Apps

An app is a program that runs on your machine from a folder of its own in Apps, such as a photo library or a budget. Docker runs it, and Kin sets it up with you in a conversation. Plain buttons open, start and stop an app. Setting one up, changing, updating or removing it is something you ask Kin for, and she checks with you before each change.

Apps appears in the sidebar, between Terminal and Your machine, when Docker is available on your machine or the Apps folder holds an app.

Add an app

1. Open Apps and choose Add an app….
2. Choose one of the apps Kin carries a tested recipe for. Its page says what it is, what Kin will ask, where it opens, what it needs and keeps, its license and who makes it. Choose Add with its name.
3. For any other app, type its name in Find an app, or name another and choose Add with that name. Kin checks that it is free and open source before she sets it up.
4. Kin asks to work in the app’s new folder. Choose Trust this workspace, or For this session. Not now removes the empty folder and takes you back.
5. The app’s own conversation opens, headed Set up with the app’s name, with /app and the name ready to send. Add anything Kin should know and press Enter.

Kin asks what she needs, such as where your photos live, and says what is left for you to do, such as choosing the app’s own password the first time you open it. Not sure which app suits you? Not sure? Ask Kin opens her panel with a question ready for you to send.

If Kin cannot list her recipes, Add an app… still takes an app’s name. If your Kin is too old to set up apps, Apps says she needs an update and offers no Add control; use Updates.

Every recipe is free and open source. An app you add keeps its data in its folder on this machine, so back the machine up if the app holds things that exist nowhere else.

Open, start and stop an app

Each row on the Apps page says how the app stands, such as Running · 3 d or Stopped · 2 d ago, where it opens, and how much it keeps.

• Open opens the app. One that opens on your tailnet opens in a new tab at your machine’s tailnet address, from any device signed in to your tailnet. One that opens inside your Space opens beside its conversation.
• Start and Stop start and stop it. The pressed button says what it is doing, and the page says how it ended. A stopped app stays stopped when the machine restarts.
• While Kin is working in an app, Stop also offers Stop Kin, because her next step could start it again.
• A button that cannot act yet says why, such as Start Immich to open it.

The menu beside each row holds Restart, Logs…, Copy tailnet address, Choose icon…, Session history… and, set apart, Ask Kin to remove the app. Logs… shows the last lines each part of the app wrote, newest at the bottom; Ask Kin about these logs writes a request about them for you to send. On a phone, a row keeps Open, the K and its menu.

When an app needs you

A notice under an app’s row says when something is wrong: it can be reached from other networks, it keeps restarting, it is unhealthy, only part of it is running, or it stopped with an error. Ask Kin to look writes a request for Kin to explain why and what would fix it, and to ask before changing anything. For an app other networks can reach, Ask Kin to close it writes a request to close it. Nothing is sent until you send it.

The sidebar’s Apps row says how many apps need you. When an app newly goes wrong, a notice says so once, with Open Apps; it leaves when the problem clears.

An app’s own place

Choose an app’s name to open its place. Its trail leads with Apps, as in Apps › Immich. Its Overview says where it opens, with Copy address for a phone app, its containers, its data and how much it keeps, its recent changes and its sessions, beside About: Kin’s notes, kept in the app’s APP.md. Chat, Files, Source and Terminal work as they do for any workspace, and the bar shows the app’s state, with Open, Start or Stop, Restart and Logs… behind it.

The K beside an app, or Ask Kin about it, returns to the app’s newest live conversation, or starts one with the app’s name ready, so you can ask Kin to change, update or remove it. Every turn there is kept in the folder’s history, which Changes reads. The app’s data and secrets never enter that history.

Remove an app

Choose Ask Kin to remove from the app’s menu. Kin asks what should happen to the app’s data before she removes anything. An app you added and Kin has not set up yet can be removed straight from its menu.

Other containers

Other containers lists what Docker runs that is not kept in Apps, such as a project’s database or something started from the Terminal. Each has Stop or Start, its logs, and the K to ask Kin about it.

Your machine counts your apps and other containers beside Docker’s readiness, and Open Apps goes to them.