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Instance Setup (Wizard)

Field Value
Status Approved
Version 1.1
Last Updated 2026-07-27
Author Claude
Reviewed By —

The setup wizard walks new operators step by step through the essentials every public instance needs: imprint, privacy policy, optional terms of use, and the welcome texts — plus an optional early step asking whether the instance should run with AI features.

Where do I find the wizard?

In the app the wizard is called "Setup" and lives in the governance hub under Administration → General platform settings → Setup (address /governance/setup).

Three paths lead there:

  • The "Setup" row in the governance hub. As long as required essentials are missing, it carries a red badge with the number of open required items.
  • The "Set up your instance" callout at the top of the administration overview — a dismissible first-run hint with a "Start setup" button, shown while essentials are missing.
  • The shield icon in the top bar: the setup's open required items are included in its attention badge, so a freshly installed instance draws attention to itself.

Once all required essentials are complete, badge and callout disappear — but the "Setup" row stays permanently available.

Re-callable, with prefill

The wizard is not a one-shot run:

  • Every step saves when you click Continue. You can leave at any time and pick up later — nothing is lost.
  • When you reopen it, all fields are prefilled with the current state; the overview freshly shows what is already maintained and what is still missing.
  • All texts can also be refined later outside the wizard under Instance settings — wizard and settings dialogs edit the same content.

The seven steps

Step Title Content
1 Overview What the wizard does + the current state of each building block
2 AI support Optional: "Do you want to run this instance with AI features?"
3 Imprint Required details of the operating entity
4 Privacy The privacy policy as Markdown text
5 Terms Optional: terms of use
6 Welcome texts Greeting on the public start page
7 Finish Summary, open items, next steps

Step 1 — Overview

Shows, under "Current state", a checklist of the four building blocks (imprint, privacy policy, terms, welcome texts), each in one of three states:

State Meaning
Empty Nothing entered yet
Placeholder A text exists but still contains unreplaced [placeholders] — e.g. from an AI draft. It only counts as maintained once real details are filled in
Complete The building block is fully maintained

The assessment comes from the server — an AI skeleton full of placeholders is never rated as "done". Terms are marked optional and do not count towards the required items.

Step 2 — AI support (optional)

The question is: "Do you want to run this instance with AI features?" AI enables semantic search, the "Ask locali" assistant, writing help in administration, and content extraction. The step bundles the minimum configuration:

  • the instance-wide AI master switch,
  • the "Chat model (LLM)" card — powers "Ask locali" and the writing help,
  • the "Embedding model" card — powers semantic search and recommendations.

Each card shows its live state ("Ready" or "Not set up yet") and offers "Set up" (configure a provider and model — an external service with an API key, or self-hosted), "Test connection" (a live connection probe against the configured provider), and "All options" as a link into the full AI settings.

No AI? Just continue.

Everything works without AI: the step is optional — simply click Continue and the instance runs entirely without it. You can catch up at any time, including directly from the text steps.

Step 3 — Imprint

Who operates this instance? Name, address, and a contact email are the legal minimum shown on the public imprint page. The imprint is maintained via a structured form (provider, address, contact, person responsible under press law, additional notes).

Step 4 — Privacy

The privacy policy describes how the instance handles personal data — as Markdown text. The AI help can draft a skeleton with [placeholders]; this is not legal advice — please have the final text reviewed.

Step 5 — Terms (optional)

Not every instance needs terms of use — this step can simply be skipped.

Step 6 — Welcome texts

The texts greeting visitors on the public start page — above and/or below the sign-in panel. The text above the sign-in panel matters most: one or two friendly sentences about what this instance is for.

Step 7 — Finish

The finish step re-fetches the setup state from the server:

  • Everything complete: "Well done — the essentials are in place." Every text can be refined later under Administration → Platform.
  • Something still open: Under "Still open", one button per item jumps straight to the matching step. Everything entered is saved; the setup can be reopened at any time.

"Finish setup" returns to the administration overview.

Afterwards: set up spaces. The finish step offers the link "Jetzt Räume einrichten" (set up spaces now) — it leads straight into the guided space setup assistant, which builds the first spaces plus routing vocabulary from districts and topics.

AI writing help in the text steps

Once AI is set up (step 2 or AI settings), the AI writing help appears directly in the editors of the text steps (imprint, privacy, terms, welcome texts). If AI is not set up yet, the steps say so honestly — with a jump "To the AI step" instead of a dead button.