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Getting Started

Account setup, the platform at a glance, and your first protocol.

Last updated July 2026

Olto Discovery is a research platform for AI-generated protocols, hand-built workflows, simulation, and shared lab management. This guide covers how to get from a research goal to a protocol you can run.

Account Setup

Create a free Explorer account at oltodiscovery.com. No credit card required. Confirm your email address to activate your account. You can add your institution, role, and research fields in Settings → Profile. This helps the AI assistant personalize its recommendations.

The Platform at a Glance

The dashboard is organized through the sidebar (or the ⌘K command palette). The major areas are:

  • Generate: turn a research goal into a complete protocol with AI.
  • Designer: build or edit a typed, drag-and-drop step graph by hand.
  • Library: every protocol you own or that your team has shared, with versions and fork lineage.
  • Run: guided, timed test sessions with findings, evidence, and a session-report PDF.
  • Lab: Notebook, Inventory, Reagents, Projects, Literature, Tools, Lab Spaces, and LIMS.
  • Utilities: Image & Gel Analysis, the Standards Library & Finder, and the deterministic calculators.
  • Community: the public library, activity feed, reputation leaderboard, and bounties.
  • Assistant: a persistent AI research assistant with conversation history.

Your First Protocol

  1. Open Generate from the sidebar (or ⌘K command palette).
  2. Enter your research goal in plain language, and be as specific as possible. Include the target, model system, technique, and primary endpoint.
  3. Select your scientific field and experiment type.
  4. Check the equipment available in your lab.
  5. Set your budget range and timeframe.
  6. Click Generate Protocol. Olto returns a complete, structured experimental design (prose sections plus an editable step graph), typically in under a minute.
  7. Click Open in Designer to fine-tune the steps, or Run test to walk through it in the lab.
Writing a better research goal
The quality of your protocol scales directly with the specificity of your research goal. Instead of "investigate KRAS", write "Investigate whether CRISPR-Cas9 knockout of KRAS G12C suppresses proliferation in PANC-1 pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells, measuring BrdU incorporation and pERK1/2 levels at 72 hours post-selection."

Explorer Plan Limits

Every plan (including the free Explorer tier) includes a monthly allotment of AI calls. Explorer accounts get 5 AI calls per month and can keep up to 5 saved protocols with 100 MB of storage. An AI call is consumed by any AI request, including protocol generation, refine, simulate, risk score, an assistant message, AI Improve, image QC commentary, the standards finder, a file summary, or a paper analysis. Browsing, editing, and running existing protocols never consumes a call.

Upgrade to Researcher ($79/month) for unlimited protocols, 10 GB of storage, 200 AI calls per month, the AI assistant, inventory and reagents, literature intelligence, custom tools, and real-time collaboration. Lab ($499/month) raises the allowance to 2,000 AI calls per month, adds 100 GB of storage, teams of up to 10 seats, lab spaces, and the full LIMS test-ordering platform. Enterprise is unlimited. AI allowances reset on the first of each calendar month.

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