaccine and payment reminders) depend on an hourly job that whoever hosts your FurKisses sets up. Alerts for status changes, such as "Booking confirmed" and "Checked in", work without it.
  • Every customer gets a private parent link inside those alerts. See what pet parents see on their link.
Want to look around before you enter real data? See Load sample data to explore.