# Create a brain

Create a brain for each team or topic that has its own knowledge: a
product roadmap, a support knowledge base, an engineering runbook.
What's in your org-wide brain, such as people, ground truth and
decisions, is available to every brain you create.

You need the Write role or above. An admin can limit brain creation to
admins and the owner. See [Roles and what they allow](/team/roles).

## Create it

1. Go to **Knowledge** and select **New brain**.
2. Under **What is this brain for?**, enter a name, for example
   "Product Roadmap". The short name used in links is filled in for you.
3. Add a **One-line description**, and pick who it's for under
   **Who's it for?**
4. Choose a **Starting point**:
   - **Roadmap Brain**: roadmap, projects, decisions, people and ground
     truth.
   - **Knowledge Base**: articles, FAQs and policies for a support or
     ops team.
   - **Engineering Runbook**: services, on-call, incidents and
     procedures.
   - **Blank**: empty apart from the agent instructions and a minimal
     structure.
   - **Describe it**: say what the brain is for in your own words, and
     ako proposes a structure.
   - **Build it myself**: lay out the folders yourself.
5. Select **Continue**. Depending on your starting point, ako asks a few
   questions about how your team works, or lets you lay out folders.
6. Under **Bring your content**, optionally upload files or import them
   from GitHub. See [Import existing files](/brains/import-files).
7. Under **Review your brain**, check the folders, the agent contract
   and anything you uploaded. You can edit each folder's README here.
8. Select **Create brain**. Nothing is saved until you do.

To check it worked, look for your brain under **Knowledge**. From the
last screen you can **Invite your team**, **Start a session** with the
assistant in this brain, or **Open Knowledge**.

## Ask the assistant instead

You can also ask the assistant for a brain in a chat, for example "Set
up a brain for our support team". It shows you a card with the proposed
brain. Select **Create this brain** to make it, or **Adjust in the
wizard** to change it first. Nothing is created until you confirm.

## Shape what ako proposes

Admins can give ako standing instructions for every brain it proposes,
such as folders you always want or names you use. Go to **Settings** and
open **How brains are generated**.

## Who can reach it

A new brain is open to everyone in your organisation. To limit it to
certain people, see [Restrict a brain to certain people](/team/restrict-a-brain).