Practical guide · first access and first operations

Opening and using Metnos

Which address opens it, how to get in the first time, what you do in the chat, and the exact steps to add a person. If you are looking for the map of the administration pages, that is in the interface guide.

8770the web chat port/admin/userswhere users are created

Metnos runs on a computer of yours, at home or in the office. There is no public website to sign in to: the address is the address of the machine you installed it on. Everything below applies on that machine and on the local network it sits in.

Which address opens it Getting in the first time What you do in the chat Where the settings are Creating a new user If you cannot find something

Which address opens it

The web chat answers on port 8770. A guided installation normally exposes it to the whole local network, so you can use it from your phone or laptop too; in phase 4 you can restrict it to the hosting computer only.

Where you open it from	Address
From the computer hosting Metnos	`http://127.0.0.1:8770/`
From another device on the same home network	`http://<address-of-the-computer>:8770/`

You do not have to guess the address: when the installation ends, Metnos prints the exact addresses to use and saves them in ~/.local/share/metnos/install_summary.md. If you lost them, open that file again.

One thing not to do. Do not forward port 8770 on your router and do not expose Metnos directly to the internet. It is meant for a private network you trust.

Getting in the first time

When the installation ends, Metnos gives you a complete address that already contains a single-use access code: open it exactly as it is, without editing it. If there is more than one address, one is for the computer itself and the others are for the other devices on the network.

If that code has expired you have two ways: re-run the last installation phase, which issues a new one, or open /admin/login and paste the administration key. The key is a text file on the computer hosting Metnos, at ~/.config/metnos/admin.key: it is read from there only, and it is not to be sent to anyone.

./.venv/bin/python -m install --force-phase 6

Once you are in, the browser keeps the access and does not ask for the key on every visit.

What you do in the chat

The main page is a conversation: you write what you need in your own words and it does it. There is no list of commands to learn. When a request means a real change — deleting, moving, sending something out — Metnos stops and asks you to confirm before going ahead.

You can also talk to it from Telegram. It is the same system, with the same identity and the same permissions, but each channel keeps its own conversation and its own history. The administration pages exist in the web chat only: if Telegram points you to a Settings path, that path opens in the browser.

To know what you can ask, the domain reference lists the subjects Metnos can handle, with example requests written the way you would say them.

Where the settings are

From the web chat you reach Settings, the administration side. It opens on a state overview and branches into four sections; every page answers at an address starting with /admin. The complete map of the pages is a page of its own, generated from the system registry, so it stays aligned with what you actually installed.

The pages under /admin are opened by the instance administrator only: an invited guest uses the chat, not the settings.

Creating a new user

You need this when you want another person — a family member, a guest — to talk to your Metnos with their own identity, their own history and their own permissions. There are two distinct moments: first you create the person's record, then you give them a way in.

First moment: creating the record

From the web chat open Settings > System > Users, that is /admin/users.

At the top of the page there is the box for creating a new guest. Fill in the fields:

Field	What to put in it
name	A short identifier, lowercase letters, digits and underscore only: `lucia`, `marco_r`. It is required.
display name	The name as you read it: `Lucia Rossi`.
email	The person's address, if they have one.
role	`guest` for a guest, `host` for a second owner. When in doubt leave `guest`.
autonomy	How much they may do on their own: `read_only` only looks, `restricted` asks for confirmation on operations that change something, `full` goes ahead alone. When in doubt leave `restricted`.

Press create. The person appears in the list below, still with no channel connected: they exist, but they cannot get in yet.

Second moment: giving them access

Open the person's name in the list to reach their detail page, and from there issue a connection code for the channel they will use. The code is valid for one hour and is single-use.

Web chat. Metnos generates a complete address. You send it to the person, they open it on their own phone or computer, and from then on they get straight in without typing anything.
Telegram. Metnos generates a code. The person opens a conversation with your instance's Telegram bot and sends /start followed by the code; the bot answers with a confirmation.

Send the code only through a way you trust — in person, or over a private conversation. Whoever has that address gets in as that person. If it expires before being used, go back to the user's detail page and generate another one: the old one is of no further use.

From that same detail page you can later edit the person's data, disconnect a channel, change their preferences or delete them.

If you cannot find something

You do not have to memorise any of this. Ask Metnos in the chat, in your own words: "where do I change the model?", "how do I invite someone?". It answers with the path and the address of the page, and describes what is in your installation. If a page does not exist on your instance it says so, instead of inventing it.