# Your First Steps

> A roadmap to getting productive with Bkper — from your first Book and transaction to reporting, collaboration, and automation.

Bkper tracks the movement of resources — money, inventory, instruments — between accounts using double-entry bookkeeping. To see it in action, you need three things: a **Book**, some **Accounts**, and a **Transaction**.

## See Bkper in action

Start here. These three guides take you from zero to a working Book with real balance values:

1. **[Books](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/books.md)** — Create a Book for the entity you want to track (a business, a project, a portfolio).
2. **[Accounts](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/accounts.md)** — Add Accounts that represent where resources sit or flow (bank accounts, revenue, expenses).
3. **[Transactions](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/transactions.md)** — Record a transaction between two accounts and post it. Balance values update instantly.

That's the aha moment — every transaction moves a precise amount from one account to another, and the books always balance. Everything else in Bkper builds on this foundation.

## Organize and grow

Once you have transactions flowing, structure your Book for clarity and reporting:

- **[Groups](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/groups.md)** — Group related accounts (all expense accounts under "Operating Expenses") for subtotals and cleaner reports.
- **[Chart of Accounts](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/chart-of-accounts.md)** — Design your account structure to match your business or use case.
- **[Collections](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/collections.md)** — Link multiple Books together when you track separate entities that need consolidated views.

## Report and analyze

Find answers in your data without leaving Bkper:

- **[Search & Queries](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/search-and-queries.md)** — Filter transactions by account, date, status, amount, or any combination. Save queries for periodic reports.
- **[Google Sheets](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/google-sheets.md)** — Pull live Bkper data into spreadsheets for custom dashboards, financial statements, and analysis.
- **[Chart Reports](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/chart-reports.md)** — Visualize balances and trends directly in the Bkper web app.

## Work with your team

Bkper is collaborative by design — everyone sees the same real-time data:

- **[Book Sharing](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/book-sharing.md)** — Invite collaborators with the right permission level (Owner, Editor, View Only, and more).
- **[Comments](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/comments.md)** — Discuss transactions, flag issues, and leave audit notes in context. Mentions send email notifications.
- **[Events](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/using-bkper/events.md)** — Every action generates an event — a complete audit trail of who did what and when.

## Automate

Let Bkper handle repetitive work so you can focus on decisions:

- **[Bkper Agent](https://bkper.com/apps/bookbot.md)** — An AI assistant that drafts transactions from natural language, learns your patterns, and processes document attachments.
- **[Automations](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/automations/apps-and-bots.md)** — Bots react to events automatically — calculating taxes, converting currencies, syncing sub-ledgers.
- **[Bank Connections](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/automations/bank-connections.md)** — Post bank transactions automatically in your Book and keep it up to date.

- [Best Practices](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/getting-started/best-practices.md): Practical guidelines for structuring Books, Accounts, Groups, and Transactions in Bkper — keep it simple, avoid common pitfalls, and maintain clean records.
- [Get Help](https://bkper.com/docs/guides/getting-started/get-help.md): Find the best resources for learning Bkper, getting support, and connecting with the community.