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Open OpenCatalogi for the first time

A first look at OpenCatalogi — where the app lives, what the navigation gives you, and how to tell it is wired up to OpenRegister and the federated network.

Goal​

By the end you will have opened the Catalogi app, recognised the dashboard and the left-hand navigation, and confirmed that the Catalogi and Search views load.

Prerequisites​

  • A Nextcloud account on an instance where the OpenCatalogi app is installed and enabled.
  • The OpenRegister app installed and enabled — OpenCatalogi stores its objects (catalogues, publications, themes, organisations) in registers, so it is a hard dependency. The app installer enables OpenRegister for you on first install.

Steps​

  1. Open the Nextcloud app menu in the top bar and pick Catalogi. You land on the OpenCatalogi dashboard.

    OpenCatalogi dashboard

  2. The dashboard shows the high-level counters — total catalogues, publications, organisations, themes — and a feed of recent activity. On a fresh install the counters read 0; they update as you (or a federation source) add items.

    Dashboard counters

  3. Open the left-hand navigation. The entries map onto the things OpenCatalogi tracks: Catalogi, Publications, Themes, Organisations, Glossary, Pages, Menus, Search, Directory (federation peers), plus the admin section.

    OpenCatalogi navigation

  4. Click Catalogi. The list opens with a Cards / Table toggle and an Add Catalogue button. Existing catalogues show as cards with title, summary, item count, visibility badge and last-updated time. An empty install shows No catalogi found — expected until someone creates the first one (or subscribes to a federated peer).

    Catalogi list

Verification​

You are set up correctly when: the OpenCatalogi dashboard renders without an error banner, the left navigation lists the entries above, and clicking through to Catalogi shows either rows or a clean No catalogi found state — not a load error.

Common issues​

SymptomFix
"OpenRegister is not installed or enabled" bannerEnable OpenRegister (occ app:enable openregister) and reload Catalogi.
Dashboard loads but every counter shows 0Expected on a fresh install — move on to Browse a catalogue.
Catalogi is missing from the app menuThe app is not enabled for your account — ask an administrator to enable it (and check it is not restricted to a group you are not in).

Reference​