Family Setup

Edgebric works great as a private family knowledge base. Set it up on a Mac at home, sign in with Google, and everyone in the family can search shared documents — tax records, school papers, medical info, recipes, or anything else.

What You Need

• A Mac running Edgebric (even an older Mac Mini works for a small family)
• A Google account for each family member who will sign in

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Install Edgebric

Download from edgebric.com or use the one-line installer:

curl -fsSL https://edgebric.com/install.sh | bash

2. Choose Admin Mode

During first-run setup, choose Admin mode. This enables authentication so each family member gets their own account.

3. Set Up Google Sign-In

Follow the Google OIDC setup guide. You'll need to:

1. Create a Google Cloud project (free)
2. Enable the OAuth consent screen
3. Create OAuth credentials
4. Enter the client ID and secret in Edgebric's setup wizard

TIP

You only need to do this once. After setup, signing in is as simple as clicking "Sign in with Google."

4. Add Family Members

1. Open Edgebric in your browser
2. Go to Admin > Members
3. Click Invite and enter each family member's Gmail address
4. They'll be able to sign in with their Google account

5. Create Shared Sources

Create data sources for different categories:

• Family Documents — Tax returns, insurance papers, warranties
• School — Report cards, school policies, homework references
• Medical — Doctor's notes, prescription info, insurance cards
• Recipes — Family recipes, meal plans
• Home — Appliance manuals, HOA documents, home maintenance records

Upload documents to each source by dragging and dropping files.

6. Set Up Personal Vaults

Each family member can create their own Vault source for private documents that only they can access. Vault sources are encrypted and invisible to other family members.

Using It Day-to-Day

Once set up, anyone in the family can:

• Open Edgebric in their browser (same WiFi network)
• Sign in with Google
• Ask questions like:
  • "When does our car insurance expire?"
  • "What's the recipe for grandma's lasagna?"
  • "What vaccinations does [child] need for school?"
• Get answers with citations pointing to the exact document

Tips

• Keep the Mac running — Edgebric needs to be running on the host Mac for others to access it. A Mac Mini on a shelf is ideal.
• Use Vault for sensitive items — Tax returns or medical records that should be private to one person belong in a Vault source, not a shared source.
• Update regularly — When you get new documents (insurance renewals, school forms), upload them to keep answers current. Edgebric flags documents older than 6 months as potentially stale.