> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://hylozoic.gitbook.io/hylo/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://hylozoic.gitbook.io/hylo/guides/hylo-user-guide.md). # Hylo User Guide Table of contents ### 1. Welcome to Hylo Hylo is a platform built for communities with a purpose. It's designed for groups that are working toward something together, whether that's caring for a bioregion, running a nonprofit, building a network, making collective decisions, or supporting each other through mutual aid. A few things make Hylo different from other platforms: **No ads, no algorithms.** Hylo does not display advertising, sell your data, or use a black-box algorithm to decide what you see. You control your own feed and notifications. **Built for real communities.** Hylo is structured around groups, not individual profiles or follower counts. The tools (posts, chat, events, governance, maps, mutual support) are designed for coordination, not consumption. **Open source and community-governed.** Hylo's entire codebase is public. Hylo operates as a nonprofit and is moving toward participatory governance, shaped by the communities that use it. **Nested and networked.** Groups on Hylo can be connected — a neighborhood group can live inside a regional network, which is part of a larger coalition. This mirrors how communities actually organize in the world. **Place aware.** Hylo's geographic map and ability to add a location or boundary to any group, post and account means we are well setup to support local organizing of all kinds. *** ### 2. Joining Hylo #### Creating Your Account You can join Hylo in one of three ways: * Accepting an invite email from an existing Hylo community * Clicking a community invite link someone has shared with you * Signing up directly at [hylo.com/signup](https://hylo.com/signup) to create your own group, or join existing public Hylo groups. To get started, enter your email address or sign up with a Google account. #### Signing In Log in with your email address and password, or click **Continue with Google** if you set up your account that way. #### Managing Group Invites and Join Requests You can view your pending group invitations and open join requests by clicking your photo icon in the upper left corner, then clicking on **My Invites**. From here you can accept or decline invitations and cancel any open requests. If you've been invited to a **Space** inside a group that you're not yet a member of, you'll be invited to join the parent group first. Once you accept, you're added to the space automatically. #### Guided Tours The first time you land in a group, Hylo offers a short guided tour of the menu, activity stream, map, and settings. There are separate tours for creating a group, creating a space, using the post editor, and setting up tracks and funding rounds. You can skip a tour at any time and replay any of them later — the full tour catalog lives in the **Help** menu in the lower left. *** ### 3. Setting Up Your Profile Your profile is how other members find you and understand what you bring to the community. Taking a few minutes to fill it out makes a real difference, especially in communities where skills, interests, and location matter for connection and coordination. A full and complete profile builds trust and helps know why others should connect with you. To access your profile, click your photo icon in the upper right corner and select **Edit Profile**. #### What to Include **Name and photo.** Use whatever name you go by in this community. A clear photo helps people recognize you, especially in in-person communities. **Tagline.** A one sentence description you want people to see first. \ \ **About Me.** A longer description of who you are, what you care about, and what you're working on. This doesn't need to be formal — write it the way you'd introduce yourself to the community. **Location.** Share your location at whatever level of precision feels comfortable. Your location helps with discovery on the map and makes it easier for members nearby to connect with you. You can choose how precisely your location is displayed. **Skills & Interests.** List what you know how to do — technical skills, practical skills, languages, areas of expertise. These are used by other members and stewards to understand what capacity exists in the community. Also Add topics and areas you care about. These help surface relevant content and connect you with others who share your focus. **What I'm Learning.** Skills you are developing or interested in learning more about. **Affiliated Groups.** Your profile shows which groups you belong to, respecting each group's privacy settings — private group memberships won't be shown to non-members. #### **Appearance Settings** Under **Settings → Appearance** you can control how Hylo looks and how you move around it: **Color Mode.** By default Hylo will choose light mode or dark mode based on what your computer is set to. You can also set it to Light or Dark mode manually. **Color Theme.** You can choose between several different color themes for Hylo. **Global Navigation.** Choose whether your list of groups appears as a **sidebar** on the left or as a **Topbar** of tabs across the top of the screen. **Group Nav Stacking.** Turn on **Stacking** to see parent groups with their child groups nested inside the global navigation. Clicking a parent opens a menu that lets you jump straight to any of its child groups.\ \ **Menu layout.