Accounts and sign-in
How to sign up and sign in, how your handle is chosen, and what needs an account or contributor access.
Signing up and signing in
Use Sign in at the top right of any page. On your first visit, the welcome on Projects also offers Sign up and Sign in. Both open a sign-in window where you create an account or sign in to one.
Once you are signed in, your handle shows at the top right as @handle, next to your account menu. Sign out from that menu.
A sign-in lasts 30 days on each browser. After that, sign in again.
Your handle
When you first sign in, Rack Maker gives you a handle made from the username on your account, or from the part of your email address before the @. Handles are lower case, 2 to 32 letters, digits and dashes. If the handle is already taken, a number is added, such as alice-2.
Your handle is also your namespace in the catalog. Parts and devices you make are saved as handle/…, and only you can change them. See Namespaces.
Rack Maker has no setting to change your handle.
What needs an account
| What | Needs |
|---|---|
| Browse and search the catalog | Nothing |
| Open a project by its id or link, and edit it | Nothing |
| Open a read-only link | Nothing |
| Export a project, its CSVs and its STLs | Nothing |
| Try the device modeler | Nothing: your work is kept in this browser only |
| Create, duplicate or import a project | An account |
| Claim a project and hand out a read-only link | An account |
| Save modeler drafts to your account and submit them for review | An account |
| Fork a catalog entry, or report one | An account |
| Keep a private copy of a datasheet with a device | An account |
| Connect your own AI agent | An account |
| Publish to the catalog, upload model files, add listings | Contributor access |
Contributor access
Anyone signed in can draft parts and devices and use them in their own projects right away. To publish them for everyone, you either submit them for review, or ask for contributor access.
Contributors can also upload model files with their licence and credits, and add where to buy things, with prices and stock. Ask for access on the Catalog page: say what you'd like to add, and an admin reads the request. The answer shows on the same page. See Contributing.
The catalog terms
The first time you submit or publish something to the catalog, Rack Maker asks you to agree that your catalog contributions are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence (CC BY-SA 4.0): anyone may use, change and share them, crediting you, under the same licence. Model files you attach keep their own licence.
You are asked once. See Licences and credits.