The Primer playbook

Getting started

Set up your coverage, bring in your own work and complete a useful first task.

Guide 01

Orientation: find your way around Primer

Take a tour of the left-hand panel. Learn where to start work, find your companies and reports, reopen saved work and set your preferences.

The left-hand panel

Keep Primer open alongside this guide. Expand the left-hand panel and work through the areas below.

If an area is empty, continue. The later guides will help you add coverage and create saved work.

Search

Find a company, saved work or a previous session.

Try itSearch for a company you know. Open its result and check the name and ticker.

Search field at the top of the Studio left-hand panel — Search is at the top of the left-hand panel.

New session

This is where you start most work in Primer. Start a conversation and tell Primer what you need. Use @ to add a company or attach your own files for context.

Try itClick New session. Find the message box, the @ mention menu and Add files.

The new-session composer with a mention field, message box, Add files, Sources and Memory controls — Write your request here. Use @ for context and Add files for your own material.

Library

This is where you can see all the work you’ve done in Primer. Use the search bar to find it, or filter by type: Sessions, Models, Notes, Skills or Data.

Try itOpen Library. Search for a company or a piece of work, then use the type filters to narrow the results. Click an item to reopen it.

Companies

Find companies, organise your coverage and open company workspaces.

Try itOpen Companies and select Core Coverage. Check what is already there; Guide 02 covers adding companies.

Companies screen with company search, All Companies and Core Coverage — Your company groups appear above the company list.

Reports

This is where you can browse company reports or generate a new one. You’ll find Reports under Companies in the left-hand panel.

Try itExpand Companies, then click Reports underneath it. Search for a familiar company and check a report’s type and date.

Companies expanded in the left-hand panel with Reports indented underneath and selected — Expand Companies to find Reports underneath it.

Routines

Routines are automated recurring research tasks. Tell Primer what to research, which companies to cover and when to run it.

Scheduled: Run at the times you choose. For example, a coverage news roundup at 7am every weekday, or a sector review every Friday. You set the days, time and time zone.

Event-driven: Run when a matching company document becomes available in Primer, such as an earnings release, trading update or earnings-call transcript. Choose the companies and event types to watch. For example, produce a first-read report whenever a company in your coverage releases results.

Try itClick New routine and choose Scheduled. Click Use template in the top right to browse the examples. Select one, then review its instructions, coverage and schedule before creating the routine.

New routine form with Scheduled selected and the Use template button in the top right — Choose Scheduled, then find Use template in the top right.

Use template menu offering Daily coverage brief, Earnings watch and Weekly read-across — Templates fill in the title, instructions and schedule. You can edit them to suit your work.

Calendar

Find earnings events for your coverage and available previews or briefings.

Try itClick Calendar beneath Routines. Find a results event for a company you cover.

Customize

This is where you can customise your workspace and tell Primer how you invest, how you like to work and which research tasks you want to repeat.

My Philosophy: Your investment approach: what you look for in a business, the risks you focus on and how you weigh evidence. This helps Primer focus its research on the questions and evidence that matter to you.

My Instructions: How you want Primer to work and present its answers. For example, you might prefer a short conclusion, tables, source links and figures in a particular currency. Primer uses these defaults so you don’t have to repeat them in every conversation.

Company Memory: Saved context about a company, such as your thesis, assumptions and questions to follow up. Primer can use this in later research so you don’t have to explain your view from scratch. Review it when your view changes.

Skills: Saved instructions for a research task you want to repeat, such as an earnings first read or an accounting check. When you ask Primer to use a skill, it gives the agent a clear process to follow and helps you get consistent work without explaining the task from scratch.

Try itOpen Customize. Review My Philosophy and My Instructions, then open Skills to see the workflows available to you. You may already have instructions saved from onboarding.

Customize screen with My Instructions, My Philosophy, Skills, Company Memory and Pinned notes — Use Customize to give Primer your investment approach, working preferences and reusable research workflows.

Workspace tabs

Move between the sessions, companies and saved items you have open.

Try itOpen a report or saved item, then use the tabs across the top to switch back to your session.

Workspace tabs for Launchpad and Customize, with the close and new-tab controls — Use the tabs at the top to move between open work.

Guide 02

Add your coverage

Core Coverage is your main list of companies you follow in Primer. Start with the companies you research most closely.

Open Core Coverage
Click Companies in the left-hand panel, then select Core Coverage. Review the companies already there so you know what still needs adding. Core Coverage holds up to 100 companies. If it is full, remove companies you no longer follow before adding more.
Choose Core Coverage in the Companies workspace. The count shows how much of your 100-company allowance is used.
Choose Core Coverage in the Companies workspace. The count shows how much of your 100-company allowance is used.
Choose Add companies
Click Add companies above the company list. In Instructions, paste company names, tickers or ISINs, ideally one per line. Include the exchange if a ticker could refer to more than one company. If your list is in Excel, click Attach workbook and choose an .xlsx or .xlsm file. Tell Primer which sheet and column contain your coverage, and which rows to include.
Paste your list or attach a workbook here. Use Instructions to explain what you want the agent to add.
Paste your list or attach a workbook here. Use Instructions to explain what you want the agent to add.
Send the request and review the response
Click Send to agent. Primer starts an agent request to match your list and add companies to Core Coverage. Read its response: ambiguous or unmatched entries need your help. Give the full company name, exchange or ISIN for those entries and ask Primer to try them again.
Check your coverage
Open Companies → Core Coverage again. Compare the list with your own coverage and check that each company and listing is the one you intended. Resolve any missing entries before moving on.