** Groups can be displayed with a **Side Menu** (the group's menu on the left, content on the right) or a **Card Menu**, sometimes called the one-column layout (the group's menu fills the screen with each view as a card; clicking a view opens it full width, and the back button in the header returns you to the menu). Each group sets its own default, but you can override it here if you always prefer one style. *** ### 4. Finding and Joining Groups #### Group Explorer The Group Explorer is a public directory of groups on Hylo. Here, you can browse and discover communities by keyword or location. Keep in mind, only publicly visible groups are listed. You can access the Group Explorer through the **The Commons**, which is the Globe icon in the top left corner of the navigation. #### Joining a Group Some groups are open — you can join immediately. Others are protected or private and require a request or an invitation. **Open groups:** Click **Join** and you're in. **Protected groups:** These groups you have to request to join. You may be asked to answer Join Questions before your request is reviewed. These are custom questions set by the group's stewards to understand who's joining and why. Answer thoughtfully, your response is visible to stewards during the approval process. **Private groups:** These require a direct invitation from a steward or existing member. #### Joining via Invite Link If someone shares a Hylo invite link with you, clicking it will take you directly to that group's join flow. #### Where You Land First If the group has a **Welcome Page**, that's the first thing you'll see when you join. It is an orientation written by the group's stewards explaining what this community is and what to do first. You can return to it any time from the group menu. The same is true when you join a space that has its own Welcome Page. If a group does not have a welcome page then you will be taken to the group's **Home View.** #### Related and Nested Groups Once you're inside a group, you can explore its wider ecosystem — parent networks it belongs to and child groups within it — from the group's **About page → Related Groups** tab. A network map shows these relationships visually, and you can join affiliated groups directly from this view. Note: related groups are different from **Spaces**. Related groups are separate groups connected to this one; spaces live inside this group and appear in its menu. See Spaces below. #### Leaving a Group You can leave a group from its **About page**, or go to **Settings → My Groups**, where you'll see a list of all your groups with a **Leave** button next to each one. Spaces can be left from the space's own About page. *** ### 5. Navigating Hylo #### **Global Nav** On the far left of Hylo you will see a Global Navigation menu. At the top is **My Home** where you can find your profile, settings, and also an activity stream showing the content from all your groups in one place. Below that is Messages which brings you to your **Direct Message** threads with individual Hylo users, or small groups. Below that is **The Commons** where you can find public content from across all of Hylo, and explore public groups that you may be interested in joining. Below that is a list of all the Hylo groups you are a member of. If you right/control click on a group you can Pin it to the top of the list. You can drag and drop to reorder pinned groups. #### **The Group Menu** The Group Menu is the navigation panel for whichever group you're in. It's fully customizable by group stewards, so it will look different across different groups — stewards design it to direct members' attention to what matters most for their community. Depending on the group's setting (and your Appearance preference), the menu appears either as a **side menu** on the left or as a full-screen **card menu**. The menu is built from two kinds of things: **Views** are single screens of content — a chat room, the activity stream, the events calendar, the map, the member directory, the welcome page, or a custom view a steward has created. **Spaces** are nested areas inside the group with their own content and their own menu — teams, projects, cohorts, tracks, and funding rounds. At the top of the menu you'll always find the **Home** view — your group's landing page, chosen by the stewards. Below that you'll typically find some combination of chat rooms, the member directory, content views like All Activity, Events, and Projects, custom views, and spaces. Stewards can organize these with **text headers** and **separator lines**, so you may see the menu grouped into labeled sections. Some menu items appear only when there's something waiting: stewards see a **Join Requests** item and a **Moderation** item with a badge showing how many are pending. At the bottom of the menu, **More Spaces** opens a page listing every space in the group that isn't currently in the menu, including archived spaces the group is no longer actively using. At the top of the Group Menu is a header showing the Group's banner image, and buttons to access the **Member Directory**, as well as the **About** page for the group which contains lots of important info like the group agreements, stewards, and purpose. #### Moving Around Spaces Clicking a space in the group menu does one of two things: * If the space contains a **single view**, you go straight into that view. This is often used to create additional chat rooms in the group. * If the space contains **more than one view**, the