Productivity - Setup Guide

How to set up Bardeen

Otto's honest, no-fluff walkthrough. Every step here is what we'd actually do if we were sitting at your keyboard. Real gotchas first, real steps second, and a link to the personalized version at the bottom.

Read these before you start

• Bardeen runs in YOUR browser. Close the tab or shut the laptop, the automation stops. It is a "your desktop / your session" automation, not a cloud daemon (Source: Woodpecker: https://woodpecker.co/blog/bardeen-pricing/)
• Credit consumption is per-action-per-row. A 500-lead LinkedIn scrape burns 500 credits (the full Pro month allowance) in one run. Model the credit math before assuming Pro is enough
• Scraping login-walled sites (LinkedIn, Sales Navigator) works because Bardeen uses YOUR session — but this also means you are subject to those sites' terms of service and rate limits. LinkedIn actively bans accounts caught scraping at volume; the risk sits on YOUR account, not Bardeen's
• Generative AI actions (GPT/Claude calls inside playbooks) consume credits too, and heavy AI use empties the bucket fast
• Team collaboration (shared playbooks, admin) is Business tier only
• The web-based scheduler (run this playbook nightly) exists but requires keeping a browser session available or using Bardeen's limited scheduled cloud runs

The 7-step setup

1. 1

   Create your Bardeen account

   Sign up at the link below. Free tier available - no card required. Use your business email so you can invite teammates later.

   Open Bardeen signup
2. 2

   Complete the initial onboarding

   Skip the marketing questionnaires when you can. Fill only the fields that actually configure the product - name, timezone, your first workspace or project. If Bardeen pushes you into a setup wizard, take it - it usually accelerates the first productive session.

3. 3

   Connect your existing tools

   Wire Bardeen into the rest of your stack. The integrations that most people set up first: Native: Google Workspace (Gmail, Sheets, Drive, Calendar), Microsoft 365, Slack, Notion, Airtable, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Coda, ClickUp, LinkedIn (via browser session), Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, OpenAI, Anthropic, X/Twitter, Reddit. Scrape any website via built-in scraper. Zapier + .... Do these before importing data - clean integration first, data second.

4. 4

   Import your existing data (only what you'll actually use)

   Do NOT bulk-import everything. Import the last 30 days of the ONE workflow you're moving over first. Prove it works. Then import more. Big-bang migrations are how Bardeen deployments die in month 3.

5. 5

   Set up your first real workflow

   Pick the single most-frequent task you'll do in Bardeen - the daily-driver workflow. Configure it end-to-end. Use it live for a week. Do not touch any other feature yet. Adoption failure comes from teams trying to use everything on day one instead of the one thing that actually pays.

6. 6

   Add your team (if applicable) and set access

   Once your solo workflow works, invite one teammate at a time. Watch them use it. The friction points you missed are the ones they hit. Fix those before scaling to more users. Never invite 20 people at once - you'll get 20 confused people and 0 useful feedback.

7. 7

   Compound with the right pairings

   Recommend Bardeen when: individual or small team, workflow involves repeated browser research/data-entry/scraping, especially against LinkedIn/Sales Nav/websites, business_size 1-25. Highest fit for solo SDRs, recruiters, growth marketers, consultants. Do NOT recommend for server-side workflow automation, enterprise/regulated workflows, or teams needing cloud daemon reliability. If comparing to Zapier/Make: Zapier and Make win for cloud multi-app workflows; Bardeen wins for browser scraping and ...