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Getting started

Last updated 2026-07-30T20:30:47+00:00

Use this guide to get from a new Racinage account to a usable family workspace with the first people, roles, and records ready.

Try the public demo

Open racinage.com/demo to use a one-hour, browser-only dashboard with temporary trees, albums, events, projects, finances, documents, history, and Manage tools. Reloading or restarting the device does not extend or erase the active hour. When time expires, review the session summary, send feedback, create an account, or delete the temporary workspace.

Create or join a family

Signup creates the user account first. After login, create the first owned family from Manage > Families or accept collaboration invites sent by another workspace owner.

Dashboard navigation

The top navigation opens the major workspaces: Tree, Gallery, Events, Projects, Finances, Documents, and History. Global search is available from the header and returns records the current user can access.

Dates and timezones

Racinage displays dates in day-month-year order and automatically uses the timezone reported by your browser. Event times are saved as real UTC instants, while calendar-only values such as birthdays and due dates remain unchanged.

Install the web app and notifications

Racinage can be installed from supported browsers as a Progressive Web App. After installing, signed-in users can allow notifications so important activity arrives through the device's native notification system, even when the Racinage window is closed. Enable notifications separately on every installed device where you want alerts.

Open Manage > Settings to check the current device, enable native delivery, choose whether this device may make a sound, and send a test alert. The same section controls which notification types appear in the interface, arrive by email, or reach installed apps. Signing out deactivates native delivery for that installation until the account signs in again. System volume, Focus, and Do Not Disturb settings remain authoritative and may silence an alert.

The account-wide Privacy & social interactions section lets you privately block a selected user for activity notifications and mentions, collaboration invitations and responses, plugin recommendations, or proposals and other requests. Categories are independent, blocks apply only to future interactions, and changing family accounts does not change them.

Messages and shared-resource conversations

Open Manage > Messages to send one username-based message request, accept or decline incoming requests, create private groups, and use conversations attached to shared resources. Resource conversations follow the current collaboration grants automatically and cannot be left while access remains active. Conversations support one-level replies, mentions, reactions, read state, search, mute, archive, reporting, and attachments after private malware scanning.

Messages can be edited for 20 minutes. A sender can remove their message for everyone later, although protected evidence for a reported item may be retained for moderation. Pending-deletion accounts can access only succession conversations and the current-resource-owner inbox until the account is restored.

Account security and deletion

Use Manage > Account to enable authenticator-app two-factor authentication after verifying the account email. Save the ten one-time backup codes outside Racinage. Verified-email recovery is available after password validation if the authenticator and backup codes are unavailable.

Requesting account deletion validates the password and configured second factor, locks normal login immediately, and starts an exact seven-day recovery period. A correct login during that period opens the restricted pending-deletion page, where the user can download their data, restore the account, and resolve succession for shared resources. Unresolved shared resources extend the whole deadline by another seven days. Restoration does not reverse ownership transfers already completed or reactivate renewals and revoked device connections.

Welcome Journey

New users, including invited collaborators, see a short Welcome Journey on their first dashboard visits. It can include a welcome video, an optional product tour when enabled, and an interactive tree builder when the selected family tree is still empty and the user can edit.

Choose Interactive to answer simple guided questions that create the first people and relationships, or choose Manual to use the usual tree forms. After choosing Manual, the compact Launch interactive process again control remains available until you close it. Relaunching starts at the first-person step and reuses the people, genders, spouse, children, and family-branch sibling already present in the tree instead of creating duplicates.

You can also replay the journey anytime from Manage > Settings or Manage > Help. On an empty tree, use Build interactively to reopen only the tree builder.

Downloadable apps

The public Apps page lists official Racinage downloads as they become available. Racinage Free for Windows is a local Lite Free app for one user and one family account on a Windows device, with source code published on GitHub. Its optional connected messaging uses browser authorization on Racinage, encrypts its local cache and offline outbox for the current Windows user, and uploads queued content in order after reconnecting. Hosted sharing, sync, and paid-plan desktop access require an upgraded plan.

Signed-in users can also open Manage > Apps to see the same public app availability from inside the dashboard.

Storage limits

Hosted storage counts uploaded profile photos, gallery media, documents, and images attached to people, events, projects, or history records. The current plan limits below are maintained by the platform team and match the public pricing and subscription pages.

Racinage Free for Windows stores files on the user's own device, so local storage depends on that device instead of the hosted online quota. Super admins can set a custom storage allowance for a specific family subscription when a special case needs more or less than the plan default.

When a paid subscription expires or is downgraded after its paid period, the family keeps access to records and public share links for three weeks. Racinage shows renewal reminders in the interface and sends weekly email reminders during that grace period. After the grace period, records and public links are paused until the plan is renewed.

Current plan limits and included perks

Family trees, gallery albums, events, projects, custom wallets, documents, and family history limits apply separately to each owned family account. Hosted storage remains the shared allowance across the family accounts owned by the subscriber. Paid plans can use premium plugin features, with separate per-plan limits defined and enforced by each plugin publisher.

Hosted Lite includes 20 personal funded AI credits per UTC month across every family the signed-in user can access. Unused credits do not roll over. BYOK and local models do not consume funded credits. Racinage Free for Windows remains local or BYOK based and receives no hosted funded allowance.

Switch family accounts

Paid plans can include multiple owned family accounts according to the current limits above. Your plan and owned-family allowance belong to your signed-in account and do not change when you view a family owned by another manager. Use Manage > Subscription to manage your own plan from any selected family.

Create another family from Manage > Families whenever your personal plan limit allows it. Creating one does not switch away from the family you are viewing. Use the family switcher in the dashboard header or mobile menu, or the Select button on a Families card, when you want to change the active family.

Workspace owners invite collaborators from Manage > Users, choose the family accounts and permissions for each one, and access is granted only after the invited user accepts.

The selected family is saved for that user. After switching, Tree, Gallery, Events, Projects, Finances, Documents, History, users, notifications, public links, and search are scoped to the selected family account.

First setup checklist

• Add the first family member in the tree.
• Upload clear profile photos for people who should be easy to recognize.
• Add managers or editors only after deciding their permissions.
• Create one test public share link and verify privacy settings before sharing widely.
• Add a few important documents or history entries so the family sees value quickly.

Browser basics

Use browser zoom for text size, and use the tree controls for moving around the tree canvas. On the horizontal tree, the reset button returns the tree to the centered home position.