Onboarding a space

A space is your own website on the platform — an isolated environment with its own address, its own content, and its own design. Where the account is who you are, a space is where you make things.

Do you actually need a space? A space is for publishing a site of your own. If you only want to follow content and collect it, an account is enough — no space required. And to simply receive a space’s updates, you can install its app straight from the site: completely anonymous, no account at all, yet still able to get notifications and location-aware prompts (see Reach). Create a space only when you want to publish.

What you get

When you create a space at onboard.ctxr.app, you receive your own subdomain (yourname.ctxr.app), full owner rights over it, a starter plan that sets your limits and features, and a site that already works on day one. A new space isn’t an empty screen — it begins as a clone of a curated example, structure and example content together, which you then make your own. That choice is explained in The adoption model.

Your account is handled here too. You don’t have to visit account.ctxr.app first. The email you verify during onboarding either links to the account you already have — same email, same identity — or, if it’s new to the platform, an account is created for you at the same time. Onboarding is the one flow that sets up a space and an account together; everywhere else the two are separate.

After you sign up, the space needs a moment to be provisioned. You’ll get a message when it’s ready.

The wait between signing up and getting in is the perfect moment to line up the next step — Developing a build. A developer can plan your content and start on templates before the space is even live.

Your first login

You’ll receive a link that opens your space at yourname.ctxr.app. Just like your account, there are no passwords: a six-digit code arrives by email, you enter it, and you’re in. This is a separate sign-in from your account — the space checks you against its own editors, and a session for one place never carries to another. Why that’s deliberate, and why invited editors need no platform account at all, is explained in Separate sign-ins.

What you’ll see

A working site with a toolbar. The toolbar is your editor — it lets you browse content, create new entries, and manage the space. Editors only ever touch content; they never edit templates or files. To understand the three layers a space is made of — content, settings, and the build — see What is a space.

Inviting others

As the owner you always hold full rights. You can invite additional editors, each with their own email login and their own permissions: you decide who can create, who can publish, and who can only look. Keys for external systems are set up the same way. How rights are granted and enforced is covered in the security model, and the difference between owning, editing and following in Owning vs following.

Next step

Your space runs, but it’s still wearing the example’s clothes. To make it truly yours — your design, your content structure — you’ll want a developer. That’s the final step: Developing a build.