A new hire's first week, planned before they arrive.
Onboarding planner is an AI employee onboarding agent. Give it a new hire's name, role and start date and it builds a dated first-week plan from your onboarding checklist, lists the intro meetings to book with who and why, and saves a welcome email draft in Gmail. It never sends the email and never books a meeting.
- 14:05Asked for Maya Torres
- 14:05Read the checklist, engineering track
- 14:06Matched 7 intro meetings
- 14:06Saved welcome draft · not sent
- 14:07Sent plan · nothing booked
Why does a new hire's first week slip?
Because the plan is rebuilt by hand for every start. Someone copies the checklist, works out the dates, guesses who the new hire should meet and writes the welcome email late. The intro with the department head gets missed, and the first week depends on who happened to be around.
Without it
- A checklist copied by hand for every new hire.
- Intro meetings nobody remembered to book.
- A welcome email written from scratch, late.
- A first week that depends on who's around.
With Onboarding planner
- Day 1 to 5, dated, from your checklist.
- Intros matched to people, with why.
- A welcome draft waiting in Gmail.
- Nothing sent and nothing booked without you.
What goes into an employee onboarding plan?
Four things every new hire needs before day one, each from your own checklist and team.
The first-week plan
Day 1 to 5 with real dates and times from your checklist: welcome, IT setup, the 1:1s and the first task.
Intro meetings
The intros your checklist asks for, matched to people by team and role, with the reason and the day.
The role's track
Engineering, sales, customer success or operations items added on top of the everyone list.
The welcome email
One draft from your template, to the new hire only: start time, day 1, manager and buddy.
How does AI employee onboarding work?
Every run follows the same five steps. Your checklist and team are only read; the only things it writes are one draft and one message.
- 1
Checks the details
Name, role and start date. If one is missing, or the date isn't a weekday, it asks.
- 2
Reads your checklist
The everyone list, the track for the role and the welcome template.
- 3
Matches each intro
One person per meeting from your team table, with the checklist's reason.
- 4
Drafts the welcome
To the new hire only, from your template, signed by People Ops. Not sent.
Gmail - 5
Sends the plan
Day 1 to 5 with real dates, the meetings to book and the draft's status.
Slack
- In a DM: @onboarding-planner Maya Torres, Software Engineer, starts Monday 2 Nov
- Run when your hiring tool calls its webhook as an offer is signed
From one sentence to a planned first week.
Describe the job, let Arclyx draft the agent, test it once with a real hire, create it, then read the plan that lands in Slack. The welcome waits in Gmail.
Paste the sentence. Arclyx picks the tools it needs and asks what it can't work out.
What should it do?
When I give you a new hire's name, role and start date, build their first-week plan from our onboarding checklist, list the intro meetings to book with who and why, save a welcome email draft in Gmail, and send me the plan.
- Tools it can use
- Gmail
- Slack
- Who signs the welcome email?
- Dana Whitfield, People Ops
It writes the instructions, and you sign in to each tool once. Nothing runs until you say so.
- Reading your description
- Writing the instructions
- Picking the tools
Onboarding planner
- Gmail
- Slack
When a hire is named
Try it once as a dry run. It reads your real tools, and what it would post is shown to you, not posted.
- Reads your checklist
- Matches each intro
- Drafts the welcomeGmail · Create draft
- Sends the planSlack · Post
Once it's created, the output lands where you said, with a source for every item.
09:30 welcome with People Ops; 11:00 IT setup; 13:00 lunch with her buddy Priya Raman; 14:30 1:1 with her manager Jun Takeda.
Manager and buddy as you named them.
↗ example-a.com/onboarding-checklistCompany overview with the CEO; product demo; architecture walk-through with a staff engineer.
From the everyone list plus the engineering track.
↗ example-a.com/onboarding-checklistTomas Reyes, VP Engineering: department goals for the quarter, Day 2. Elena Varga, CEO: company overview, Day 3.
Listed with who and why. Nothing booked.
↗ example-a.com/team-directoryWelcome draft saved to maya.torres@example.com: start time, day 1, manager, buddy and laptop.
Under 150 words, from your template. Not sent.
↗ example-a.com/onboarding-checklist
One plan, every new hire.
The same plan gives each person around a new hire what they need to do.
People Ops
Every new hire's week planned the same way, from the checklist.
Hiring managers
The meetings to book and why, in one message.
Founders
A first week that doesn't depend on who remembers.
