Getting started

1. Install

Grab the installer from the download page and run it. Windows will likely warn you it doesn't recognize the publisher. That's expected for a small open-source app, not a sign anything is wrong. Click through it.

2. Create your identity

The first time you open Aetheria, it asks you to choose a passphrase. This encrypts a cryptographic keypair stored only on your computer. It's how you sign everything you publish, and how readers can trust a post really came from you.

There's no account, no email, no company that can reset this passphrase for you. If you forget it, that identity is gone for good. Write it down somewhere safe. See Security & your passphrase for why it works this way.

3. Write your first post

Open the Draft tab and write in Markdown. Every post is public. Anyone on the network can read it, no account or subscription needed on their end.

Publishing sends your post to the Freenet network, where it's stored redundantly across many peers instead of one server.

4. Home vs. Latest

Home shows posts from publishers you follow. Latestshows recent posts from everyone on the network, whether you follow them or not. It's how you find new publishers to begin with.

5. Follow someone

Click any author's name (in Home, Latest, or on a post you opened) to see their profile and a Follow button. You can also paste a publisher's public key directly on the Following tab if you know it but haven't seen a post of theirs yet.