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Getting started

Plans: Starter ✓ · Growth ✓ · Pro ✓ · Agency ✓ (all features in this page are available on all paid plans; some have credit-based limits — see Plans)

Clione takes about 10 minutes end-to-end the first time: sign up, connect a store, sync, enrich a small batch, and verify it landed on your storefront. This page is the linear path.

If you want the broader product context before diving in, read What is Clione first.

The flow below applies to both BigCommerce and Shopify. Where the two diverge (mostly in Step 2 and Step 5), this page calls out the difference inline and links to the per-platform deep dive.

1. Create an account (1 min)​

Clione is invite-only during the research preview. Two paths:

  • You were invited — open the invitation email and follow the link to set a password.
  • You weren't yet — email admin@takefortytwo.com or your T42 account manager.

Once your tenant is provisioned, sign in at app.clione.ai.

If you plan to use a 2FA app (recommended), set it up under Account → Security before you wire anything else — see Account security.

2. Connect your store (2–5 min)​

From the overview, click Add Store.

BigCommerce​

You'll paste a Store API account token (Client ID + Access Token + Store Hash). Clione never uses BC OAuth — the Store API path is faster, scopeable per integration, and revocable from your BigCommerce admin in one click.

Full step-by-step (scopes, where to click, troubleshooting) is in Onboarding — BigCommerce API token.

Shopify​

You'll paste a Custom App Admin API access token from your Shopify admin. Despite the route layer exposing OAuth, the dashboard wires onboarding through the Custom App paste flow because it's instant and doesn't require a public app review.

Full step-by-step is in Connect Shopify.

When the form accepts the credentials, the store appears in your sidebar. Click it to enter its scope.

3. Sync your catalog (3–10 min depending on size)​

Inside the store, sidebar → Sync.

The Sync page has one tab per entity type:

  • Products — required.
  • Categories (BC) / Collections (Shopify).
  • Pages — content pages, About, Shipping, FAQ landing, etc.
  • FAQ — informational, FAQs are platform-agnostic and managed under FAQs.

Click Run sync on Products first. Under 500 products: under a minute. Larger catalogs scale roughly linearly. The chip in the top bar tracks progress; you can navigate away and come back.

Once Products is done, run the same on Categories/Collections and Pages. See Sync catalog for the full reference.

Nothing is enriched yet. Sync only pulls the catalog. The next step is what turns it into signals.

4. Enrich your first batch (2–5 min)​

Open Products (sidebar). Pick 5–10 products to start — first impressions matter, and a small batch is easier to inspect.

Three ways to enrich:

  • Single product — open one → Enrich. Best for inspection.
  • Bulk select — checkbox a range → top bar → Bulk enrich. Up to 5 at a time without the wizard.
  • Enrichment Wizard — guided questionnaire that hands hints (your brand voice, positioning, audience) to the LLM. Use this if the LLM doesn't have enough context to write good signals on its own.

Clione will always ask for confirmation before spending enrichment credits. There is no auto-enrich on sync.

Repeat for categories/collections and pages. Each entity type has its own list and the same Enrich actions. See Enrich entities for the full reference across all four entity types and both platforms.

After enrichment, the auto-propagator pushes the signals to the storefront in the background. You don't need to click anything for this.

5. Verify it landed (1–2 min)​

Sidebar → Verification.

The Verification page picks a sample of your enriched entities and compares what Clione produced against what's actually live on the storefront — meta title, meta description, JSON-LD presence, OG tags. A green check means the live page matches what we enriched. A red mismatch means the storefront didn't pick up the change.

Most common reasons for a mismatch on day one:

  • Shopify JSON-LD not visible — the Theme App Extension hasn't been enabled on the live theme. See Schema injector.
  • BigCommerce Stencil cache — flush the storefront cache from BC admin, or wait ~5 min.
  • Headless storefront — the storefront is using stale build-time data. Trigger a rebuild or wire up the @clione/seo client. See headless guides.

Full reference: Verification. For deeper signal coverage across many URLs over time, see Pulse dashboard.

6. Install the Schema Injector (one-time, 1 min)​

The propagator pushes the enriched metafields to your storefront, but for the JSON-LD <script> tag to actually render on the page, you need to enable the Schema Injector per store.

BigCommerce​

Sidebar → Settings → Schema Injector → Install.

This uses the BC Scripts API to register a single global script on your Stencil storefront. The script reads the per-page entity ID, fetches the corresponding JSON-LD from Clione's public embed endpoint, and writes the <script type="application/ld+json"> block to the page. No theme files are modified.

For non-JS crawlers (Googlebot, Bingbot), see Stencil — non-JS crawlers.

Shopify​

Open Shopify admin → Online Store → Themes → Customize on your live theme → Theme settings → App embeds → toggle Clione JSON-LD on → Save.

This enables the Theme App Extension that ships with the Clione connection. The extension renders the JSON-LD inline at the bottom of every product / collection / page on the storefront, server-rendered, so crawlers see it without JS execution.

