Set up access control
This is the path for a building owner or site manager who wants working access control without using the Organization resources tables or the HTTP API. After you finish, residents and guests use Home and access portals — they do not manage integrations.
For the developer path (API key, Virtual Demo Devices, SDK), see Getting started.
What you will create
Section titled “What you will create”The wizard creates a Virtual Access site and walks you through the pieces people actually use:
- Organization — for a company or property, a named org that will own the site. Free allows one company org under your personal workspace; more orgs need a paid plan on that workspace. Try OpenApp skips this and creates a sample site in your personal workspace.
- Site — the place residents recognize (name and optional address).
- Openers — on Try OpenApp, a demo opener you can try immediately. On Set up a company or property, attach hardware you already connected or add openers later.
- Doors and gates — each entrance, with a public portal QR so guests can be invited. Classify the opening and complete commissioning attestation before production use (Life safety and egress).
- Apartments — units in the virtual intercom directory.
- People — residents, managers, and technicians (email invite if they do not have an account yet).
- Policies — optional limits, such as when guest invitations may be used.
Skip optional steps and come back later. Skip for now dismisses that item on the building checklist (still add people or policies from the resource cards). The checklist stays on the building page until every remaining item is done or skipped. Core pieces are the site, directory, at least one door, and at least one apartment.
Sign in
Section titled “Sign in”- Open the dashboard and choose Create account or Sign in.
- Complete any verification the flow asks for.
- You land on Home. If you have no apartments, invitations, or sites yet, Home asks how you want to start. The top nav is hidden while that question is on screen — Activity stays in the user menu (avatar) if you need it, and Organization resources is always there for platform operators. Access returns to the top nav when you have a site, more than one organization, or Home is no longer that chooser.
If you belong to more than one organization, Access stays in the top nav after the chooser so you can confirm the org switcher shows the org that should own the site. Personal workspaces are labeled Personal. The chooser itself has no org switcher — Set up a company or property creates an organization, and Try OpenApp uses your personal workspace.
Run the setup wizard
Section titled “Run the setup wizard”- On Home (or Access, once it is in the nav) pick a path:
- Set up a company or property — name the organization (or pick an existing one), then create the first site under it.
- Try OpenApp — create a sample site without a dedicated organization.
- I was invited — stay on Home until apartments and invitations appear.
- Site — enter a name residents will recognize (for example
12 Oak Street). Address is optional.
- Openers — pick one:
- Use demo openers (Try OpenApp only) to try the full flow without hardware. Company/property sites stay persistent and do not offer demo hardware.
- Use an opener I already have if you already connected a lock or gate integration.
- Add openers later to define doors first and attach hardware afterward.
- Doors — add each entrance (front door, garage, pedestrian gate). Choose the life-safety class (default ingress only) and complete the installer attestation (independent exit, OpenApp is not the fire-alarm interface, installer name). Every door also gets a public portal so you can invite guests.
- Apartments — add unit numbers (and optional names or floors).
- People — invite residents or managers by email. If they do not have an OpenApp account, share the invitation link so they can join.
- Policies — optionally set an invitation curfew (hours when guest invitations cannot be used) and the organization IANA timezone used to evaluate it (for example
Asia/Jerusalem; UTC if left empty). Guest invitations show “subject to curfew HH–HH”. Organization admins can mark a specific invitation as exempt from curfew in an emergency; those invitations skip the hint. Skip if you do not need this yet.
Go to building opens the building overview: one set of cards for doors, apartments, people, invitations, portals, policies, site, and settings.
Resource cards show counts and Add buttons that open the same wizards one resource at a time. After you open a section, the section tiles at the top are in-page navigation — they are hidden on the building hub so the same modules are not listed twice. The building name at the top of a section returns to this overview.
Day-to-day after setup
Section titled “Day-to-day after setup”| Task | Where |
|---|---|
| Add another door or gate | Building overview → Add door or gate, or Doors |
| Add an apartment | Add apartment or Virtual Intercom |
| Invite a resident or manager | People or Invite person |
| Invite a guest to a door | Invitations (create wizard) |
| Hold a door open or closed | Door page → Hold |
| Print or share a lobby QR | Portals |
| Change site name, photo, or location | Site |
| Access-control settings | Settings |
The existing table and form views stay available on each section. Wizards are the primary create path; tables remain for browse and edit.
Who sees what
Section titled “Who sees what”The dashboard shows a complete Home for each persona — not a stripped-down admin console.
- Residents and guests see Home: apartments they belong to and invitations they received. They do not see Organization resources, Store, or integration management. If they later need access control for their own site, the Home chooser (or Access once it is in the nav) starts the same wizard.
- Building managers see Home plus Access. They manage apartments, people, invitations, and policies for one or more buildings.
- Integration owners use the same Access wizards to add openers, doors, and devices. Store and Organization resources (integrations, devices, and other platform tables) live under Settings → Organization resources so they are available without dominating the main nav.
- Platform operators keep Activity in the primary nav and open Organization resources from the user menu (avatar).
Configuration readiness
Section titled “Configuration readiness”The dashboard shows whether a site can actually be used, not only whether the wizard checklist is complete.
- Can’t be used (blocking) — nothing in that area works. A site needs at least one opener, one door that uses that opener, and one portal linked to that door. Examples: no doors at all, no door with a working opener, no portal that can open a door, or no virtual intercom directory.
- Partially usable — the area works, but some of its resources don’t. One door without an opener among ten, or one portal whose door was deleted, takes only that resource out of service; the rest of the site keeps opening.
- Setup incomplete — the site can open, but recommended pieces are missing (for example an apartment with no residents, or no people on the site). Policies are optional; a site with no policies is still ready.
Cards on the site page, section nav, and resource lists show a badge when that area has issues. A door, portal, or apartment badge shows that resource’s own state, so a door that can’t be used still reads Can’t be used even while the Doors area is only Partially usable. Open the resource to see what to fix. Skipping People in the wizard hides the people warning; it never hides a blocking problem such as a door with no opener.
- Access portals — QR codes, directories, and guest links.
- Mobile intercom app — native calls for residents.
- Policies — how limits layer on top of roles.
- Getting started — API key, HTTP, and SDK after the building works in the UI.