Introduction

indis.io connects physical and software devices — a boiler controller, a maintenance system, anything running an indis.io service — to the people who need to see and manage them, from a website or from the indis.io app on your phone, tablet, or desktop.

This guide is for using indis.io: signing in, adding a device, installing the software (a “service”) that runs on it, and managing your account and team. If you’re a developer building a new service on the indis.io framework, you want the separate Developer Guide instead.

The shape of things

A few words come up throughout this guide, worth knowing up front:

Account — your workspace. It’s separate from your sign-in identity: one person can belong to more than one account (say, a technician who works with several customers), and an account can have several people in it with different roles. You create or join an account the first time you sign in.
Device — a piece of hardware or a standalone computer running indis.io software. A device belongs to exactly one account.
Service — the actual piece of software running on a device (what it does). A device can run more than one service.
App — the published, installable version of a service, listed in the Catalog. Installing an app onto a device is what creates a running service there.

What you can do here

Sign in and create or join an account.
Add a device to your account.
Install a service onto that device.
Use your Devices page, the mobile & desktop app, and the Catalog day to day.
Manage team members and billing.

If something doesn’t work the way this guide describes, check Troubleshooting first.

Signing in

Go to the indis.io website and click Sign in. This hands you off to indis.io’s identity provider, where you sign in (or, if you’re new, create your login there) — then you’re brought back to indis.io, signed in.

There’s no separate username/password form on the indis.io site itself; all of that happens on the identity provider’s own page. If your organization uses single sign-on, this is also where that happens.

Accounts vs. signing in

Being signed in proves who you are. It doesn’t by itself put you in an account — the workspace where your devices, team, and billing actually live. The first time you sign in with no account yet, you’ll see a prompt to create your account (just a name — you’ll be its owner) or, if someone invited you, to accept that invitation and join theirs instead.

You can belong to more than one account. If you do, look for an account switcher near the top of the account pages to move between them — everything described in the rest of this guide (your devices, your catalog, your team) is scoped to whichever account is currently active.

Being invited to an existing account

If a teammate invites you, you’ll get an invitation link. Opening it while signed in adds you to their account with whatever role they set for you — see Team members for what roles mean. If you’re not signed in yet, you’ll be sent to sign in first, then brought back to accept.

Adding a device

A device is whatever computer or piece of hardware is going to run the indis.io software — a gateway box on a machine, a small computer in a boiler room, or even just a server. Adding one is a two-step process: first you register the device in your account, then you install the actual software onto it. This second step involves running one command on that computer, so it’s usually done by whoever is physically setting the device up (an installer, a technician, or you, if that’s you).

Step 1 — Register the device

Go to Devices in your account.
Under Add a device, type a name for it (e.g. “Boiler Room” or “Line 3 Gateway”) and click Create device.

You’ll see a new card for it. At this point it exists in your account, but it isn’t running anything yet.

Step 2 — Install a service onto it

On the device’s card, click + Add service. This is where you choose what software the device will run — see Installing a service on a device for the rest of that step, including the one command you’ll need to run on the device itself.

What the device card shows

Once a device is running something, its card shows:

Its name (click to rename it).
Whether it’s online or offline right now.
A hardware id, unique to that physical device or install.
One row per service running on it, with its status, version, and update controls.

See Your Devices page for what you can do from there day to day.

Installing a service on a device

This is the step that actually gets software running on a device you’ve added. It has one technical part — running a single command on the device itself — so plan on doing this from (or with remote access to) the actual computer, not just from your phone.

Generate a credential

On the device’s card (Devices page), click + Add service.
Pick the app you want to install from the dropdown — this is one of the apps listed in the Catalog.
Give the service a name (how you’ll tell it apart from others on the same device, if there are more than one).
Click Generate credential.

This reveals a one-time credential and a ready-to-copy command, shaped like:

curl -fsSL https://indis.io/install.sh | sh -s -- --app <app-id> --token <credential> --server https://indis.io

Copy the credential and the command now — the credential is shown exactly once and can’t be retrieved again later (though you can always generate a new one if you lose it).

