Mandala
Coming really soon
PartialHow to

The first run

The first time you open a new Mandala, a calm setup assistant takes over the screen: one decision per screen, a Back on each, nothing to remember.

Open Mandala at its https address (see Tailscale and HTTPS). Face ID and passkeys need a secure address.

Create your identity

  1. Hello. Choose Create your identity (I'm new to Mandala). If you already use Mandala on another device, choose Join your identity instead: see Join a device with a code.
  2. What's your first name? That is all Mandala asks. No email, no password.
  3. Use Face ID to keep it yours (Touch ID, Windows Hello, or your phone, depending on the device). Your browser saves a passkey; it becomes the key that signs you in and decides which devices are yours. On a computer without Face ID, Use another device signs with your phone.
  4. Choose what powers your accomplice: sign in with ChatGPT, sign in with Grok, paste an API key, or use a model on this computer. Mandala tries it live: the model greets you by name and shows how long it took. See Choose a model.
  5. Welcome. You're in, with your seal, a drawing made from your identity's key, the same on every device.

Signing in later is one button and Face ID, with nothing typed. Sessions last 30 days on your own devices.

What happens underneath

On its first start, a node creates its storage, its master key (master.key, which encrypts every credential you store), its device key, your accomplice's identity, and the Docs vault (this manual). When you create your identity, one Face ID signs your root configuration (your passkey as its authority) and this device's certificate together.

Then

  1. Tell your accomplice who it is: Settings → Accomplice → Constitution. Meet your accomplice
  2. Add a second way back in Settings → If you lose your devices: another device, or a recovery kit. Keys and recovery
  3. Turn on notifications on your phone. Notifications
  4. Connect one channel you use every day. Connecting your life
  5. Plan backups: copy ~/.mandala, especially master.key. Backups and restore

Coming soon — the rest of the assistant: meeting your accomplice on screen (a spectrum from assistant to accomplice, its form, name, look and voice, with live previews), bringing in what you already have (ChatGPT exports, notes, Google), bringing your life in with value-first cards, and how much your accomplice may do alone.

Nodes configured before accounts

A node whose environment file sets ALMA_OWNER_NAME or MANDALA_PRINCIPAL is considered already set up: there is no first-run assistant, and no sign-in is required until you add a passkey in Settings → Security and turn on Require sign-in. Until then, the network is its only wall (Users and permissions).