# Step 1: Project Setup & File Upload

## Step 1: Project Setup

This step connects your questionnaire, sets your research context, and prepares the workspace.

1. #### Link your questionnaire

* Your questionnaire must be uploaded in the Design tab first
* Click Link & Parse Questionnaire to connect it
* The system uses AI to extract all questions from the document
* Wait for parsing to complete — you'll see a green badge showing "N questions parsed"

<div align="left"><figure><img src="https://1402057010-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FgtHd8o9ldznZ1hKHiZvc%2Fuploads%2Fy9RnPiybvIcktc3LYhkF%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=af6a9978-2ab8-40f5-a157-b8ae17ffc939" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

▎ Important: Once you proceed to Upload & Map and analyze mappings, the questionnaire becomes locked. You cannot change or unlink it after that point. To use a different questionnaire, you'll need to start a new session.

2. #### Add research context (optional)

* Type a research objective directly in the text box, OR
* If a client brief exists in your Design tab, it's used automatically (shown as a green badge)
* This context helps the AI generate more relevant code frames

3. #### Click Continue

* The Continue button is enabled once your questionnaire is successfully parsed
* Clicking Continue saves your setup and advances to Step 2