Run the command on the device

Paste and run that command in a terminal on the device itself. It downloads and installs the service, and connects it to your account using the credential — that’s what tells indis.io “this software instance belongs to this device, in this account.”

Once it’s running, refresh the Devices page and you should see the service appear on the device’s card, with a status and a version number.

If you need to do this again

Lost the credential before running the install command? Generate a new one — the old one simply won’t be used.
Installing a second service on the same device? Repeat this whole flow — + Add service again, choose the app, generate a fresh credential, run the command.
Setting up several devices with the same service? Repeat the whole flow once per device — each device gets its own credential.

Your Devices page

Once you have devices added and running services, the Devices page is where you check on them day to day.

Each device is its own card, showing:

Name — click to rename it. This is just a label for you; it doesn’t change anything about how the device runs.
Online / offline — whether the device currently has a live connection. A device that’s been offline for a while may just be turned off, or it may have lost its network connection — see Troubleshooting if it’s staying offline longer than expected.
Hardware id — a fixed identifier for that physical device or install. Useful when you’re troubleshooting with support, or telling two similarly-named devices apart.
One row per service running on that device:
- Its current status.
- Its version and which update channel it follows (most services default to stable, the most tested track — a service may also offer beta if you want earlier access to new features).
- Logs, if you need to see what a service has actually been doing.
- An update control, if a newer version is available on the channel it follows.

Updating a service

If a service has a newer version available, its row will say so. Updates aren’t automatic — you decide when to apply one. Click through to review what’s changed (release notes, if the developer wrote any) before updating, especially for anything running something important.

Removing a service or a device

Both a service and its device can be removed from the same page. Removing a device removes every service on it. This doesn’t touch the physical hardware or software installed there — it just stops indis.io from tracking or connecting to it. If you want to reuse the same hardware later, you’ll need to install a service on it again with a fresh credential.

The mobile & desktop app

Everything in this guide also works from the indis.io app (available for phone, tablet, and desktop), not just the website — the app is how most people check on their devices day to day once everything’s set up.

This page is a quick overview. For the full guide to the app itself — getting it, signing in, connecting directly to a device on your local network, navigating, and what differs by platform — see the App Guide.

Your account — sign-in status, and a link into the same account pages this guide covers (Devices, Team, Billing, and so on).
Device — connection status for whichever device you’re currently viewing, and an “About” entry with its details.
Bookmarks — save any screen for quick access later, so you don’t have to navigate back to it each time.
Devices — the devices in your account, same as the website’s Devices page. Tap into one to see its live dashboard — whatever screens that particular service provides (readings, controls, settings forms — this varies by app, since each service defines its own).
Cloud Apps — services you’ve subscribed to or been granted access to that aren’t tied to one of your own devices (a hosted dashboard rather than something running on your own hardware).

The app talks directly to your devices in real time — a reading or a status change on a device’s dashboard updates live, without needing to refresh.

Signing out

Use the account menu to sign out. This only affects the app on that device (phone, tablet, or computer) — it doesn’t disconnect or change anything about your indis.io devices themselves.

The Catalog

The Catalog page lists apps — the installable software behind every service. It shows two things at once: every app your account has published (if you or your team develop indis.io services), and every app published publicly by anyone, that you’re free to use.

There’s no separate “browse” page for public apps — it’s the same list, just with different controls depending on whether you own an app or not:

Anyone can see an app’s public releases and click Download on one.
If you own the app (you’re an admin of the account that published it), you’ll also see controls to manage it — making a release/track public or private, setting up pricing, or withdrawing (“yanking”) a bad release.

Installing an app onto a device

The Catalog page itself doesn’t install anything for you — installing is done from the device’s own side. Find the app you want here (note its name), then go to Devices → the device you want it on → + Add service, and pick that app from the list. See Installing a service on a device for the rest of that flow.

Release tracks (“channels”)

An app can publish more than one version track — most commonly stable (the default, most tested) and beta (newer, less tested, opt-in). When you install or update a service, you’re choosing which track to follow; see Your Devices page for where that’s controlled.

Team members

The Team page is where you invite people into your account, and control what they can do once they’re in.