group menu is replaced by the space's own menu, with a header at the top showing the parent group. Click that header to go back to the group. In the card menu layout, clicking a space takes you to the space's menu of cards, where you can drill into any view inside it. #### Active Members The group menu can include an active members widget showing who's around right now. Active members are marked with a green dot on their avatar. In the member-count pill, a green dot means more people are online than fit in the strip. Chat rooms also show who's currently in the room and who's typing. #### My Home Click your photo icon in the upper left corner to access **My Home** — your personal inbox view. * **All My Groups Activity/Map/Events -** All the posts from all the groups you are a member of. * **My Posts** — all posts you've created * **My Drafts —** your draft posts * **My Interactions** — posts you've commented on or reacted to * **Mentions** — all posts where you've been @mentioned * **Saved Posts** - any post that you have saved to look at later * **My Tracks** and **My Funding Rounds** show the tracks and funding rounds you belong to as grids of cards. *** ### 6. Spaces Spaces are nested areas inside a group. They have their own views, their own menu, their own membership, and their own settings, while still living inside the parent group. #### **What Spaces Are For** Your group's stewards might use spaces for a working group or committee, a project with its own timeline and members, a learning cohort (a **Track**), a participatory budgeting process (a **Funding Round**), a regional chapter, or a paid membership tier. Being a member of a space always means being a member of the parent group, so a space inherits the group's agreements and stewards while giving people a focused place to work. #### **Getting Into a Space** Each space sets its own access, independent of the group: * **Open to all** — any group member can enter and join * **Request to join** — you ask, and a steward approves * **Invite only** — you join by invitation * **Restricted to roles** — only members holding certain roles can see and enter * **Paid access** — entry requires payment If a space doesn't appear in your menu, check **More Spaces** — it may be off-menu, or restricted to roles you don't hold. #### **Space Collections** A **space collection** is a curated list of spaces that stewards can put in the menu — this quarter's working groups, the open funding rounds, the active cohorts. It's a way to feature what's relevant now without listing every space in the group. #### **Draft and Archived Spaces** Spaces that stewards are still building are saved as **drafts** and aren't visible to members. Spaces the group has finished with are **archived** — they move to More Spaces, where their history stays readable. *** ### 7. Post Types — What You Can Share Posts are the backbone of deeper coordination on Hylo. Unlike chat messages, posts are persistent, threaded, and searchable; they don't get buried after a day of scrolling. Hylo has several post types, each designed for a different kind of contribution. [Learn more about the difference between Posts and Chats](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPChNKqG5Hw). On posts, other members can comment in a nested thread and react with emoji. Note: stewards can turn off post types they don't need. If a post type isn't available in a group or space, you won't see it in the post editor and its views won't appear in the menu. #### Discussions The default post type for open conversation, updates, questions, and ideas. Discussions support rich text, images, file attachments, embedded video, location data, and topic tags. **Use discussions for:** announcements, questions to the group, sharing ideas, starting a conversation that deserves depth and permanence. #### Events Events have start and end times, location (physical or virtual), timezone support, and an RSVP function. They appear in the stream and on the group's calendar view. Events can include a physical location that shows up on the map. **Use events for:** gatherings, calls, workshops, any time-bounded activity you want the group to show up for. #### Requests Post what you need — skills, tools, time, knowledge, labor, transport, advice. Set scope, timing, and location. Requests can be cross-posted to connected groups to extend your reach. **Use requests for:** asking the community for help, surfacing a need, initiating an exchange. #### Offers Share what you can give. Same structure as requests — searchable, taggable, and locatable. Offers tell the community what you have available and want to share. **Use offers for:** sharing skills, tools, produce, time, resources, or anything you want to make available to the group. **Completing Requests and Offers** When a request or offer has been fulfilled, mark it as complete so it no longer appears as open for others. #### Resources A post type for sharing physical or virtual resources. This could be reference materials, links, documents, guides, or anything the community might want to return to. It could also be a building, fruit tree, tool, or physical asset. Resources are designed to be findable and reusable over time rather than ephemeral. **Use resources for:** sharing documents, links, guides, reference materials, physical assets, or anything the group should be able to find later. #### Projects Projects are persistent homes for coordinated work. Create a project with a description, associated