Getting started

Guided setup

What it's about

Guided setup takes you by the hand after creating a household – in a few minutes you're ready to go, instead of digging through the admin area yourself.

When it opens

Right after you create a new household, patchio automatically starts the assistant. If you join an existing household with a code instead, patchio skips this – someone's already setting up that household. And don't worry: you can skip at any step, top right, nothing is lost by doing so, and patchio never pushes itself on you again unprompted afterwards.

The 6 steps

Welcome – a short look at what's ahead.
Family shape – Living alone, Couple, Family, Blended/two homes, Single parent, Extended family & more, or Shared flat. This only steers the module recommendation in the next step.
Members – create profiles for your family; you're already there yourself, as admin.
Modules – the optional modules as a list with switches to turn on and off. Whatever's already active for you is pre-selected; the family shape only adds its recommendation on top and never takes anything away from you. Calendar, tasks and shopping are always included and aren't a choice.
First event – a mini form for your first real event (title, date, time optional). The event applies to the whole family and is visible to everyone; without a time, it's all-day. Skippable.
Done – a short summary, plus your invitation code to share, so the rest of the family can join.

If you take a break partway through, patchio remembers where you were and picks up exactly there next time.

The “Your start” checklist

Afterwards, the “Your start” card, with a progress ring, keeps you company on the dashboard or the mobile start screen. It shows points such as modules chosen, family invited, first event added, or first shopping item logged. Only admins see the modules-chosen point – since only they can switch modules anyway. The ticks come automatically – patchio simply checks what already exists in your household, you don't need to tick anything extra. Every open line links straight to where you can do it. Don't need the card any more? Dismiss it with the X; that's just for you personally, other members keep seeing their own card.

Assistants in the modules

Beyond guided setup, there are short assistants for nine modules: calendar, tasks & shopping, finances, health, meals, directory, vehicles, parenting schedule, and points. They run right on the relevant module page, take only three to four steps, and create real mini-data – your first event, a first task with a shopping item, your first expense or a short explainer instead, your first routine, your first recipe, your first contact, and your first vehicle. The parenting-schedule assistant is the exception: a rhythm belongs entered as a whole, so it only explains and, at the end, opens the real editor for you to enter and save it there. Only you, as admin, see the points assistant: there, you tick which children points should run for, and create your first reward.

If a module is still empty, a friendly card offers to set it up together – with the buttons “Start with the assistant” and “I'll explore on my own”. Choosing to explore yourself is entirely fine: the card disappears, and as long as the module stays empty, only a small, understated “Start with the assistant” link waits in its place for later. Once there's real data, that link disappears too.

Important: the assistants only ever create things – they never turn a module off, and never delete anything. You can close them at any step, at any time, without losing anything.

If you join a household

If you're not starting fresh with patchio yourself, but joining an existing household – by invitation code or a personal invitation – you don't get the full assistant, just a short welcome. It shows you who's already there and which modules are active for you (purely for information, you can't switch anything there), then takes a quick look at your own profile, so you can check or adjust your first name. Finally, you see where everything lives – the start screen, help, and the “Your start” checklist. This welcome, too, can be skipped at any time.

Coming back to it

Skipped setup, or want to go through it again? No problem: under Manage → Setup, an admin can restart the assistant at any time, even in a long-established household.

Modules stay changeable at any time

What you choose in the “Modules” step isn't final. Under Manage → Modules, an admin can switch any module on or off at any time – regardless of whether you used guided setup.