Sign in & first run

In the web app at app.led.fyi, the editor is behind a sign-in gate: a full-screen page with the LED.FYI lockup, the tagline Make every pixel count., and the sign-in card. This page walks through signing in, creating an account, the first-run tour, and the cookie choice.

INFO

Everything here applies to cloud-configured builds. A build with no cloud backend configured has no gate, no account menu, and none of the cloud features: it runs fully offline. Public share links (#/s/…) and AR pages (/ar/…) also work without signing in, even on LED.FYI.

The three gates

Before the editor opens you pass, in order:

1. Sign in (or create an account).
2. Verify your email: first sign-up only, and again only if your address is ever unconfirmed.
3. Accept the Terms of Service: once, and again only if the terms change.

When LED.FYI is invite-only

LED.FYI can be switched to invite-only, as it was during the private beta. While that's on, an extra Enter your beta code step sits between verifying your email and the Terms; the code is tied to your account, so you enter it once. While invite-only is off, the step never appears. See Accounts & signing in.

A cached session passes the gate without any network, so a desktop user who has signed in once keeps working offline; see Working offline.

Ways to sign in

Method	How it works
Email + password	The standard form (passwords are at least 6 characters). This is what's focused by default.
Email me a sign-in link	Passwordless: enter your address and open the one-tap link from your inbox, on any device, since the link holds a one-time code rather than your session. Always offered. In the desktop app the link returns you to the app itself, whether it was open or closed.
Continue with Google / Apple	One-click OAuth. These buttons appear only when the deployment has the providers enabled.

If a link or a Google/Apple sign-in doesn't sign you in (an expired or already-used link, Cancel pressed on the provider's page, or an older desktop app that can't create accounts), a notice in the bottom-right corner of the sign-in page says what happened and what to do next (and the error is cleared from the address bar). The four notices are listed under If a sign-in is refused. Dismiss it, or sign in again and it clears itself.

More on accounts, including managing yours later, is at Accounts & signing in.

Creating an account

Click No account? Create one to switch the card to sign-up. After submitting you land on the Verify your email panel: the app sends a verification link to your address, shows a Resend verification email button, and continues automatically the moment you click the link. Sign out (or, on the sign-up panel, Use a different email) backs you out if you mistyped the address.

Whichever method you use (Google, Apple, email + password or a magic link), creating the account records one sign-up event in the product analytics. It's recorded on the server, so it doesn't depend on the cookie choice described below, and it carries only your account id and the sign-in method, never your email address or name; see Cookies, analytics & data.

Forgot your password?

Forgot password? sends a reset link (the confirmation is deliberately vague: If an account exists for <email>, a reset link is on its way.). Opening that link later takes over the whole app with a dedicated Set a new password screen; nothing else renders until the new password is set or the flow is cancelled.

Accepting the Terms

The third gate asks you to review and accept the current Terms of Service. The link opens in a new tab; I agree and continue records your acceptance. You only see this once, unless the terms are later revised, in which case every user is re-prompted. Desktop users with a valid offline license and a current accepted version skip this screen while offline; see the desktop app.

Choosing your language before signing in

Every pre-app screen (sign-in, verify-email, accept-terms, set-new-password) carries a quiet globe chip in the top-right corner: the one place a signed-out visitor can set the UI language, since Preferences isn't reachable yet. The chip shows the language you're currently reading, in its own name (e.g. Deutsch); the menu offers:

Auto (browser) · English · 简体中文 · Español · Português · Nederlands · Deutsch · Norsk · Dansk · Italiano · 日本語

A choice here writes the same preference as the in-app picker, persists in the browser, and syncs to your account once you're signed in. Auto (browser) follows your browser's language; anything untranslated falls back to English. See Languages & translations.

The first-run tour

The first time a new account signs in, a four-step welcome dialog opens (cloud builds only; it lives on your account profile, so it appears exactly once, ever):

Step	What it asks
Welcome	A quick overview of the three choices ahead. Get started continues.
Units	Metric (millimetres · metres · kg) or Imperial (inches · feet · lb). Sets the print units of your drawings and parts lists, live, unless a drawing set has been given units of its own. Default Metric. See Units of measurement.
Your wiring sheet colours	The color cycles used for data strings and power circuits on your wiring sheets and exports, pre-filled with the app's cool-data / warm-power defaults. Tweak now or later. See Port, string & cable labels.
Name your first project	A project name (default My first wall) and a Create project button that makes a blank project and drops you into the editor.

Skip (or Esc) at any point closes the tour for good; it never re-opens. Every answer can be changed later in Preferences.

Coming from V1

V1 has been replaced by V2, so the first time you reach the editor after the changeover a short Welcome to V2 dialog appears: once per account, never over the sign-in, beta-code or terms screens, and only after the first-run tour above has closed. Every signed-in account sees it once, a brand-new one included, because the app can't reliably tell who used V1. It confirms that sign-in is the same email and password (or Google / Apple), that nothing was deleted, and what became of your projects:

If your account is	What it tells you
Paid (Pro or Studio, including via a team seat)	Your projects were copied across and are under Open from cloud, and your subscription carried over unchanged. The Open from cloud button closes the notice and opens that dialog straight away; see Cloud projects.
Free	Projects from V1 were not copied. They stay readable at legacy.led.fyi until 6 November 2026. Export a project there, then open the file here with File → Open. The Open legacy.led.fyi button opens the archive in a new tab. See Project files.

Got it (or Esc) dismisses it for good. The dismissal is stored on your account, so it won't come back on another computer, and the notice stops appearing altogether after the archive window closes on 6 November 2026.

The cookie choice (web only)

On the web app, a banner appears along the bottom on your first visit: We use cookies for analytics, with Accept and Decline and a link to the Privacy Policy. Analytics stays off until you accept. You can change your mind any time via the account menu → Cookie preferences…, which shows your current status and lets you enable or disable analytics. The desktop app never shows the banner; installed-app terms count as consent there. Details on exactly what's stored are in Cookies, analytics & data stored in your browser.

After you're in: the account menu

The person icon at the right end of the top bar is your account home (signed out, it's a Sign in button opening the same auth card as the gate). Signed in, the menu is headed by your email and offers:

Item	Where it leads
Account settings…	Your profile; see Your account & profile
Preferences…	The global settings dialog; see Preferences
Cookie preferences…	Re-open the analytics consent choice (web builds with analytics configured)
Equipment library…	The library dialog, including the community catalog; see The equipment library
Plan & billing…	Your subscription; see Plans & billing
Team…	Your organization's members and roles; see Teams & roles
Sign out	Signs you out and returns to the gate

(Platform administrators see an extra Admin section for moderation and support tooling; it isn't part of normal accounts.)