New hires land on day one with a dozen tasks spread across HR, IT, and their team — and no single place to see what's done, what's left, and where to get help. The Onboarding Hub solves that: a gamified checklist with progress tracking, milestone badges, and contextual Glean chat on every step.
This recipe builds the hub two ways so you can pick the trade-off that fits your portal — Web SDK for fastest SSO integration, Platform Chat when you need full UI control.
Pick a path
Both paths build the same first-week checklist. Choose Web SDK if you want Glean's chat UI and the Glean session already in your browser. Choose Platform Chat if you want to own the answer UI and call Glean from your backend.
- Web SDK
- Platform Chat
Copy the project onto your machine
Creates an `onboarding-hub` folder in whatever directory you run this from. Every command after this one runs inside that folder.
npx -y tiged@2.12.8 --mode=git gleanwork/glean-cookbook/recipes/onboarding-hub/web-sdk onboarding-hubInstall dependencies
Installs the Glean Web SDK and the Vite dev server that hosts the page.
cd onboarding-hub && npm installFind your Glean tenant
Your email is used once to find which Glean tenant you belong to. The command creates `.env.local` and fills in `VITE_GLEAN_BACKEND`.
cd onboarding-hub && npm run configure -- --email "<work-email>"Keep the sample checklist, or use your own
`public/steps.json` is already in the project, so you can run with the sample. To use your own onboarding program, replace those steps. Each one needs a unique `id`, a `title`, a `group` (`it`, `hr`, `team`, or `engineering`), `initiallyDone`, and an `askPrompt`.
Open the page
Starts Vite and prints a Local URL. Open that URL yourself in your normal browser where you are already signed in to Glean.
cd onboarding-hub && npm run devCheck it against your own content
Once the page is open in your signed-in browser, confirm your checklist renders. Click **Ask about this** on a step and check that Glean returns a cited first-day answer.
Copy the project onto your machine
Creates an `onboarding-hub` folder in whatever directory you run this from. Every command after this one runs inside that folder.
npx -y tiged@2.12.8 --mode=git gleanwork/glean-cookbook/recipes/onboarding-hub/platform-chat onboarding-hubInstall dependencies
Installs the Glean API client and the small local server that serves the page.
cd onboarding-hub && npm installSee it work before you connect anything
Runs the checklist and chat against recorded Sample Corp answers, so you can see cited first-day, VPN, and PTO replies plus unsupported-question escalation before you connect anything. This needs no Glean credentials.
cd onboarding-hub && npm run verify:fixtureSign in to Glean
Your email is used once to find which Glean tenant you belong to, then a browser window opens for you to approve access. The command creates the `.env` file for you and fills in `GLEAN_SERVER_URL` and `GLEAN_API_TOKEN`. If your tenant has not enabled OAuth, skip this command and do it by hand instead: copy `.env.example` to `.env`, then fill in your Glean instance URL and a Glean API token that has the `CHAT` scope.
cd onboarding-hub && npm run login -- --email "<work-email>"Keep the sample checklist, or use your own
`steps.json` is already selected in `.env`, so you can run with the sample. To use your own onboarding program, replace those steps. Each one needs a unique `id`, a `title`, a `group` (`it`, `hr`, `team`, or `engineering`), `initiallyDone`, and an `askPrompt`.
Check it against your own content
Takes 1 to 3 minutes. It starts its own server, checks your onboarding topics for cited answers, and fails if an unsupported question does not escalate.
cd onboarding-hub && npm run verifyOpen the page
Starts the server and prints a Local URL. Open that URL in your browser.
cd onboarding-hub && npm start- Wire real HRIS completion events instead of localStorage toggles.
- Add a manager view that shows onboarding progress across the team.
- Scope chat to onboarding-only documents, so a first-week question cannot wander into unrelated content.
What should I do on my first day?
Returns a cited answer drawn from your own onboarding documents, and the checklist reflects steps that actually appear in them rather than a hardcoded list.
How do I set up VPN?
Returns a cited answer from your own IT documentation.
What's our PTO policy?
Returns a cited answer respecting the asker's permissions — the same question from two people with different access should not return content either of them can't see.
Ask about a step your docs don't cover
Platform Chat path only: the app offers its escalation affordance rather than inventing a plausible-sounding onboarding step. The Web SDK owns its unsupported-answer experience.
Each of these was run against a live Glean instance on 2026-08-21.
Web SDK
This path uses your existing Glean browser session. Find the web app URL on the About page. The API server URL is a different field.
Platform Chat
Run the authenticate step on this page. It discovers your tenant from work email and signs you in with OAuth, using the shipped login command. If OAuth is unavailable, create a scoped Glean-issued token in Token Management (CHAT).
Platform Chat