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Administrator guide

Create the first owner

Turn a healthy deployment into an owned, recoverable OpenCircle Server.

The first owner completes the Server's trust boundary. Until this step is done, a healthy deployment is still an unclaimed shell.

Keep three credentials distinct

  • Account password — signs the owner into OpenCircle.
  • Approval PIN — confirms sensitive local actions.
  • Recovery codes — recover the account; each plaintext code is shown once.

Store all three in a password manager. Never put them in commands, chat, screenshots, tickets, or ordinary notes.

Claim the Server

  1. Open the exact /claim URL issued for this Server. Plain HTTP is acceptable only when the host is exactly localhost or a loopback address — every other origin needs HTTPS.
  2. Before entering credentials, confirm the scheme, hostname, and port still match the Server you intended to claim, and never continue through a certificate warning or a lookalike hostname.
  3. Confirm the private claim fragment disappears from the address bar.
  4. Choose the permanent owner handle, then complete account creation with the permanent password.
  5. Confirm the display name and enter a private 6–8 digit PIN twice, then select Complete setup once.
  6. Save every recovery code immediately, then open the Server Guide.

Prove ownership survives the ceremony

  • Configure or confirm one model-capable provider.
  • Complete one useful model-backed reply.
  • Sign out.
  • Return to the Server Guide with no leftover query or fragment in the address.
  • Sign in as the same owner and confirm the Server Guide returns.

If the browser closes or the claim link expires, resume the same deployment instead of creating a replacement or submitting the owner profile twice just to test it.