quite.spaceA space is a place where something happens. A catalog is a place that lists other places. Underneath they are the same thing: an ordinary public space whose posts are cards of other spaces. The difference is that a catalog declares itself a catalog, and the app shows it as a list rather than as a room.
On spaces and their kinds — spaces. On the left navigator itself, bookmarks and groups — navigator.
Discover: looking without entering
discover in the header opens the front page. The places there are the
ones the catalog’s publisher listed, in the publisher’s order.
Clicking a row goes inside. What opens depends on what turns out to be there:
- a catalog — the next level down, with breadcrumbs at the top;
- an ordinary space — its page: what it is called, who writes there, what was published last.
While you are just looking, nothing appears on your device. No copy of the space, no entry in the left-hand list, no subscription to updates. You can go five levels down, open a post, close the app — and find no trace the next day: you were looking, not entering.
Keeping a place is a separate decision and a separate button: “Add to my spaces” on the space’s page. From that moment a copy appears, starts syncing and lives in the left-hand list.
Your own catalogs
Behind ⋯ in the top right corner of Discover is the list of catalogs
the front page is assembled from.
- First comes Featured — the one built into the app. It can be turned off but not deleted: its address lives in the build itself and would come back with the next update. Turning it off is remembered.
- Then the ones you added. Each has “Copy link” and “Remove from Discover”.
- + Add directory accepts a link someone gave you.
A catalog encountered inside another catalog can be added right from its row: Add to Discover. Removing it — the same button, the same name.
If Featured is unreachable, Discover says so honestly and offers to try again. It never substitutes one of your catalogs in its place: the front page changes only when you have changed it.
Making your own catalog
space in the header → the Directory card (“a place that lists other
places”). After that, only a name.
What you get: a public-by-link space that anyone with the link can read, and only you can add entries to. The link cannot be revoked — the same property as any public space.
Inside your catalog an + Add space button appears:
- paste a link;
- press Look up — the app goes and sees what is there (on its own, without the press, it goes nowhere);
- give it a name and, if you like, a line of description;
- Add.
What can happen during the check:
- found — the app says whether it is a catalog or an ordinary place;
- nothing came back — you can add it anyway. A catalog that can only list what is on the network right now would empty out at the first outage;
- it is this one — a list cannot contain itself;
- already in the list — it will not be added twice.
Turning an existing space into a catalog
The space’s access settings (the status icon next to the name) have a Purpose row: “Ordinary space” or “Directory”. The space must be reachable by link — a list no one can read is not a list.
When switching, one thing is asked: who can add entries — only you, chosen people (you pick them right there), or everyone who can write. It is the same rule usually called “who can write”, just phrased in catalog words.
The way back exists too: “Ordinary space” removes the declaration. The writing rule stays as it was — removing the designation does not silently open up writing.
In the left column
The left-hand list has a Directories section. It assembles itself: any space you have kept that declared itself a catalog lands there. Nothing needs to be tagged, and a space that stops being a catalog simply stops showing up there.
What actually happens
On the network and what the relay sees — network. In short:
- a catalog is an ordinary public space; its entries are ordinary posts;
- “catalog” is the owner’s signed statement in the space’s manifest, not a word someone pinned on from the side;
- browsing reads the published projection through a relay and verifies the signatures; nothing is stored;
- the hierarchy is not a separate protocol: a catalog listing catalogs is just cards leading to places that themselves turned out to be lists.