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Grove User Guide

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Dashboard Overview

The Grove dashboard is a single-page app with tabs:

Tab What it does
🏠 Home Cell status, storage, network health, activity log
📁 Files Browse your file tree, upload, organize — your content (like a drive)
📡 Feed Files shared with you by friends — signal, not storage
💬 Chat E2E encrypted messaging with peers
🤖 AI GroveAI chat + search (visible only when AI is configured)
⚙️ Settings Cell name, password, theme, relay, remote access, backup

> No separate Invites tab. Invite management lives in ⚙️ Settings → 🔌 Cells.

Files Tab

Your content. Think of it like Google Drive, but encrypted and peer-replicated.

Uploading Files

View Modes

File Type Icons

Files show type-specific icons: 🖼️ image, 🎬 video, 🎵 audio, 📝 text, 📕 PDF, 📦 archive, 📃 document, 📊 spreadsheet, 📽️ presentation, ⚙️ executable

File Actions (⋯ menu)

For files on this device and backed up (the "On device + backed up" badge):

For Backup only files (no local copy):

(Files in GroveHome back up to your peers automatically — there's no per-file "back up" button to press.)

Rename and Move

Folders

Renderers (Folder-Level)

When you're inside a folder, you can optionally assign it a role:

A folder auto-switches to a media role when it holds at least 3 files of that type and they make up at least half its contents. You can also set it by hand: inside the folder, click 🎵 show as music, 🎬 show as video, or 🎸 show as tabs (shown once there are 3+ matching files), and show as files to revert. The role sticks.

Music & Video Folders

A media folder looks like a music app's library: a track list with a player. Track titles come from the filename (a leading track number like 03 - is stripped), so name your files how you want them to read — there's no tag reading yet. Sub-folders become a nested tree, so an Artist/Album or Show/Season layout just works.

The player is a compact sticky bar at the bottom:

Big files start instantly and seek anywhere without downloading the whole thing first. Formats your browser can't play in-page (MKV, AVI, some MOV/HEVC) show a Can't play this format here · Download link instead of failing silently; MP4, WebM, M4V, OGV and common audio play inline. This works the same everywhere: friends and family see music and video folders in their Files view (and on the portal), no separate tab — and a media folder someone shares with you renders as a library on your side too, inside 📥 Shared with me (below).

📥 Shared with me

Files and folders other cells share with you show up as a synthetic 📥 Shared with me Smart Folder at the top of your Files tree (not the Feed — the Feed is just signal). Inside it there's one virtual sub-folder per sending cell, with that sender's own folder layout preserved underneath, so you can browse a share exactly as they organized it. A shared Music or Video folder auto-renders as a library + player here, same as the portal.

This is where you turn a share into your own copy:

Source Missing

If a tracked file's local copy moves out of a watched folder or gets deleted and can't be auto-relinked, it lands in the collapsible 🔍 Source Missing card in the Files tab. Nothing is lost — the chunks are kept, so the file is fully recoverable until you decide.

Recycle Bin

Deleted files go to the Recycle Bin for 24 hours before permanent removal — Grove-tracked files and untracked files/folders (a true Trash holding area). A banner appears at the top of the Files tab when items are pending.

Feed Tab

A running signal of what friends have shared with you, plus your outgoing shares. It's a notification stream — not a place to store things. To actually browse or keep an incoming share, open 📁 Files → 📥 Shared with me.

Views

File Actions

The Feed is signal only — the actual copy-into-your-drive step lives in the Files tab now (see 📥 Shared with me).

File States

Lightbox

Click any image to view full-size. Background scroll is locked. Navigate with:

Sharing Files

How to Share

1. Go to Files tab

2. Click ⋯ on a file or folder → 🔗 Share

3. Search for and select the friend cell to share with

4. For folders: optionally enable 📂 Auto-share new files added to this folder

5. Click Share

What Happens

Unsharing

See SHARING.md for full details on grants, folder sharing, Show in Portal, and audience tiers.

Chat

End-to-end encrypted messaging between peers.

GroveAI Tab

Visible only when AI is configured on at least one cell in your grove.

GroveAI routes to the best LLM in your grove automatically. If no local model is available, the tab may show as offline.

Cells / Peers

Managed from within the ⚙️ Settings tab under the 🔌 Cells section.

Cell Status

Cell Actions

Adding Cells

Storage

Two-Bar Display (Home tab)

Backup Health

Shows how many copies of your chunks exist across the fleet:

Replication Factor

Default: 3 (your cell + 2 peers). Change in Settings → My Cell.

Network Health

Settings

The ⚙️ Settings tab has two collapsible sections:

🔬 My Cell

🔌 Cells

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key Action
Escape Close lightbox/modal
← → Navigate gallery lightbox
Enter Send chat message
Shift+Enter New line in chat

Tips