Office and IT
Setup steps on the right day, for every start.
How do you use AI for employee onboarding?
Give an AI agent your onboarding checklist, your team table and a Gmail tool that can only draft. For each new hire it dates the first week, matches every intro to a person and drafts the welcome, then sends you the plan to check. In Arclyx that's five steps, starting with one sentence.
“When I give you a new hire's name, role and start date, build their first-week plan from our onboarding checklist, list the intro meetings to book with who and why, save a welcome email draft in Gmail, and send me the plan.”
- 1
Describe the job
One sentence: what you'll give it, which checklist and where the plan goes.
- 2
Upload your checklist and team table
The checklist as a document, with a welcome email template; the team as a table with names, roles and emails.
- 3
Connect Gmail
Sign in with Google. The agent gets one Gmail tool, create a draft, so it can't send.
- 4
Watch a dry run
Optional. Name a real hire; the draft is held and the plan shown to you.
- 5
Name each hire
Message it the name, role and start date whenever someone signs.
Or start from one of these sentences
“When I name a new contractor, build a three-day plan from our contractor checklist and list who they need access from.”
“When I name a new hire, list only the meetings their manager should book in week one, with who and why.”
“When I give you a new hire's name and start date, save a welcome draft in Gmail from our template and tell me it's ready.”
“When I name someone in their second week, list the remaining items from our onboarding checklist and who owns each.”
AI onboarding vs a checklist and templates.
A checklist and Gmail templates each cover part of the job. Here is what each one does, and doesn't, do.
| A checklist by hand | A checklist and Gmail templates | Onboarding planner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dated first-week plan | Copied and dated by hand | Copied and dated by hand | Built from the start date |
| Intro meetings | Worked out each time | Worked out each time | Matched to people, with why |
| Welcome email | Written from scratch | Inserted from a template, then edited | Drafted from your template, filled in |
| Role-specific steps | If someone remembers | If someone remembers | The role's track, every time |
| Sends or books | You do | You do | Neither: you review and send |
Source: Gmail help: create a template in Gmail, checked 24 October 2026.
Is it safe to let an AI agent onboard new hires?
It reads your checklist and team table, saves one draft and writes one message. It can't send email or book meetings. Every run is recorded and has a spend ceiling by default.
Every run is recorded
Every step, in order
Each run keeps a trace: the checklist sections it read, the people it matched and the draft it saved.
Gaps, said out loud
An intro with no matching person, or an assumed email address, is named in the plan, not hidden.
What each run cost
Tokens and cost are recorded per run and per agent, next to your plan's limits.
A spend ceiling, on by default
Each run has a dollar ceiling unless you remove it. A run stops before it goes over it, and tells you.
It can
- Read your onboarding checklist and team table
- Save one Gmail draft to the new hire
- Post to you or one Slack channel you name, or email you
It can't
- Send an email
- Book or change calendar events
- Pick a manager or buddy for you
- Email anyone but you
AI employee onboarding, answered.
What is AI employee onboarding?
Using an AI agent for the planning and paperwork around a new hire's start. Onboarding planner builds the first week from your own checklist, works out who each new hire should meet and drafts the welcome email, so People Ops reviews instead of writing.
Does it send the welcome email?
No. Its only Gmail tool saves drafts, so it can't send. It saves one draft, to the new hire's address alone, with no cc or bcc. A person reads it and presses send.
Does it book the intro meetings?
No. It has no calendar tool. It lists each meeting with the person, their role, why they're meeting and the day, and you book them.
Where does the plan come from?
Your onboarding checklist, uploaded to Arclyx: the list everyone follows plus the track for the new hire's role. It puts real dates on Day 1 to 5 from the start date and doesn't add items your checklist doesn't have.
How does it pick who they meet?
It matches each intro in your checklist, such as the department head or a product demo, to one person in your team table by team and role. If nobody fits, it reports the gap instead of guessing.
Does it choose the manager and buddy?
No. It uses the ones you name. If you name none, the plan says to be confirmed: it never picks them from the directory.
What if I don't give an email address?
It uses your directory's address pattern, such as firstname.lastname, and says so in the plan. Its instructions limit drafts to your company's own domain.
Do I need to write code?
No. Describe the job in one sentence and upload your checklist and team table. Arclyx drafts the agent, you sign in to Gmail once, and you can watch a dry run before you create it.
Agents that work well with it.
Build your onboarding planner.
One sentence in, a working agent out. Join the beta and we'll set you up.