First-Time Setup Checklist

A step-by-step checklist for configuring CareNova after installation — from license activation to inviting your first staff members.

Written By Dev010

Last updated 19 days ago

This guide walks you through everything that needs to be configured after CareNova is installed and running for the first time. Follow these steps in order before handing the system to your team.

This guide assumes you have completed the Installation Guide, Supabase Setup, and Environment Variables guides and that CareNova is running without errors.

Step 1 — Activate Your License

When you first open CareNova in the browser, you will be redirected to the activation screen at /setup.

Enter your Envato purchase code to activate the application.

Your purchase code can be found in your CodeCanyon account:

Log in to codecanyon.net
Go to Downloads
Find CareNova in your purchase history
Click Download → License certificate & purchase code
Copy the purchase code (format: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx)
Paste it into the activation screen and click Activate

Once activated, you will be redirected to the login page.

Each purchase code activates one domain. If you need to deploy to multiple domains, you need a separate license for each.

Step 2 — Log In as Admin

On the login page, sign in with your admin account.

If you ran the seed script, use the demo admin account:

Email	Password
admin@carenova.demo	Demo123!

If you are setting up a live production system without demo data, you will need to create your first admin user manually in Supabase:

Go to Supabase → Authentication → Users
Click Add user → Create new user
Enter the admin email and a secure password
Copy the generated user ID (UUID)
In SQL Editor, run:

INSERT INTO users (id, full_name, email, role, approved_at)
VALUES (
  'paste-user-uuid-here',
  'Your Name',
  'admin@yourdomain.com',
  'admin',
  now()
);

Then log in with the credentials you created.

Step 3 — Configure Clinic Settings

After logging in, navigate to Dashboard → Settings.

Under the Clinic tab, configure the basic clinic information:

[ ] Clinic name — your actual clinic name
[ ] Clinic type — general, dental, or ophthalmology
[ ] Contact email — public contact email
[ ] Contact phone — public phone number
[ ] Contact address — physical clinic address

Click Save after making changes.

Setting the correct clinic type is important — it controls which modules appear in the dashboard navigation and which landing page layout is rendered for public visitors. Dental clinics get the Odontograms module; general and ophthalmology clinics get Medical Records.

Step 4 — Configure Role Permissions

CareNova ships with sensible default permissions for each role. Review and adjust them to match your clinic's workflow.

Navigate to Dashboard → Permissions.

The permissions matrix shows every permission key across all four roles — Admin, Doctor, Receptionist, and Nurse.

Review the following areas in particular:

Area	What to Check
Billing	Confirm which roles can create and edit invoices
Medical Records	Confirm nurse and receptionist access levels
Patients	Confirm who can delete patient records
Staff	Confirm who can view staff and salary information
Analytics	Confirm which roles see the dashboard overview

Toggle permissions on or off per role and click Save Permissions when done.

Admin always has full access to everything regardless of the permissions matrix. Permission changes only affect Doctor, Receptionist, and Nurse roles.

Step 5 — Create Departments

Departments organize your clinic's structure and are linked to patients, services, staff, and expenses.

Navigate to Dashboard → Departments and create the departments relevant to your clinic.

Common departments to create:

General Medicine
Dental
Cardiology
Pediatrics
Radiology
Laboratory
Administration

For each department, fill in:

[ ] Department name
[ ] Department code (short identifier)
[ ] Location (room or floor)
[ ] Contact phone and email
[ ] Annual budget (optional)

Departments must exist before you can assign patients, services, or staff to them. Create departments before moving to the next steps.

Step 6 — Add Services

Services define the treatments and procedures your clinic offers. They are linked to appointments and invoices.

Navigate to Dashboard → Services and add your clinic's services.

For each service, fill in:

[ ] Service name
[ ] Department
[ ] Price
[ ] Duration (in minutes)
[ ] Maximum bookings per day
[ ] Category
[ ] Special instructions (optional)

Appointments cannot be created without at least one active service. Add your most common services before inviting staff or creating appointments.

