# Step 1 · Identity

The first step captures who the trial is and how to reach the team. These details
appear on participant-facing pages and in the consent paperwork.

## What you set here

Trial name
: A readable title. It must start with a letter or number and can contain spaces and
  common punctuation.

Ethics / protocol reference
: Your governance reference. Required before the trial can go live.

ClinicalTrials.gov ID
: Optional registry identifier.

Support email
: Where participants can reach the trial team. Required before launch.

Opening date
: When recruitment opens. Required, and it cannot be in the past when you launch. You
  can finalise a trial ahead of time and it stays hidden from participants until this
  date passes.

Closing date
: Optional. If set, it must be at least a day after the opening date.

Inactivity dropout (days)
: Optional. How many days of participant inactivity before they are automatically
  treated as dropped out. This is separate from recruitment planning (see
  {doc}`../enrolment`).

## Tips

- The name and ethics reference are the two identity fields the launch checks insist
  on, so fill them in early.
- The support email is shown to participants, use an address the team monitors.

Next: **{doc}`2-assessments`**.