Getting started

1. Create your organisation

Sign up at patchpilot.co.uk/sign-up. The Free tier covers up to 25 Windows devices — no card required. You can switch to a paid tier later from Settings > Billing.

The first user becomes the organisation Owner: full control over billing, sub-processors, and user management.

2. Invite your team

Go to Settings > Users and invite teammates. Available roles:

• Owner — full tenant control, billing, user management.
• Admin — all operational actions: enrol, approve patches, manage baselines.
• Operator — execute approved actions but cannot approve or change baselines.
• Auditor — read-only across all tenant data, including audit logs.

3. Enrol your first device

Pick the platform and follow the dedicated guide:

• Windows agent (MSI / EXE / PowerShell / Intune)
• Linux agent (apt / yum / dnf)
• macOS agent (LaunchDaemon)

The agent registers within 60 seconds. Verify in Devices — the new row should show Online with a recent heartbeat. The first inventory pass (installed apps, OS posture, available updates) completes within ~5 minutes.

4. Approve your first patch

Once a device is enrolled and reporting, head to Patch Manager. You'll see two tabs that matter:

1. Approval Queue — updates the agent has discovered. Filter by ring (Pilot / Early / Broad), select rows, click Approve.
2. Deployments — in-flight or recent jobs, with rollback if a patch causes a regression.

On Windows, the agent takes a VSS snapshot before installation; on Linux it captures the package state via your package manager so a rollback can re-pin known-good versions.

5. Configure compliance evidence

Open Compliance and pick a framework: Cyber Essentials, SOC 2, ISO 27001, UK GDPR, PCI-DSS, or HIPAA. PatchPilot will tell you which controls are evidenced and which still need work. The exported PDF / CSV is what you hand to your auditor or insurance broker.

6. Set up alerts

From Integrations > Alerting, configure email digests and webhook endpoints. We recommend at minimum:

• A daily digest to your IT mailing list.
• A real-time webhook to Slack / Teams for critical findings.