diff --git a/docs/user-onboarding-guide.md b/docs/user-onboarding-guide.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..311c22e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/user-onboarding-guide.md
@@ -0,0 +1,261 @@
+# User Onboarding Guide
+
+Welcome to **PayStream** — real-time salary streaming on Stellar. This guide walks you through everything from understanding core concepts to managing your first payment stream.
+
+---
+
+## Glossary
+
+| Term | Definition |
+|------|------------|
+| **Stream** | An on-chain arrangement where an employer continuously transfers salary to an employee per second |
+| **Deposit** | The total amount of tokens an employer locks into a stream upfront |
+| **Rate per second** | How many tokens the employee earns each second |
+| **Claimable** | The amount of tokens an employee can withdraw right now |
+| **Stop time** | Optional timestamp at which a stream automatically stops accruing |
+| **Stream ID** | Unique integer identifier for a stream |
+| **Employer** | The Stellar account that creates and funds the stream |
+| **Employee** | The Stellar account that receives streamed salary |
+| **Token contract** | The fungible token used as payment currency |
+| **Soroban** | Stellar's smart contract platform |
+| **Testnet** | Stellar's public test network — free to use, no real value |
+| **Mainnet** | Stellar's live production network — real value |
+
+---
+
+## Getting Started
+
+### What you need
+
+- A Stellar wallet (e.g., [Freighter](https://www.freighter.app/))
+- Some XLM for transaction fees (~0.01 XLM per transaction)
+- Payment tokens (the token your employer configured for your stream)
+- Stellar CLI (for command-line users): `cargo install --locked stellar-cli --features opt`
+
+### Network selection
+
+All examples below use **Testnet** for safety. Replace `--network testnet` with `--network mainnet` for production.
+
+Get a free Testnet account and tokens at [Stellar Laboratory](https://laboratory.stellar.org/).
+
+---
+
+## Tutorial: Create Your First Stream (Employer)
+
+This tutorial creates a stream paying an employee 1 token per second for 1 hour.
+
+### Step 1 — Deploy and initialize contracts
+
+If you have not deployed yet, follow the [Development Environment Setup](dev-environment-setup.md) guide. You will need your `STREAM_CONTRACT_ID` and `TOKEN_CONTRACT_ID`.
+
+```bash
+source .env.staging   # or .env with your contract IDs and keys
+```
+
+### Step 2 — Mint tokens to your employer account
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $TOKEN_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  --source-account $STELLAR_ADMIN_ADDRESS \
+  -- mint \
+  --to $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  --amount 10000
+```
+
+### Step 3 — Create the stream
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  --source-account $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  -- create_stream \
+  --employer $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  --employee $EMPLOYEE_ADDRESS \
+  --token $TOKEN_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --deposit 3600 \
+  --rate_per_second 1 \
+  --stop_time null
+```
+
+**Output:** a `stream_id` (e.g., `1`). Save this — you will use it for all future operations on this stream.
+
+### Step 4 — Verify the stream was created
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  -- get_stream --stream_id 1
+```
+
+Expected output includes `status: Active`, `deposit: 3600`, `rate_per_second: 1`.
+
+---
+
+## Tutorial: Withdraw Earnings (Employee)
+
+### Check what you can claim now
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  -- claimable --stream_id 1
+```
+
+### Withdraw all claimable earnings
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  --source-account $EMPLOYEE_ADDRESS \
+  -- withdraw \
+  --employee $EMPLOYEE_ADDRESS \
+  --stream_id 1
+```
+
+You can run `withdraw` as many times as you like — each call pays out everything accrued since your last withdrawal.
+
+---
+
+## Stream Management Guide (Employer)
+
+### Top up a stream
+
+Add more funds to an active stream so it does not exhaust:
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  --source-account $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  -- top_up \
+  --employer $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  --stream_id 1 \
+  --amount 3600
+```
+
+### Pause a stream
+
+Stop accrual temporarily (e.g., unpaid leave):
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  --source-account $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  -- pause_stream \
+  --employer $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  --stream_id 1
+```
+
+No tokens accrue while paused.
+
+### Resume a stream
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  --source-account $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  -- resume_stream \
+  --employer $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  --stream_id 1
+```
+
+### Cancel a stream
+
+Pays the employee all earned tokens to date and refunds the unearned remainder to the employer:
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke \
+  --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID \
+  --network testnet \
+  --source-account $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  -- cancel_stream \
+  --employer $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS \
+  --stream_id 1
+```
+
+### Stream status lifecycle
+
+```
+Active → Paused → Active
+Active → Cancelled
+Active → Exhausted  (deposit fully streamed)
+```
+
+---
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+### "Unauthorized" error on withdraw
+
+**Cause:** You are calling `withdraw` from a different account than the `employee` address in the stream.
+
+**Fix:** Ensure `--source-account` matches the `employee` address you used in `create_stream`.
+
+---
+
+### "Unauthorized" error on pause/cancel
+
+**Cause:** Only the employer can pause, resume, top-up, or cancel a stream.
+
+**Fix:** Use `--source-account $EMPLOYER_ADDRESS`.
+
+---
+
+### Claimable returns 0 right after creation
+
+**Cause:** The stream just started; very few seconds have elapsed.
+
+**Fix:** Wait a moment and query again. At 1 token/second, after 60 seconds you can claim 60 tokens.
+
+---
+
+### Stream status is "Exhausted"
+
+**Cause:** All deposited tokens have been streamed to the employee.
+
+**Fix:** The employer can no longer `top_up` an exhausted stream. Create a new stream.
+
+---
+
+### Transaction fails with "insufficient balance"
+
+**Cause:** Employer does not have enough tokens to cover the deposit.
+
+**Fix:** Mint or transfer tokens to the employer account before calling `create_stream`.
+
+---
+
+### "Entry not found" or "contract not initialized"
+
+**Cause:** Querying a stream ID that does not exist, or the contract was not initialized.
+
+**Fix:** Run `stream_count` to see how many streams exist. Ensure `initialize(admin)` was called after deployment.
+
+```bash
+stellar contract invoke --id $STREAM_CONTRACT_ID --network testnet -- stream_count
+```
+
+---
+
+## Video Tutorials
+
+> Video walkthroughs are planned for the following topics. Links will be updated as they are published.
+
+| Topic | Link |
+|-------|------|
+| Setting up a Stellar wallet and getting Testnet tokens | _coming soon_ |
+| Deploying PayStream contracts to Testnet | _coming soon_ |
+| Creating your first salary stream | _coming soon_ |
+| Withdrawing earnings as an employee | _coming soon_ |
+| Pausing, resuming, and cancelling streams | _coming soon_ |
+| Upgrading contracts on Mainnet | _coming soon_ |
+
+To request a specific tutorial topic, open an issue with the label `documentation`.