Step 7 — Invite Staff Members

Add your team members so they can log in and use the system.

Method A — Self-Signup with Approval

Share your CareNova URL with staff members and have them sign up at /signup.

After signing up and confirming their email, they will see a Pending Approval screen. As Admin, you will receive a notification and can approve them at:

Dashboard → Pending Approval

Click Approve next to each user and assign them their correct role.

Method B — Create Users Manually

For faster setup, create users directly in Supabase:

Go to Supabase → Authentication → Users
Click Add user → Create new user
Enter the staff member's email and a temporary password
Copy the generated UUID
In SQL Editor, run:

INSERT INTO users (id, full_name, email, role, 
                   department_id, approved_at)
VALUES (
  'paste-user-uuid-here',
  'Staff Member Name',
  'staff@yourdomain.com',
  'doctor',   -- or: receptionist, nurse
  'paste-department-uuid-here',  -- optional
  now()
);

Repeat for each staff member.

After creating users manually, send them their temporary password and ask them to change it on first login.

Step 8 — Add Staff Records

The Staff module maintains a separate roster used for scheduling, salary records, and HR information.

Navigate to Dashboard → Staff and add a record for each team member:

[ ] Full name and contact details
[ ] Role and department
[ ] Work schedule
[ ] Join date
[ ] Salary (optional)
[ ] Qualifications (optional)

The Staff module is separate from the Users table. Users are system accounts for logging in; Staff records are operational HR records. A person can exist in both tables.

Step 9 — Configure Inventory

If your clinic tracks medical supplies, set up your initial inventory before staff begin using the system.

Navigate to Dashboard → Inventory and add your initial stock items:

[ ] Name and category
[ ] Current quantity and unit
[ ] Minimum stock level (for low stock alerts)
[ ] Supplier information
[ ] Expiry date (for perishables)

Set realistic minimum stock levels. CareNova uses these values to trigger low stock alerts on the dashboard and in nurse/admin notifications.

Step 10 — Configure the Landing Page

Set up the public-facing page that patients and visitors see.

Navigate to Dashboard → Landing Settings and configure:

[ ] Clinic name and tagline
[ ] Logo (light and dark versions)
[ ] Primary and accent colors
[ ] Hero text and CTA button
[ ] Contact details
[ ] Social media links
[ ] SEO meta title and description

For a full walkthrough of every setting, see the Landing Page Configuration guide.

Step 11 — Configure the Cron Job

CareNova includes a background cleanup job that removes expired sessions and old authentication logs. This must be scheduled to run daily.

See the Cron Setup guide for complete instructions on configuring this for Vercel or an external cron service.

The endpoint to schedule:

GET /api/cron/cleanup-auth
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_CRON_SECRET

Recommended schedule: daily at 2:00 AM UTC.

Setup Complete — Final Checklist

Run through this checklist before opening the system to your team:

Activation & Access

[ ] License activated at /setup
[ ] Admin account logged in successfully
[ ] Demo accounts removed or passwords changed (production only)

Core Configuration

[ ] Clinic name and type configured in Settings
[ ] Role permissions reviewed and saved
[ ] Departments created
[ ] Services added

Team

[ ] Staff user accounts created and approved
[ ] Staff records added in the Staff module
[ ] Each team member can log in successfully

Operations

[ ] Inventory stocked with initial items
[ ] Landing page configured and reviewed
[ ] Cron job scheduled and tested

Production Only

[ ] Demo seed data removed or kept for reference
[ ] CARENOVA_DEBUG removed from Vercel environment variables
[ ] Email confirmation tested end-to-end
[ ] All four Supabase storage buckets confirmed public

Once all items are checked, CareNova is ready for your team. ✅

Next Step

Configuration is complete. Explore the Modules collection to learn how each dashboard module works in detail, or continue to Clinic Type / Demo Mode for information on switching and previewing clinic configurations.