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Getting Started

This guide walks you through your first steps with Bifolk, from creating your account to adding your first hive.

Target Audience: New Bifolk users

Creating Your Account

Self-Registration

If self-registration is enabled on your Bifolk instance:

  1. Open the Bifolk login page in your browser
  2. Click Sign Up
  3. Enter your username, email address, and password
  4. Depending on your instance configuration, you may need to verify your email address
  5. After verification, log in with your credentials

Tip

Your browser language is automatically detected. If German is your browser language, Bifolk will default to German.

Invitation

If an organization administrator invites you:

  1. You receive an email with an invitation link
  2. Click the invitation link
  3. If you already have an account, log in and accept the invitation
  4. If you are new, create an account first, then the invitation is automatically accepted
  5. You are now a member of the organization with the assigned role

Single Sign-On (SSO)

If your organization uses Single Sign-On (e.g., via Authentik or another OpenID Connect provider):

  1. Click the SSO login button on the login page
  2. You are redirected to your identity provider
  3. Log in with your SSO credentials
  4. You are redirected back to Bifolk

First Login

When you log in for the first time, Bifolk automatically creates:

  • A personal organization with you as the owner
  • A user profile with default settings

You land on the Dashboard, which shows an overview of your beekeeping data. Since you are new, the dashboard will be mostly empty.

Importing Sample Data

If you want to explore Bifolk before entering your own data, the Dashboard shows a welcome panel when your organization has no hives. Click Import Sample Data to load a complete set of example data including hives, queens, inspections, harvest records, and more. This is a great way to learn how the application works.

Alternatively, click Create Your First Hive to start entering your own data right away.

Setting Up Your Profile

Before you start, configure your preferences:

  1. Click your username in the top navigation bar or go to Profile
  2. Set your language (English or German)
  3. Set your theme preference (light, dark, or system)
  4. Optionally upload a profile picture
  5. Click Save

See Profile & Settings for details.

Understanding Organizations

All data in Bifolk belongs to an organization. When you registered, a personal organization was created for you automatically.

Organization Types

Type Description
Personal Just you and your hives
Family You and family members
Club A beekeeping club or association
Cooperative A beekeeping cooperative
Commercial A commercial beekeeping business

Switching Organizations

If you belong to multiple organizations, use the organization selector in the sidebar to switch between them. Select "All Organizations" to see data across all organizations at once.

Inviting Members

If you are the owner or admin of an organization:

  1. Go to Organizations in the sidebar under System Management
  2. Select your organization
  3. Click Invite Member
  4. Enter the person's email address and select their role
  5. The person receives an email invitation

Roles

Role Can View Can Create Can Edit Own Can Edit All Can Delete
Owner ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Admin ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Member ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌
Viewer ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌

Creating Your First Hive

  1. Click Hive Management in the sidebar, then All Hives
  2. Click Add Hive
  3. Fill in the hive details:
  4. Name: A unique identifier (e.g., "H-001")
  5. Display Name (optional): A friendly name (e.g., "Garden Hive")
  6. Hive Type: Select Production or Breeding
  7. Hive Style: Select the construction style (e.g., Langstroth, Top Bar, Warre)
  8. Location: Where the hive is located
  9. Organization: Which organization this hive belongs to
  10. Installation Date: When the hive was set up
  11. Click Save

Your hive now appears in the hive list. From the hive detail page, you can add inspections, record operations, and track harvests.

Recording Your First Inspection

  1. Navigate to your hive's detail page (click on the hive name in the hive list)
  2. Click Add Inspection
  3. Fill in the inspection details:
  4. Inspection Date: When you inspected the hive
  5. Queen Seen: Whether you spotted the queen
  6. Eggs Seen: Whether you saw eggs
  7. Brood Chambers / Honey Chambers: Number of chambers on the hive
  8. Health Status: Your assessment of hive health
  9. Notes: Detailed observations
  10. Click Save

The main sidebar provides access to all sections of Bifolk:

  • Organization Selector -- Switch between your organizations or view all at once
  • Quick Add -- Quickly create a new operation by selecting the type (feeding, treatment, maintenance, inspection, or harvest)
  • Dashboard -- Overview of your operation
  • Hive Management -- All hives, inspections, harvests, feeding, treatment, maintenance, and combinations
  • Honey Batches -- Honey traceability (batches, buckets, jars)
  • Queen Management -- All queens, lineage graph, and lineage overview
  • Breeding Program -- Queen breeding and colony splits
  • Warehouse -- Inventory, locations, transactions, and sales
  • Reports -- Harvest report, health changes, hive metrics, moisture, honey pipeline, inventory value, sales summary, and operations cost
  • System Management -- System configuration, organization management, and invitations (admin and staff only)

Quick Add

The Quick Add panel in the sidebar allows you to quickly create a new operation without navigating to the full form first. Expand the panel, select an operation type (feeding, treatment, maintenance, inspection, or harvest), and you are taken directly to the creation form.

Filters

Most list pages include filters for narrowing down results by organization, date range, status, and other criteria.

Use the breadcrumb trail at the top of each page to navigate back to parent sections.

Next Steps

What to Do Guide
Learn about the dashboard Dashboard
Manage your hives Hive Management
Record inspections Inspections
Track your queens Queen Management
Record operations Beekeeping Operations
Record harvests Harvests
Track honey batches Honey Batches
View reports Reports
Manage supplies Warehouse & Inventory
Install Bifolk as app PWA & Offline Mode