First run

From a fresh container to a first settled bill.

#1. Prove you run the server

A fresh instance has no account, and every page sends you to the setup screen. Anyone who finds the URL before you could claim the admin account, so the screen asks for a code only the server's log shows. At boot, the server prints:

Setup code: 123 456 (valid 15 minutes). Enter it at /auth/setup to create the admin account.

Read it with docker compose -f compose.prod.yaml logs opencount (or docker logs opencount). The code is six digits, valid 15 minutes, and allows five tries. Expired? Code expired? Print a new one writes a fresh one to the log, at most once a minute.

#2. Create the admin account

Enter your email, your name and a password typed twice. A password needs at least 12 characters, three of lowercase, uppercase, digit and symbol, and must not contain the name part of your email.

That first account is the admin. From then on the setup screen is gone: it sends visitors to sign-in, and nobody can use it again.

#3. Follow the checklist

You land on the admin overview, which opens with a Getting started checklist:

• Set up email, so invites and sign-up codes arrive by themselves. See Email.
• Secure your admin account with an authenticator app or a passkey, from Account, Security.
• Invite someone: an invite is a link, emailed when email works, or copied and sent yourself. See The admin area.

Each step is optional. Without email, invites still work by link.

#4. Make a group

Back on Groups, start a group: a name, like Lisbon trip, and a currency. You are its first member. Open it, then Settings, Members to add the others by name. They don't need an account yet: once they have one, add it by email and they claim their name with That's me. See Groups and members.

#5. Add an expense

Add expense opens a sheet: what it was for, the amount, who paid, the date and how to split it. The category is guessed as you type. See Expenses.

#6. Settle up

The group's balance hero shows where you stand. Settle up lists the fewest payments that bring everyone to zero; record each one when it happens. See Balances and settling up.

#Install it on a phone

Open the instance in the phone's browser and sign in: OpenCount offers to install itself the first time. Otherwise add it to the home screen yourself: Share, Add to Home Screen in Safari, Install app in Chrome. It then opens standalone, without browser chrome, like any other app, and can send notifications. This needs HTTPS.

#If something is wrong

The usual first-run failure is the origin: pages render but every form says Cross-site POST form submissions are forbidden. Read Configuration. For anything else, Troubleshooting.