Getting started
crux help
How to install crux, set it up, and use every tab, setting and workflow.
crux is an estimating app for subcontractors. It runs on your Windows computer and works through your own Claude subscription. It reads a bid's documents, asks you what it cannot find, measures from the drawings, and drafts the estimate, the proposal and the RFIs for you to check and send.
These pages explain every tab, every setting and the everyday jobs, in plain words. Inside crux, click Help (the question-mark button at the top right, next to the gear) or the small ? beside a page title to open the matching page.
Start here
- Install crux on your computer.
- Sign in to Claude Code with your own Claude account.
- Add your license key.
- Walk through the setup wizard: your company, templates, rates, email and calendar, and your bids folder.
- Onboard your first bid.
The tabs
| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Chat | Talk to crux about a job. Most work starts here. |
| Project | One job's home: deadlines, questions, documents, takeoff, estimate and drafts. |
| Takeoff | The drawing canvas, where you check and approve what crux measured. |
| Binder | The job's written documents: bid brief, RFI log, facts and diary. |
| Bid Board | Every bid you are chasing, from your calendar and by hand. |
| Brain | What crux remembers, drawn as a map. |
| AI Center | How much of your Claude plan crux is using, and what runs in the background. |
A trade pack can add tabs of its own. See Pack pages.
Rules crux always follows
- It never guesses a quantity. Quantities come from the drawings' own lines. When a wall height or another number is missing, crux asks you.
- It cites what it says. Facts carry a citation to the spec section, sheet or addendum they came from. Click one to see the page.
- Unknowns become questions or RFIs, never quiet assumptions.
- Prices you have not confirmed are marked budget-grade, so you can see what still needs a real number.
- Nothing leaves your company on its own. Proposals, RFIs and emails are drafts. You send them yourself.
Need a hand?
- Something stopped working: see Troubleshooting.
- Short answers to common questions: see the FAQ.
- Talk to us: tell crux in any chat, "report this to crux support". See Support.