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Join a node

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You can read OHM without an account. Browsing designs, searching facilities, running a match — none of it needs a credential. An account is what lets you write: add a design, list a facility, save a match.

On most nodes you can make one yourself.

Register

Go to /register, or open the same form where you are — on Generate, when saving or when the language model asks for an account. The form names this node and who runs it. Choose a username, a password and a display name. The node creates an account and signs you in. The browser holds that session in a cookie. There is no token to copy.

The two names are the node's own: OHM_FEDERATION_NODE_NAME (default OHM Node) and OHM_NODE_OPERATOR (default the operator of this node). They are shown whether or not federation is turned on.

One thing appears once: a recovery code. Copy it or download it, and confirm you have saved it somewhere other than this browser, before continuing. It is the way back in if you forget the password.

Nothing asks for an email address, because the node does not want one. There is nothing to verify and nothing to leak.

Signing in later is /login, with the same username and password.

A script still uses an API key. ohm identity register prints one, and a key you already have can be pasted under Settings. That pasted key stays on this tab only. The website session does not.

If the node will not let you

You will see "This node does not accept registrations" instead of a form. That is the node's choice: open registration is on in the peacetime and crisis postures and off in shielded. Ask whoever runs it for a key — see Get a write key.

Your account

/account is yours. Settings is for operators; this page is for you.

It shows who you are — display name, account id, your DID — and what your key can do. From here you can:

  • Create a key for a script. Signup does not hand one out.
  • See your keys, when each was created, and how long each has left.
  • Renew one before it expires.
  • Revoke one you no longer want, or revoke every other key if you think one has leaked.

Keys expire. That is deliberate: a key that lives forever is one that is still valid years after the laptop it was typed into was sold. The lifetime depends on the node's posture — 180 days in peacetime, 365 in crisis, 30 in shielded.

If you lose your key

Go to /recover, enter your recovery code, and choose a new password. The node signs you in on this browser, revokes every key and session the account had, and shows a replacement recovery code.

A recovery code works once. Using it invalidates it and gives you a new one — save that too. The command-line recovery, ohm identity recover --code, still prints an API token, for one release.

If you have lost both the key and the code, there is nothing to recover with. An operator can create you a new account, but your old one is not reachable: the node never had anything that could prove you were you except those two secrets. Nodes in shielded posture do not offer recovery at all.

Staying signed in

A session from the website lasts until you sign out, you are idle for 30 days, or 90 days pass. Closing the tab does not sign you out.

A key you pasted into Settings lasts for that tab only. Pasting an admin key into a shared machine should not outlive the window.

What an account does not do

It does not make your records public. New records are private, and stay that way until you say otherwise. See Who can see your data.