members, project management link, fundraising link... Members can join a project to signal their involvement. **Use projects for:** ongoing initiatives, working groups, campaigns, or any effort that spans multiple posts and involves multiple people. #### Proposals Proposals are Hylo's governance post type. Create a proposal with a question, description, voting options, and timeline. Proposals move through discussion, voting, and completed phases with visible outcomes and quorum tracking. **Use proposals for:** group decisions, policy changes, resource allocation, any question that deserves a formal process and a recorded outcome. ### All Activity **All Activity** (previously called the Stream) is a view of everything happening in the group. Alongside posts, it shows **chat cards** summarizing the chat activity from any given hour — click one to jump straight to those messages in the chat room. It's the best single place to catch up on everything you missed. You can filter by post type (Discussion, Event, Request, Offer, etc.), search by keyword, and switch between four layout options — card view, list view, small grid, and large grid — depending on how you prefer to browse. If you belong to both a parent group and its child groups, you can also toggle child group posts into your stream, giving you a fuller picture of activity across the network. ### Creating a Post To create any post type, click the **New** button in any view, or the **+** button in the Global Nav menu. Select the post type, fill in the relevant fields, and choose which group or groups to post to. #### Choosing Where to Post The **To** field lists the groups you belong to with their spaces nested underneath, so you can post into a specific working group, cohort, or funding round as easily as into the group at large. The list only shows destinations that accept the post type you've chosen — if a group has Requests turned off, it won't appear when you're writing a request. #### Cross-Posting You can cross-post a single post to multiple groups and spaces so it lives in all of them simultaneously without duplication. This creates a shared conversation thread across the places you belong to. Add destinations by clicking the **To** field. #### Adding a Location to a Post Any post type can include a location, which makes it show up on the group map. When creating a post, you'll see an option to add a location and search for an address or place. Once added, the post will be discoverable geographically in both the group map and the public map (if the post is marked public). You can also create a post directly from the map — see Using the Map. #### Link Previews Paste a URL into the post editor and Hylo generates a rich preview. The preview displays full width and uses the same card colors as the post itself. If you remove a preview before saving, it stays removed. #### Public Posts and Link Sharing When you mark a post public, Hylo adds the metadata that social platforms and messaging apps use to build link previews — the title, the body text, and the first attached image. A public post shared to another platform arrives looking like a real post rather than a bare URL. #### Announcements The announcement button at the bottom of the create post modal (stewards only) sends a blast that notifies people who have all or important post notifications turned on for the group. #### Tagging Others in Posts **@Mentions** — Type **@** followed by a member's name in any post or comment to tag them directly. Hylo suggests names as you type; in comments, suggestions are limited to people in the group. The tagged member receives a notification and can find all their mentions under **My Home → Mentions**. ### Pinned Posts Stewards can pin up to three posts to the top of any view. If you see pinned posts at the top of a chat room, a stream, or the events calendar, those are what the group most wants you to notice. ### Saving a Post To save a post, click the three vertical dots in the upper right corner of a post and then **Save Post**. Saved posts appear in My Home under Saved Posts. The same three-dot menu is where you add a post to (or remove it from) a **post collection** — a curated list of posts stewards keep as a resource library, reading list, or decision record. If you have permission to manage a collection, you can reorder posts inside it by drag and drop from the collection view. *** ### 8. Chat Rooms Chat rooms are for real-time, topic-based conversation. They are meant for fast async conversations, while posts are for ongoing deeper discussion on more specific topics. To send a message, navigate to a chat room and click the message box at the bottom. From the chat toolbox you can: * Format text * Attach images and files * Respond to a message with an emoji or a direct reply * Mention others, type **@** followed by a member's name in any post or comment to tag them directly #### Chat vs. Posts — When to Use Each **Use chat** for quick questions, real-time coordination, informal conversation, and anything that doesn't need to be found again later. **Use posts** for anything that deserves permanence — updates, decisions, resources, requests, events, and conversations you want the group to be able to search and reference over time. *** ### 9. Embedding Media Posts and comments on Hylo support a range of media types to help your community share context-rich content. **Supported Media Types** * **Images** — attach photos or graphics directly to any post