How Do I Know What's Left to Set Up on My Blog?

The Setup Assistant at Admin → Setup runs thirteen checks against your actual blog data — not a static list you fill in once and forget — and reports each one honestly as done, to do, or couldn't check. The dashboard shows your top three unresolved items as a preview; the full page groups all thirteen into five categories, with a line of evidence behind every single one.

Where do I find it?

Open Admin and look for Setup in the sidebar's Site section — it sits alongside things like Integrations and Security, not tucked inside Settings. You'll also see a compact version on the dashboard once you've finished onboarding: a card with your top three unresolved items and a 'View all →' link to the full page. That card can be collapsed or dismissed from the dashboard itself; dismissing it doesn't change any underlying setting, and the full /admin/setup page stays reachable from the sidebar either way.

What do 'done,' 'to do,' and 'couldn't check' actually mean?

Every check resolves to exactly one of three states, and VeloCMS is deliberate about never blending them. The headline at the top reads something like '8 done · 3 to do · 2 couldn't be checked' — three separate numbers, never a single percentage, because a percentage can't tell the difference between an honest zero and a check that simply failed to run.

'Couldn't check' is its own category, not a disguised failure. If a check times out or your data is briefly unreachable, it reports 'couldn't check' with a neutral badge and a question-mark icon — it's never counted toward 'to do,' and it never wears the same warning color as something you actually need to fix. In the rare case where VeloCMS can't reach your data at all, the whole page says so plainly instead of showing a wall of red or a fake 0%.

Two checks — verifying your custom domain and verifying your newsletter sender domain — are flagged more urgently than the rest. Both mean a promise you've already made to your readers (a domain visitors expect to work, a newsletter you've already started sending) isn't being kept yet.

The thirteen checks, grouped into five categories

Each row shows the check's title, a short explanation, and a line of evidence pulled straight from your data. Click 'Fix this' next to anything unresolved and it takes you straight to the admin page that handles it.

Foundation

Publish your first post — confirms your blog has at least one published post readers can actually see.
Choose a theme — confirms an active theme is set instead of a blank default.
Add a blog description — confirms your blog has a description readers, and search engines, can read.

Reach

Connect a custom domain — available on Pro and above; confirms you've pointed a domain you own at your blog.
Verify your custom domain — the critical follow-up: a connected domain that hasn't finished verification can serve your blog unreliably.
Set a default SEO description — confirms pages without their own meta description still get a sensible one in search results.
Add your social links — confirms at least one social profile is linked so readers can find you elsewhere.
Enable analytics — confirms an analytics plugin like Plausible or Google Analytics is connected.

Audience

Set up your newsletter — confirms a newsletter provider is configured so readers can subscribe.
Verify your newsletter sender domain — the critical one: sending from an unverified domain means your newsletters can bounce or land in spam.

Revenue

Choose a payment provider — only shown if you run a store; confirms which payment rail charges your customers.
Connect Stripe for paid subscriptions — confirms your own Stripe account is connected so you can charge readers directly.

Integrity

Customise your legal pages — flags a privacy policy or terms page that still carries the default starter text.

Why does it say some checks are hidden?

Not every check applies to every blog. The two custom-domain checks only apply on Pro and above; the payment-provider check only applies once you've turned on a store. Rather than pretend those checks don't exist, the page counts them and lists them behind a 'Show hidden checks' toggle near the bottom, so you can always see exactly what's being skipped and why instead of wondering whether something silently vanished.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Setup Assistant score affect my plan or my search ranking? No — it's a checklist for you, not a metric anyone else sees.
What's the 'Active API keys' number at the bottom of the page? It's an informational count, not a check — it just tells you how many API keys are currently active on your account.
Can I ignore a check permanently? Yes. Nothing here is enforced; unresolved items just keep showing up until you fix them or the underlying condition changes.
Why did a check I just fixed still say 'to do'? The page reads live data on every visit, so refresh it — if it still shows 'to do' after a refresh, the underlying setting likely didn't save.
Is this the same as the old onboarding checklist? No. The dashboard checklist now pulls its top-three preview from this same set of checks, so the two will never disagree with each other.