Inviting someone

Under Invite a member, you can invite by:

Email — they’ll get a link to accept.
Phone — for SMS alerts only; this doesn’t give them a way to sign in, just to receive text notifications.

You can optionally assign a role right away, or leave it as “No role” and add one later.

Invitations show up under Pending invitations until they’re accepted. From there you can Resend one, Revoke it (they can no longer accept it), or Delete it entirely.

Roles

Roles decide what a member can do in the account, and can also control what they see on a connected device (a role can be mapped through to a device’s own permission model — handy if, say, only certain people should be able to change a device’s settings, not just view it).

Every account starts with three built-in roles:

Account Admin — full control: manage devices, billing, team, and other admins.
Member — day-to-day access without account-management rights.
Viewer — read-only.

You can also define your own custom roles under the Roles card (e.g. “Technician”) for more specific access than the built-in three.

To change what roles a member has, find them in the member list and use Add/Remove next to their name.

Removing someone

Find the member and click Remove. This removes their access to the account; it doesn’t affect any other account they may belong to.

Transferring ownership

If you need to hand the account off to someone else entirely, use Transfer ownership. Think of this as a one-way door — the new owner gets full control, including the ability to remove you.

Billing & licenses

Some apps require a license to run — either per device or metered by usage, depending on how that app’s developer set it up. The Billing & Plan page is where you manage those.

Buying a license

Under Buy licenses, choose what you need and check out — this hands you off to a secure Stripe checkout page to complete payment, then brings you back.

Assigning a license to a device

Under Your licenses, you’ll see what you own and whether each one is currently assigned. Assign a license to a specific device to activate the app it covers there. You can reassign a license to a different device later if your needs change.

Managing payment details or viewing invoices

Use Manage billing — this opens Stripe’s own billing portal, where you can update your payment method, view past invoices, and manage your subscription directly. indis.io doesn’t reproduce that information on its own pages.

Troubleshooting

A device shows as offline

Check the device itself has power and a network connection.
A device that was recently installed can take a moment to show as online the first time — give it a minute and refresh the Devices page.
If it was online before and has since gone offline, something interrupted its connection (power, network, or the service crashed) — an on-site check is usually the fastest way to confirm which.

The install command didn’t work

Make sure you copied the whole command, including the credential — it’s long, and an accidentally-truncated copy is the most common cause.
Credentials are one-time and expire if unused for a while. If you’re not sure yours is still valid, go back to Devices → the device → + Add service and generate a fresh one.
The command needs to run on the device itself (or something with direct access to install software there) — running it from your own laptop against a different machine won’t work.

I lost a credential before running the install command

That’s fine — credentials aren’t reusable secrets you need to protect long-term after use, and a lost one simply never gets used. Go back to + Add service on the device and generate a new one.

I can’t see a device/app my teammate can see

Devices, apps, and billing are all scoped to an account, not to you personally. Confirm you’re both looking at the same account (check the account switcher if you belong to more than one), and that you’ve actually been added as a member of it — see Team members.

An update isn’t showing up

Updates only appear once a newer version has been published to the channel a service is following (usually stable). If a developer only published to beta, a service following stable won’t see it — check which channel the service is on, on its row on the Devices page.

Still stuck?

Reach out at [email protected] with the device’s hardware id (visible on its card) and a description of what you’re seeing — that’s usually enough to track down what’s wrong without a lot of back and forth.

Glossary

Account — your workspace: devices, team members, billing, and everything else in this guide live inside one. Separate from your personal sign-in identity; you can belong to more than one.
App — the published, installable version of a service, listed in the Catalog.
Catalog — the page listing every app: your account’s own published apps, and everything else published publicly.
Channel (or “track”) — a version stream an app publishes to, most commonly stable or beta. A service follows one channel at a time.
Credential — the one-time code generated when installing a service, used to connect that install to your account. Shown once; generate a new one if you lose it before using it.
Device — a piece of hardware or a standalone computer running indis.io software.
License — required by some apps to run; bought and assigned per device (or by usage) on the Billing & Plan page.
Role — controls what a team member can do in an account — see Team members.
Service — a running instance of an app’s software on a specific device.

Keyboard shortcuts

indis.io User Guide