Try this

Example instructions for the Add companies box. Replace the bracketed text with your own list.

“Add the companies below to my Core Coverage. Keep the companies already there and skip duplicates. Add clear matches, and tell me which entries are ambiguous or unmatched so I can check them. [paste company names, tickers with exchanges, or ISINs — one per line]”

Guide 03

Uploading your existing research

Give Primer your own thinking: your thesis, the debates you are following and the evidence you already have.

Do this

Start a session and tag one company. Use Add files to attach a few relevant research notes, reports or thesis documents.
Explain which document represents your current view. Call out older material and anything you have changed your mind about.
Ask Primer to summarise your thesis, key assumptions and open questions. Correct the summary before using it for further work.
Ask it to save the dated summary as a Note and put useful lasting company context in Company Memory. Open the returned Note link, then open Customize → Company Memory and select the company to review its saved context.

Try this

“These are my research notes on @Company. My current view is in [document and date]; the other documents provide background. Summarise my thesis, key assumptions and open questions, identifying any conflicting or outdated views. Show me the summary for review before saving a dated Note and any lasting company context to Company Memory.”

Screen walkthrough · Research and Company Memory

How to turn memory off

Guide 04

Uploading your financial models

Upload your existing model and ask Primer to audit it. Find errors, inconsistencies and assumptions that deserve a closer look.

Do this

Start a company session and attach your model workbook. Identify the version and date you want Primer to use.
Point out the relevant sheets, forecast periods, units and key assumptions. Explain any unusual definitions.
Use the prompt below to ask Primer to audit your model. Ask it to identify where each issue appears and explain why it matters.
Review the findings in your workbook. Start with the highest-priority issues, then ask Primer to investigate anything that needs more explanation.

Try this

Attach your workbook, then ask Primer to audit it with this prompt.

“Audit my attached model for @Company, dated [date]. Focus on [sheets or the whole workbook], covering [periods], in [currency and units]. Check for formula errors and broken links where you can inspect them, inconsistent units or periods, totals that do not reconcile, and unusual forecast assumptions. Prioritise the findings and give sheet and cell references, explain why each issue matters, and suggest how to investigate or fix it. Separate clear errors from assumptions that need judgment. State what you reviewed and anything you could not verify. Show me the findings before making any changes.”

Guide 05

Tell Primer how you work

You’ll cover this during onboarding. This guide shows you where to review and update your instructions as the way you work evolves.

Do this

Open Customize, then My Instructions. Review anything already there.
Describe your role, research approach and the outputs you usually need. Add useful defaults for language, dates, currencies and units.
Explain how you want Primer to handle missing information and distinguish facts, assumptions and interpretation.
Use the prompt below in a new Launchpad session to draft your instructions. Review the response, then copy the agreed standing brief into My Instructions and save it. Try it in another new session.

Try this

Paste this into a new Launchpad session. Copy the agreed response—not this drafting prompt—into Customize → My Instructions.

“Help me write My Instructions. I am [role] covering [sectors or markets], and my research approach is [approach]. I usually need [outputs]. Ask about my preferences for language, dates, currencies, units, sources, missing information and assumptions. Propose a short standing brief for me to review, containing only instructions that should apply across my work.”

Screen walkthrough · My Instructions

Build a reusable research skill

Guide 06

Complete your first research task

Bring the setup together on a familiar company. Choose a question you can judge for yourself.

Do this

Choose one question from your existing research or model. For example: is the company’s margin guidance consistent with the evidence?
Find a relevant, recent company report in Reports. Start a company session, name the report you want to use, and attach your own material where helpful.
Use the prompt below, replacing the question and materials. Ask for a focused answer with evidence and open questions.
Check key numbers and source passages. Ask Primer to explain anything that does not match your understanding.
Refine the answer and save the useful result as a Note. Keep the assumptions and unresolved questions visible.

Try this

“Investigate this question for @Company: [your question]. Use [Primer report title and date] alongside my attached [research or model]. State which materials you could access. Give a concise conclusion, the evidence supporting and challenging it, source links with dates, and what remains uncertain. Keep my assumptions separate from reported facts and suggest the next piece of evidence I should check.”

Finish with a concrete next action

“Save the agreed analysis as a Note. Include the sources, the assumptions we used and the two questions that remain unresolved.”

Explore how to use Primer Reports

Explore the other sections

The left-hand panel

Search

New session

Library

Companies

Reports

Routines

Calendar

Customize

Workspace tabs

Open Core Coverage

Choose Add companies

Send the request and review the response

Check your coverage

Do this

Do this

Do this

Do this

Finish with a concrete next action