To get started:

• Go to chatbot.tilburg.ai.
• Choose how you would like to log in:
  • Log in with SSO using your Tilburg University account, or
  • Log in as an external user (if you are outside Tilburg University).
• The system automatically recognizes whether you are a student, lecturer, or staff member.
• Once logged in, you're ready to create your chatbot.

After logging in, you'll arrive at the home screen.

What you see:

• Left side: Your chatbot overview
  All chatbots you've created appear here. "Tilly (general chat)" is always listed. This chatbot answers questions about how the platform itself works.
• Center area: Your next steps
  You can choose to: Create a new chatbot to build something from scratch, or See my own chatbots to manage or edit existing bots.

To build your first chatbot, click Create a new chatbot.

You'll now enter the creation interface. The screen is divided into two sections: Left: Configuration and Right: Live Preview.

1. Bot Name — At the top, enter a clear, descriptive name (e.g. "Economics"). This is the name users will see.
2. Chatbot Instructions — This defines how your chatbot behaves. Be specific about tone (supportive, formal, concise), role (tutor, examiner, coach), and teaching approach (step-by-step, Socratic, summary-based). These instructions directly shape how the chatbot responds.
3. Upload Knowledge (Optional) — Below the instructions, you can upload lecture slides, course notes, memos, or research papers. Maximum file size: 2GB. This becomes your chatbot's knowledge base.
4. Preview in Real Time — On the right, a live preview updates as you edit. You'll see starter question buttons and example preview text.
5. Finalize Creation — When everything looks good, click Create (top right corner). Your chatbot is now live.

After creation, open the chatbot. In the navbar at the top, next to the chatbot title, you'll see a dropdown menu. Open it to find:

• Share chatbot — to invite people and manage access
• Usage — to view analytics (see Step 6)
• Other options such as Edit chatbot and New Chat

Click Share chatbot to open the sharing modal.

A modal window appears with three sharing options:

• Access via Invite — Enter email addresses, assign roles (e.g. collaborator, chat-only access). Invitations show as "Invite pending" until accepted.
• Access via Link — Generate a shareable link and copy it using the Copy link button.
• Institutional Access — Select institutions if applicable.

Important: Collaborators can edit content and even delete the chatbot depending on permissions — assign roles carefully.

In the same dropdown next to the chatbot title in the navbar, click Usage to open the analytics dashboard.

You'll see:

• Total chats
• Number of users
• Average messages per chat
• Number of uploaded documents

Below that, the Activity Analysis section shows a date range selector, a visual graph of chat activity, and the number of conversations started per day. This allows you to track engagement, measure adoption, evaluate learning impact, and improve chatbot instructions over time.