First-time Setup

Walks through the steps to configure tapflow on a fresh relay for the first time.

The relay must be running first

If you haven't set up the relay yet, see Self-Hosting the Relay first.

1. Create the admin account

tapflow has no default credentials. On first launch, the dashboard automatically redirects to the setup page.

1. Open http://localhost:4000 (or your relay URL) in any browser.
2. You are redirected to /setup automatically.
3. Enter your email and a password (minimum 8 characters).
4. Click Create admin account.

One-time only

The setup page only appears when no accounts exist. After this step, use Settings → Team to invite additional users.

Headless server or CI?

If a browser is not available, use tapflow admin init to create the first admin account via CLI. The relay must be running first.

2. Sign in

Open http://localhost:4000 (or your relay URL) in any browser. Sign in with the email and password you just created.

3. Invite your team

Once signed in as Admin, go to Settings → Team and send invitations:

1. Click Invite member.
2. Enter the team member's email and select a role:
   • Admin — full access, can invite and remove members.
   • Developer — can upload builds and manage apps.
   • QA — can start sessions and leave comments.
   • Viewer — read-only access to builds and recordings.
3. Click Send invite. The member receives an email with a link to set their password.

No email server yet?

If SMTP isn't configured, copy the invite link from the response and share it directly. See Configuration to set up SMTP.

4. Add your first app

Go to App Center. There are two ways to add an app:

Option A — Upload a build: Click Upload Build and select your file. tapflow reads the bundle ID, version, and build number automatically and creates the App entry.

• iOS: .app.zip
• Android: .apk

Option B — Add App manually: Click + Add App in the sidebar and enter the app name, bundle ID, and platform. Use this to pre-register an app before any build is ready.

If an App with the same bundle ID already exists for the other platform, the two are grouped under a single App entry (both).

5. Start a session

From App Center, select a build and click a device card to start a session. The device streams to your browser in real time.

6. Share access with your team

Now hand off access so the team can test on their own. Teammates don't install tapflow — all they need is a browser.

Send the right URL. The URL you share depends on the deployment (localhost only works on the relay Mac itself, so it can't be shared).

Deployment	URL teammates open
Same office network	The relay Mac's LAN IP, e.g. http://192.168.0.10:4000
Tailscale tunnel	The tailnet URL printed in the startup banner (teammates need Tailscale installed too)
VPS + rathole tunnel	The public URL printed in the startup banner, e.g. https://your-vps.com

See Self-Hosting the Relay for the details of each deployment. Which path a teammate connects over also decides the stream quality they get — on the same LAN, plain HTTP gives the Standard profile, while HTTPS gives the Smooth profile. See Streaming Quality for the profile each setup maps to.

Have them accept the invite. When a teammate accepts the invitation you sent in step 3, they set a password and sign in. If SMTP isn't configured, share the invite link directly.

What teammates do. Once signed in, a teammate can test without installing anything:

1. Pick a build in App Center.
2. Click a device card to start a session.
3. Control the simulator or emulator in the browser and leave feedback as comments on the build.

What each person can do depends on the role you assigned when inviting them (Admin / Developer / QA / Viewer). See 3. Invite your team above for the role descriptions.

Next: Learn what each dashboard section does → Dashboard Overview