First Time Setup

First‑time setup

1. Create the admin account

On first launch, opening PhotoDock redirects you to /setup. Create the first user — this account is an admin (it can manage everything). You'll need an email address (used for alerts and password reset).

After that, sign in at /login.

2. Public dashboard URL

This is the single most important setting if you'll use cloud sources, remote devices, or email links.

Settings → Cloud photo sources (or the Alerts section) → Public base URL → enter just your external HTTPS domain, e.g. https://photos.example.com, then Save.

It drives, automatically:

• the OAuth redirect URIs for OneDrive/Google (shown read‑only for you to copy),
• the device / API URLs shown in Device setup and the API reference,
• the device pairing URL,
• links inside alert emails.

Must be HTTPS and reachable from outside (see reverse proxy). If you leave it blank, the app falls back to whatever host a request arrived on, which is usually wrong behind a proxy.

3. Create a screen

A screen is a display target. Go to the gallery (home) → New screen (e.g. "Hallway"). You can then create albums inside it and upload photos.

4. (Optional) tune display settings

Settings → Display Settings: timezone, date/time overlay, slideshow interval, image brightness/saturation for e‑ink, theme, etc.

What to do next

• Add a device and pair it to a screen.
• Connect a cloud source to import photos.
• Configure email & alerts.
• Invite users.

Back up your data

Everything lives in the data/ folder: data.json (accounts/settings/metadata), uploads/ (photos), secret.key (encryption key). Back it up regularly. Losing secret.key makes encrypted secrets unrecoverable (you'd just re‑enter them).