or comment * **Files** — share documents, PDFs, and other files * **Links with previews** — paste a URL and Hylo will automatically generate a rich preview * **Embedded video** — YouTube and Vimeo links can be embedded in the post description and played directly within Hylo, including featured link previews * **Location data** — add a location pin to posts for geographic context *** **Attaching Images and Files** Use the attachment icon in the post editor toolbar. **Recommended image dimensions for posts:** | Format | Ratio | Recommended Size | | ------ | ----- | ---------------- | | Square | 1:1 | 1024 x 1024 px | Images outside these ratios will still upload but may be cropped or letterboxed in the feed view. For best results, size images before uploading. *** **Embedding Video** Paste a YouTube or Vimeo URL into the post description field. Hylo will automatically render it as a playable embed, no additional steps needed. Members can watch directly within Hylo without leaving the platform. *** ### 10. Tags \#tags are Hylo's system for organizing and connecting content across the platform. #### Using Tags Add a tag to any post or chat by typing # followed by the tag name. As you type, Hylo will suggest existing tags from your groups. If the tag doesn't exist yet, finishing typing creates a new one. You can add multiple tags to a single post. #### Finding All Tags Clicking a #tag runs a **search** for that tag within the group, showing you everything tagged with it — posts and chats together. If your group follows a tag closely, stewards can create a custom view filtered by that topic and keep it in the menu. *** ### 11. Direct Messages Send a private message to any Hylo member — a 1:1 conversation or a small group chat. Direct messages live outside of your group context, in Messages. To start a direct message: 1. Click the **messages** icon in the upper left corner of Hylo 2. Click the **New Message** icon 3. Type the name of the person you want to message, or select from the list 4. Type your message and send You can also message someone directly from their profile by clicking the message icon below their banner image. Direct messages support **file and image attachments**, and you can **edit a message** after sending it — useful for fixing a typo or a wrong link without sending a correction. To exit a conversation, click the gray **X** at the top right. *** ### 12. The Member Directory The member directory shows everyone in the group or space, and it's one of the fastest ways to understand who's here and what they bring. **Browsing Members** Each member card shows their name, photo, location, roles, and skills, plus the date they **joined** and the date they were **last active**. You can sort the directory by name, by join date, or by last active date — handy for spotting newcomers to welcome or checking who's been around lately. The **Skill Map** shows which members have which skills across the group, so you can see the community's capacity at a glance and find the right person for a request. Skills come from member profiles, so filling out your own skills makes you findable here. **Directories Inside Spaces** Spaces have their own member directories with extra context: * In a **Track**, you can see which members have completed the track and which haven't yet. * In a **Funding Round**, you can see and filter by who can vote, who can submit, who cannot submit, and who cannot vote. *** ### 13. The About Page Every group and space has an **About page** that collects everything you'd want to know about it. It's organized into tabs: * **Details** — the group's purpose, description, location, stewards * **Members** — the member directory, including the skill map and invite options * **Related Groups** — parent groups, child groups, and peer groups, with the network map * **Moderation** — the group's agreements and the record of moderation activity * **Notifications** — your notification settings for this group or space * Funding round spaces have an additional tab showing the round's details (amount, timeline, and criteria). You can also **leave the group or space** from the About page. *** ### 14. Participating in Decision Making If your group uses Hylo's governance tools, you'll find active proposals in the **Proposals** view or wherever your stewards have placed proposals in the menu. #### **How Proposals Work** Proposals move through three phases: **Discussion phase.** Read the proposal, ask questions, and share your perspective in the comments before voting begins. **Voting phase.** Cast your vote using the options provided. Your group may use different voting formats — Agree/Disagree, Consent/Block/Abstain, Gradients of Agreement, or custom options configured by stewards. **Completed phase.