Join a den

A den is one community on Dens: its channels, its members and their DMs, all on a computer run by one of them. To join one you need Dens installed, and an invite from someone there: a long code starting with dens1:.

Joining

1. Open Dens (dens open) and choose Add a den.
2. Paste the invite, and choose Join as someone new.
3. Pick a username, a display name and a password for this den.
4. Save your recovery codes and your DM recovery key somewhere safe, such as a password manager. The next section says what they’re for.

Your username is how people mention you, and it can’t change, so pick one you’ll keep: 2 to 32 characters, from lowercase letters, numbers and _. Your display name is what people see, and you can change it any time. You have a separate profile in each den, and no den can link it to your others.

Each den has a Den ID, which everyone in it sees the same. Comparing it with someone already in the den tells you that you both joined the same one.

Your passwords and keys

There’s no company keeping your account for you, so Dens asks you to keep a few things most apps don’t.

You’ll find the last three again under the den’s Manage, in You in this den, and the local password in Settings, under System.

Signing in from another computer

Every computer runs its own Dens. To use a den from a second one:

1. Install Dens there, open it, and choose Add a den.
2. Paste an invite to the den, even a used one, or the den’s address. Choose Sign in to my account there.
3. Enter your username and den password.
4. Approve the sign-in from a device that’s already in. Both screens show digits, and you type each one’s into the other. That proves the new device is the one in front of you, and it hands over what the new device needs to read your DMs.

No other device at hand? Use a recovery code instead, then enter your DM recovery key to read your DMs.

If a sign-in you didn’t start asks for approval, refuse it, and change your den password: whoever asked has it.

Forgot your den password? Choose Forgot your password? Use a recovery code when signing in. You’ll set a new password, and your other devices are signed out.

Direct messages

DMs are end-to-end encrypted: only you and the other person can read them, not the den. To start one, open someone’s profile and choose Message.

Before your first message, you compare a check code: each of you reads out half of it and types in the other’s half. The den passes your keys between you, so if it were tampered with, it could slip in keys of its own. The digits only match if nobody did. Compare somewhere the den can’t reach, best first:

1. In person.
2. On a voice or video call, where you know it’s really them.
3. In another den that one of you owns. Not this one, even if it’s yours.
4. On several other services where you know the accounts are really theirs.
5. In a den neither of you owns, which could change what you see there.

Be wary of “I’m @them over there, let’s compare there”: compare where you know who you’re talking to. If the digits don’t match, someone may be in the middle, so start the DM again.

Notifications

Dens can tell you about a DM, or a message that mentions you by your username. Nothing notifies you until you turn it on: open Settings, then Chat & media, and turn on Direct messages, Mentions, or both. The settings live in Dens on your computer, so every browser you use it with shares them.

Where they show depends on what’s open:

• A Dens tab, anywhere in your browser. Turning one on asks the browser to let Dens show notifications; say yes. Clicking one brings the tab forward at the message. If you said no, allow notifications for localhost in the browser’s site settings.
• No Dens tab open. Dens’s helper, which starts when you sign in, shows them as your desktop’s own, and clicking one opens Dens in your default browser at the message. On Windows, a click opens it straight away if that browser is still signed in to Dens; otherwise run dens open, or pick Dens from the Start menu.
• Android. The app shows them while it isn’t open on that channel. If you didn’t allow notifications when Android asked, allow them for Dens in Android’s settings, under Apps.

Nothing shows for a channel Dens has open on your screen, and reading a channel on any of your devices clears its notification everywhere. A busy DM is one notification, with its newest message.

Once they’re on, the bell beside a den’s name mutes the whole den, and the bell at the top of a channel or DM mutes just that one.

A notification shows the start of the message, a DM’s too, to anyone who can see your screen, or your phone’s lock screen. Turn off Show the message and it says only who sent one. Spoilers never show.

Leaving

Open the den’s Manage, and choose Leave den at the bottom. You can come back with a new invite, as yourself: join with your old username and den password, and your history comes back with you, along with new recovery codes.

Leaving needs the den to answer. If Dens can’t reach it, because its server is gone for good, say, Leave den offers Remove from this computer instead. That deletes your keys for the den on this computer, and the messages and files it kept, without the den hearing of it: your account stays there. If the den comes back, sign in again from Add a den, with its address, your username and your den password.