First session

This checklist assumes your administrator has completed deployment validation and assigned the correct project, instrument, storage, and workflow permissions.

Before the session

1. Confirm the project, user access, booking, sample, grid identity, and physical storage record.
2. Select the correct instrument and verify that its connection and service state are healthy.
3. Load the approved preset and calibration set for the instrument, camera, grid type, and planned mode.
4. Choose or create a workflow, then review every parameter that can change dose, movement, focus, or targeting.
5. Confirm storage capacity, compute availability, notification routing, and expected session duration.

Start the session

1. Create the session under the correct project and grid.
2. Complete the software preflight and the facility’s independent hardware checklist.
3. Acquire the atlas and review mapping, orientation, scale, and grid identity.
4. Build the target hierarchy, review automated selections, and approve the first bounded batch.
5. Observe the first acquisitions and quality results before expanding the queue.

During and after collection

• Treat warnings and unexpected readback as reasons to pause and inspect.
• Record operator changes rather than editing around the run history.
• Review motion, CTF, ice, contamination, picking, and other configured signals in context.
• At handoff, confirm that the session summary, selected data, workflows, and unresolved warnings are visible.

See Research-use and instrument safety for the mandatory operating boundary.