** Once voting closes, results are displayed along with quorum status and an outcome summary written by the author documenting what was decided and what happens next. #### **Group Agreements** Your group may have written agreements — commitments, norms, and codes of conduct. These are displayed on the group's **About page → Moderation tab**, and you may be asked to consent to them when joining or when they're updated. #### **Flagging Content** If you see a post that violates one of your group's agreements, you can flag it from the post's three-dot menu and identify which agreement it breaks. Flagged content is blurred for other members while stewards review it, and other members can agree or disagree with the flag. *** ### 15. Notifications — Staying Informed Without Being Overwhelmed Hylo gives you granular control over your notifications so you can stay connected to what matters without being buried in activity from quieter groups. **Notification Types** * **In-app** — shown in your inbox and notification bell * **Email** — sent to your email address * **Push** — sent to your mobile device (if you have the app installed) * **Digest** — a periodic email summary of group activity **Customizing Your Notifications** When you join a new group, you'll receive notifications for all posts and chats by default. To adjust your notification settings you can clicking your photo icon → **Settings** → **Notifications**. You can set preferences per group, so you can be highly responsive in your most active community while staying in digest mode for others. Each group and space also has a **Notifications tab on its About page** where you can adjust settings for that group without leaving it and you can access notification settings from the Bell in the group or space menu header. You can control whether you want to receive notifications by Mobile Push (if you have the hylo app installed), and/or by email. For individual posts decide if you want to receive a notification for: * All posts and chats * Important posts (announcements and mentions) only * No posts for this group Seperately you can decide whether you want to receive a digest of group activity by email every day, week, or not at all. **Tips for Managing Notifications** * Use digest mode for groups you want to stay informed about without real-time alerts * Adjust notifications per space, so a busy working group doesn't drown out the rest of the community *** ### 16. Using the Map The map shows a geographic view of members, groups, spaces, posts, events, requests, and offers within your group — and across the platform for public content. Find the map in your Group Menu, in My Home, or in the Commons for public content. **Navigating the Map** * Zoom in and out by scrolling with your mouse or trackpad * Move around by clicking and dragging * Single-color dots represent different content types: Discussions (blue), Requests (purple), Offers (green), Events (red), Members (pink), Groups (grey) * Clusters appear as circles with a number inside — click to expand **The Map Drawer** The map's drawer lists posts, groups, and members together in one place, so you can read a region's activity as a single list rather than switching between content types. Use the filters to narrow it to just posts, just members, or just groups when you're looking for something specific. Clicking on any post opens it in a side panel so you can read and interact without leaving the map. Clicking on a member opens their profile. **Filtering the Map** Click **Features** in the bottom left corner to toggle which content types you see — post types, members, and related groups can all be turned on or off independently. You can also filter by **Tag or Keyword** using the search box at the top of the map. **Map Layers** Click the **Base Layers** icon in the lower right to switch between Basic, Streets, Satellite, and Satellite + Streets views. All base layers are available in dark mode. You can also enable an indigenous territories layer using data from [native-land.ca](https://native-land.ca), and watershed layers where your group has them enabled. **Location Search** Click **Search for a Location** in the upper left of the map to zoom to a specific area and see all activity within that region. **Saving Map Views** Click the **heart icon** in the upper left to save a map view — a specific area with specific filters applied. You'll receive notifications when new activity appears in that saved area. Saved searches can be deleted from the map or from your account settings. **Creating Posts on the Map** Click and hold for a couple of seconds on any location on the map, or click the **+** button in the lower right corner and then pin the location. This creates a geographically anchored post. *** ### 17. Running Events Events on Hylo are a post type with built-in RSVP, calendar display, location support, and calendar export. **Creating an Event** Click the **New** button in your group's All Actgivity or Events view, and select **Event**. Fill in: * Title and description * Start and end time, with timezone * Location — a physical address, a virtual meeting link, or both * Which group or space to post to Events appear in your activity, on the group calendar, and on the map if a physical location is included. If you create an event while looking at a specific date in the calendar, that date is filled in for you automatically. **Meeting Links** Events have a dedicated **meeting link** field, separate from the description. Put your video call link there and attendees will find it in the same place every time, rather than hunting through the description. **Dates and Locales** Hylo displays dates in the format matching your locale — US or UK English — so event times read the way you expect. The date and time picker stays fully on screen at any window size, including in Safari. **RSVPs** Members can indicate whether they're attending (or if they're a maybe), which will send them an email invite to add to their calendar app. Stewards can see the guest list and count. This is useful for capacity planning and follow-up. **Live Events** Events currently in progress are marked as **live** in the stream and calendar. This makes it easy for