> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.heyy.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Hire an AI employee

> Create your first AI Employee and understand plan limits.

**Hiring** an AI Employee creates a new employee record in your workspace — a container for the identity, knowledge, and capabilities you configure on the following pages. It takes under a minute; everything is pre-filled with a sensible default, so you can refine it after.

<Tip>
  A new AI Employee is **inactive** by default. It will not appear as an option inside [automations](/help/automations/index) until you [set it live](/help/ai-employees/going-live/test-in-playground), which should only happen after testing in the [Playground](/help/ai-employees/going-live/test-in-playground).
</Tip>

## Open AI Employees

Go to **AI Employees** in the top navigation bar. Your employees list on the left; selecting one opens their card, and the workspace updates to show that employee's name, role, avatar, and tabs.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/heyy-c8bd5c9e/1coCVJUJuVs6SA9x/assets/ai-employees-list.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=1coCVJUJuVs6SA9x&q=85&s=0ff23195eeb7d9522e49f01518ec0aa5" alt="AI Employees list" width="1366" height="629" data-path="assets/ai-employees-list.png" />
</Frame>

If you have no employees yet, you land in an empty state with a single **Hire AI Employee** button.

## Fill out the hire form

Clicking **Hire AI Employee** opens a short form. Every field is pre-filled with a default, so you can accept it and refine later, or set it deliberately now.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/heyy-c8bd5c9e/1coCVJUJuVs6SA9x/assets/ai-employees-hire-form.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=1coCVJUJuVs6SA9x&q=85&s=9532342822067375aca7cd8d2f51e849" alt="Hire an AI Employee form" width="1366" height="632" data-path="assets/ai-employees-hire-form.png" />
</Frame>

| Field      | What it does                                                                                                                                                  |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name**   | The employee's display name. It introduces itself using this name, and the name is translated automatically in multilingual conversations.                    |
| **Gender** | Mostly relevant for gender-specific languages such as Hebrew or Arabic. Choose **AI Employee** (neutral) if you do not want it to identify as male or female. |
| **Role**   | **Support**, **Sales**, or **General**. Pre-fills the employee's behind-the-scenes instructions and tone, so pick the closest match to the job it will do.    |

Click **Hire** to create the employee. You are redirected to **Identity & guidelines** to continue setup — see [Identity setup](/help/ai-employees/identity-and-guidelines/identity-setup) for how Name, Gender, and Role are used there.

## Plan limits

Your plan sets how many AI Employees you can hire, and what each one can hold. If you hit a limit, you are prompted to upgrade before continuing.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/heyy-c8bd5c9e/1coCVJUJuVs6SA9x/assets/ai-employees-plan-limits.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=1coCVJUJuVs6SA9x&q=85&s=f30262a5958cae67fb358cced9922646" alt="AI Employee limits by plan" width="1333" height="656" data-path="assets/ai-employees-plan-limits.png" />
</Frame>

| Plan       | AI Employees  | Knowledge per employee | Actions per employee | AI Assets per employee |
| ---------- | ------------- | ---------------------- | -------------------- | ---------------------- |
| Hobby      | 1             | 3 MB                   | 3                    | —                      |
| Pro        | 2             | 20 MB                  | 8                    | 50                     |
| Ultra      | 3             | 50 MB                  | 12                   | 500                    |
| Enterprise | Higher limits | Higher limits          | Higher limits        | Higher limits          |

Knowledge is measured by extracted text, not file size — see [Keep knowledge accurate](/help/ai-employees/content/keep-knowledge-accurate). Hitting the employee limit does not affect existing employees; it only blocks hiring another until you upgrade or retire one. Enterprise limits are set per account — contact sales if you are scaling past Ultra.

## What's next

Continue to [Identity setup](/help/ai-employees/identity-and-guidelines/identity-setup) to define who the employee is, then [write your guidelines](/help/ai-employees/identity-and-guidelines/write-your-guidelines) before testing in the [Playground](/help/ai-employees/getting-started/run-your-first-test-conversation).