Sign in and your organisation

The desktop works without an account. The board, your Works and every hm command run signed out. Signing in adds the things that belong to you as a person: who you are, which organisation you are in, and a few preferences that follow you between machines.

Your account lives at account.hmcortex.com. It holds identity, organisation membership and account settings. Where a Works lives and what is being worked on inside it stay on your machine, and never appear in the account pages.

Sign in

You can start signing in from three places. All three open the same screen.

• The account row at the bottom of the left rail, which reads Not signed in until you do. Clicking it starts signing in.
• The Works menu, opened from the button at the top of the rail: Sign in…, or Add an account….
• Settings → Account, which shows a Sign in button while nobody is signed in.

The screen is headed Sign in to your account. You never type a password into the app.

1. The screen shows Your code and the address where you approve it.
2. Press Approve in your browser. Your browser opens the account page.
3. Check that the code on the page matches the code in the app, then approve it.
4. The app reads Waiting for approval in your browser… until you approve, then Approved — you are signed in.

The address is printed on the screen, so you can open it on another device if this one has no browser to hand. If the code expires or you deny it, press Start again for a new one. Not now, or Escape, closes the screen without signing in.

See your organisation

Once you are signed in, the button at the top of the rail names your organisation. The account row names your organisation and your address. Settings → Account shows:

• Email, and whether it has been verified.
• Organisation, or None yet if you are not in one.
• Your role in that organisation.
• Memberships, when you belong to more than one.
• Account ID.

These rows are read-only in the app. You create an organisation, or accept an invitation to one, on the account pages. Open account → takes you there in your browser.

If you belong to more than one organisation, the Works menu adds Switch organisation →. Which organisation is in view is chosen on the account pages. Members → and Invite somebody → open the roster and the invitation form there too. See members and invitations.

Preferences that follow your account

Under your identity, Settings → Account lists the preferences stored with your account. Change one and it is saved when you leave the field. It then appears on every machine you sign in on. Appearance is not one of them: light or dark is set under Settings → Preferences, for this machine only.

Sign out

Open the Works menu.

• Log out ends the account session on this desktop only.
• Log out everywhere ends every session for your account, on every device. Use it after losing a laptop.

Neither one stops work. The board, your Works and any work in flight carry on signed out.

If a session ends without you signing out, the account row reads Session ended. It says whether the session ran out or was ended on another device or from your account's security page. Your Works kept working, and signing in again reconnects the account.