Full reference: Schema Injector.

7. Add FAQs (optional but high-impact, 5 min)​

Sidebar → FAQs.

Five FAQ scopes:

  • Global — apply to every product (e.g. shipping policy).
  • Product — specific to a single product.
  • Variant — specific to a single variant (size, color).
  • Category / Collection — apply to all products in that category.
  • Page — apply to a single content page.

Add 3-5 high-value FAQs to start (shipping, returns, materials, fit). The FAQ editor has a one-click Generate from enrichment button that turns the LLM's enriched description into draft FAQs — review, edit, save.

Once FAQs exist, install the FAQ widget so they render as an expandable accordion on your storefront. See FAQ widget install — the install path differs by platform.

Common first-day pitfalls​

  • Skipping the Sync step and jumping to Enrich. Enrich operates on what's already in Clione's DB — you need to sync first.
  • Enriching the whole catalog on day one. Start with 5-10 products. Read what the LLM produces. Adjust the Enrichment Wizard if the tone is off. Then expand.
  • Forgetting to enable the Shopify Theme App Extension. Propagation succeeds, but the storefront never renders the JSON-LD. Verification shows red. The fix is one click in the Theme Editor — see Step 6.
  • Pasting Shopify Storefront API token instead of Admin API. They look similar but the prefixes differ (shpat_ for Admin, shpsa_ for Storefront). Only Admin works.
  • Pasting BigCommerce Store API token in the OAuth field. The form is clear, but worth flagging — Clione doesn't currently use OAuth on BC. See BC API token onboarding.
  • Treating the Quality Scores as ground truth on day one. They're LLM opinions until you feed evidence via the Wizard — see Understanding scores.

Troubleshooting​

The store doesn't appear in the sidebar after the credentials form accepts — Hard refresh the page. If still missing, the store list cache may be stale; sign out and back in.

Sync runs but the entity count is zero — Wrong scopes on the API token. Re-check the BC scopes or Shopify scopes. Re-issue the token if needed; you don't have to remove the store in Clione, just paste the new token under Store → Settings.

Verification shows red for every entity right after enrichment — Propagation runs async. Wait 60 seconds and re-check. If still red, the propagator hit a rate limit or auth error — open the failed row's detail modal for the exact platform error.

Plan limits hit during the first sync — Starter has a product count cap. If your catalog exceeds it, sync only imports up to the cap and a banner appears. Upgrade or contact support for a temporary lift.

Can't find the "Develop apps" option in Shopify admin — Staff permissions issue. Ask the store owner to enable it under Settings → Users → [your name] → Permissions → Develop apps.

What's next​

Quick reference — what each step changes on your storefront​

StepWhat gets created/modified on your storefront
1. AccountNothing on the storefront.
2. Connect storeWebhooks subscribed; no storefront UI change.
3. SyncNothing on the storefront — Clione's DB is populated.
4. EnrichAfter ~30s, meta title and meta description are written to the platform via API. Storefront refresh shows the new tags.
5. VerifyRead-only; no changes.
6. Schema InjectorBC: a script tag is added via Scripts API (loads from Clione CDN). Shopify: a Theme App Embed is enabled (renders JSON-LD server-side).
7. FAQ widgetOne-time install of a JS snippet on the relevant page(s).

The only step that ever modifies the storefront markup is Step 6 (Schema Injector). All other steps either pull data from the platform or push data via the platform's API into existing fields the platform exposes (meta title, meta description, metafields). Themes are not modified by Clione.

If you decide to stop using Clione, removing the Schema Injector and the FAQ widget snippet restores your storefront to its pre-Clione state. The platform-side meta tags Clione wrote stay (since they're now part of your catalog) but can be overwritten manually.

Onboarding success criteria (the "you've finished" checklist)​

You're done with onboarding when:

  • Your store(s) are connected and visible in the sidebar.
  • Sync has run for Products, Categories/Collections, and Pages — the entity counts on the Store Overview card are non-zero.
  • At least 5 products are enriched and the Enrichment tab shows green for each.
  • Verification shows ≥80% Pass rate for the enriched products.
  • The Schema Injector is installed (BC) or the Theme App Extension is enabled (Shopify).
  • You've viewed source on a live product page and confirmed JSON-LD is present.
  • You've added at least one FAQ (Product, Variant, Category, Page, or Global).
  • You've installed the Pulse Chrome extension and run one scan against your own storefront.
  • You've invited your team members (if applicable) and assigned roles.
  • You've reviewed the Plans page and confirmed your tier matches your usage.

Where to go for help​

  • In-app — every section has a help icon in the page header that opens the relevant doc.
  • Docs site — you're reading it.
  • Email — support@clione.ai for technical issues, admin@takefortytwo.com for billing or account questions.
  • Community — Slack invite in your welcome email (Pro and Agency).
  • Quarterly office hours — Agency plan; calendar in your sub-tenant dashboard.