# Quick start

> A step-by-step guide to creating your first concept in Black Ice.

**Category:** Getting started | **Tab:** getting-started

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Get up and running with Black Ice in under 5 minutes. This guide walks you through creating your first concept, connecting it to others, and adding translations.

## Prerequisites

- A Black Ice account (sign up at the login page)
- A workspace is automatically created when you sign up

## Step 1: Explore your workspace

After signing in, you'll land on the **Dashboard**. This shows your ontology stats, recent activity, and quick actions. Your workspace already has a source locale (English US by default).

## Step 2: Create your first class

Navigate to **Classes** in the sidebar. Classes are categories that group your concepts — like "Feature", "Plan", or "Platform".

1. Click **Add Class**
2. Enter a name (e.g., "Feature") and an optional description
3. Choose a color and translation policy
4. Click **Create**

## Step 3: Add a concept

Go to **Concepts** and click **Create Concept**.

1. Select the class you just created
2. Enter a name (e.g., "MIDI Editor")
3. Add an optional description
4. Click **Create** — Black Ice auto-generates a unique concept ID

## Step 4: Add translations

Open your new concept and scroll to the **Terms** section.

1. Your source term is pre-filled from the concept name
2. Click **Add Target Term** to add a translation
3. Select a locale (e.g., "Spanish (ES)")
4. Enter the preferred term and any allowed/forbidden variants
5. Set the approval status

## Step 5: Set market availability

Each term — source and target — has a **Market Availability** dropdown.

1. In the source term card, set availability (e.g., "Available")
2. In each target term card, set its own availability independently
3. Use this to track which translations are live, planned, or blocked

> Market availability is tracked per term, not per concept. This lets you manage rollout status for each locale separately.

## Step 6: Define relationship types and connect concepts

Relationships are what turn a flat list of concepts into a connected, navigable ontology. They express how concepts relate to each other — e.g., a Plan *hasFeature* a Feature, or a Feature *isPartOf* a Plan.

**First, create a relationship type:**

1. Navigate to **Relationships** in the sidebar
2. Click **Add Type**
3. Enter a label (e.g., "hasFeature"), a machine value, and an optional inverse label (e.g., "isFeatureOf")
4. Choose directionality — **unidirectional** or **bidirectional** (bidirectional auto-creates the inverse)

**Then, connect two concepts:**

1. Open a concept's detail page
2. Scroll to the **Semantic Relationships** section
3. Click **Add Relationship**
4. Select the relationship type and the target concept
5. The relationship appears on both concepts if bidirectional

> Relationships power the **Knowledge Graph** and structured exports. The more intentionally you connect concepts, the more useful your ontology becomes for downstream consumers — including AI tools.

## Step 7: Visualize your ontology

Navigate to **Knowledge Graph** in the sidebar. You'll see your concepts as nodes, connected by the relationships you defined. Use the filters to focus on specific classes or relationship types. Toggle **One-Hop** to reveal second-level connections.

## What's next?

- [Best practices →](/docs/getting-started/best-practices) — Tips for structuring your ontology
- [Import & Export →](/docs/guides/csv-import) — Bulk import existing terminology
- [Approval workflows →](/docs/guides/approval-workflow) — Send terms for review