members to spot ongoing activity. *** ### 18. [Tracks and Badges](https://hylozoic.gitbook.io/hylo/guides/setting-up-learning-journeys-tracks-and-actions) Tracks are structured learning or onboarding journeys your group stewards have created to guide you through a sequence of content, prompts, and actions. Learn more about creating and managing tracks [here](https://hylozoic.gitbook.io/hylo/guides/setting-up-learning-journeys-tracks-and-actions). {% embed url="" %} #### Finding Tracks Look for Tracks in your Group Menu or under More Spaces. Stewards may also require you to complete a track before accessing certain areas of the group. #### Completing a Track Each track is made up of Actions (these can be renamed in the Track, so may say Modules, Steps...). Work through them in order — actions may include reading content, responding to prompts, or completing a specific action. Your progress is tracked automatically. #### Badges When you complete a track, you may receive a role or badge — visible on your profile and next to your name throughout the platform. Roles/Badges can unlock specific permissions, or access to other spaces in the group. *** ### 19. Funding Rounds If your group runs participatory funding rounds, you'll find them in the **Funding Rounds** section of the Group Menu or under More Spaces. Funding rounds let communities pool resources and collectively decide where to direct them — governance made tangible through real resource allocation. #### How a Funding Round Works Funding rounds move through four phases: **Submission phase.** Community members submit proposals for funding. Stewards define what a valid submission looks like. Depending on the round's settings, submissions may be visible during this phase or hidden until voting begins. **Discussion phase.** The community reviews and discusses submitted proposals. Comments, questions, and feedback help everyone make more informed decisions before voting. **Voting phase.** Members vote to allocate the pool across proposals. Notifications guide you through each stage so you don't miss your window to participate. **Outcome phase.** Results are displayed transparently — who submitted what, how votes were allocated, and where the funds went (depending on round settings). Completed rounds become part of the group's permanent decision history. #### **Round Details** The round's details — the amount available, the timeline, and the submission criteria — are always shown on the round's Welcome Page, and again in a dedicated tab on the round's About page. Check there if you're unsure when a phase closes or what a valid submission needs to cover. Depending on the round's settings, the budget field may be hidden on submissions. If you can't see budgets on other people's proposals, that's intentional. #### **Who Can Participate** Not everyone in a round can necessarily do everything. Open the round's member directory to see who can vote, who can submit, and who can't do either. If you think your permissions are wrong, ask a steward. #### Why It Matters Funding rounds turn collective intention into collective action. They're used by communities running participatory budgeting, grant-making, and resource-sharing processes. Float, the Funding Lab for Agroecological Technology, used Hylo's funding rounds to distribute over $700,000 USD to projects in 2025. *** ### 20. Searching Search from the magnifying glass in the navigation to find posts, comments, people, and groups. A few things worth knowing: * Searching inside a group returns results from that group only — public posts from elsewhere on Hylo won't appear, but you can also search across all your Hylo groups. * Search will look for posts, comments, and user profiles that match your search terms. * Results show which group or space each post belongs to. * Clicking a #tag runs a search for that tag. *** ### 21. Mobile App Hylo is available on iOS and Android. * **iOS:** Download from the App Store * **Android:** Download from Google Play The mobile app covers all core features — groups, posts, chat, events, map, profiles, and notifications. Push notifications can be configured per group and per notification type directly in the app. Hylo's web interface is also fully responsive — you can access it from any browser on any device without downloading the app. *** ### Quick Reference — Post Types at a Glance | Post Type | Best For | | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | Discussion | Open conversation, questions, updates, ideas | | Event | Gatherings, calls, workshops, time-bound activities | | Request | Asking the community for help or resources | | Offer | Sharing skills, tools, time, or resources | | Resource | Reference materials, links, documents | | Project | Ongoing coordinated efforts with multiple contributors | | Proposal | Group decisions requiring a formal process and recorded outcome | #### Quick Reference — Where Did It Go? | If you're looking for… | It's now… | | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | All Views | More Spaces (for spaces); views are all in the menu | | Tracks page / Funding Rounds page | More Spaces, or My Home → My Tracks / My Funding Rounds | | Stream | All Activity | | About / Related Groups / Moderation menu items | Tabs on the About page | | All Topics page | Click any #tag to search for it | | Announcements in My Home | Notifications and email (the `/my/announcements` page still works) | | Groups tab (network map) | About page → Related Groups |