Go from zero to finding and evaluating your first lead in under 15 minutes.
This guide assumes you are running Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit). For system requirements, see the Requirements page.
Double-click HippopotamooseSetup.exe. Accept the default installation path (C:\Program Files\Hippopotamoose). Keep both bundled dependency checkboxes ticked — you need Node.js and Cyotek WebCopy for the Demo and site-copying steps to work.
The installer silently installs Node.js, Cyotek WebCopy, the Claude CLI, and Wrangler. This takes 2–4 minutes on a normal internet connection. A progress dialog is displayed throughout.
Tick "Launch Hippopotamoose" on the final installer screen, or find it in the Start Menu under Hippopotamoose.
The app needs three external service credentials before any features work. Click ⚙ Settings in the top-right toolbar to open the Settings dialog.
| Field | What It Is | Where to Get It |
|---|---|---|
| Google Places API Key | Powers the Lead Discovery search | Google Cloud Console → APIs & Services → Credentials. Enable the Places API (New). |
| Cloudflare API Token | Used to deploy demo sites | Cloudflare Dashboard → My Profile → API Tokens. Create a token with Cloudflare Pages:Edit and Zone:DNS:Edit permissions. |
| Cloudflare Account ID | Identifies your Cloudflare account | Right panel of any Cloudflare dashboard page |
| Cloudflare Zone ID | Identifies the DNS zone for your domain | Right panel of your domain's Overview page in Cloudflare |
| Cloudflare Domain | The base domain for demo URLs (e.g. yourname.net) | The domain you manage in Cloudflare. Demos will appear at <slug>.demos.yourname.net. |
API keys are stored in the Windows Registry, not in any file on disk. They are never included in project exports unless you explicitly use Export API Keys in Settings.
After entering all keys, click Save. The app validates nothing at this stage — if a key is wrong, you'll see an error when you try to use the relevant feature.
Still in Settings, scroll down to AI Model & Effort. Four operations each have their own model setting:
Leave these at their defaults unless you have a reason to change them. Haiku 4.5 is faster but produces lower-quality sites.
In the Lead Discovery panel (top-left), type your target niche in the Niche field. Use plain English like plumber or roofing contractor, or use a Google Places API type with underscores like plumbing_contractor for more precise results.
Type the latitude and longitude of the city centre you want to target. Use Google Maps: right-click any point and copy the coordinates. Set a radius in kilometres (10–20 km is good for a city).
The app calls the Google Places API and adds every business with a website to the queue. You'll see them appear in the list below as they arrive. A typical city returns 15–40 results.
Click Save next to the Preset dropdown and give it a name. This stores your niche, coordinates, and radius so you can re-run the same search with one click in the future.
Switch your attention to the Lead Evaluation panel (top-right). The first business from the queue is automatically loaded in the browser preview.
Browse the site and make a judgement:
| Action | Keyboard | Button | What It Does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | ← | ✗ PASS | Rejects the lead. It moves to the Rejected list and never appears in the queue again. |
| Example | ↑ | ★ EXAMPLE | Downloads the site as a niche style reference (not added to the pipeline). |
| Copy | → | ✓ COPY | Downloads the site and adds it to the Active Sites Pipeline. |
Use the keyboard shortcuts — they're much faster than clicking when evaluating dozens of leads. Keep your left hand on the arrow keys and your right on the mouse.
Once you've sent a site to Copy, a background download starts (using Cyotek WebCopy). A progress bar appears at the bottom of the Swiper panel while the download runs. When it finishes, the site automatically appears in the pipeline below.