The Athena Guide · 01

First steps

What Athena is, how you sign in, how you talk to her, where things are

What Athena is

Athena is an assistant that lives in your home: the engine that thinks runs on your compute server, and conversations, documents and memory stay on the PC acting as server. You talk to her by writing or by voice, from a computer or a phone: it is always the same conversation, updated live on every device.

Signing in

• Open the address your administrator gave you and sign in with name and password.
• «Remember this device» keeps you signed in for 180 days; without it the session lasts 12 hours.
• The devices connected to your account are listed, and can be disconnected, in Settings → Account.

Install Athena on your phone

To install Athena as an app from Chrome on Android, use Tailscale and its HTTPS address trusted by the browser. The server stays on the PC running Athena; each installation uses its own Tailscale network.

1. Install and connect Tailscale on the server PC and the phone. The phone must have access to that PC within the Tailscale network.
2. The server administrator enables Tailscale Serve, following the administrator guide.
3. In Chrome, open the address shown by Serve, such as https://pc-name.network-name.ts.net. Use this full name: the certificate does not cover 100.… or 192.168.… IP addresses or the PC’s short name.
4. Open ⋮ → Install and create shortcut, choose Install, and confirm. Some versions call this menu item Add to Home screen.

Tailscale manages the HTTPS certificate: there is no certificate to download or import in the phone’s settings. Keep Tailscale connected while using the app and keep the server PC on and reachable.

If you prefer not to use Tailscale, you can continue using Athena in a Chrome tab. Installing it as an app still requires HTTPS trusted by the browser; accepting a self-signed certificate warning on a local IP is insufficient. On iPhone, use the same HTTPS link in Safari → Share → Add to Home Screen.

The sections

At the top you find Home (Athena's entity and the widgets), Chat, Files (the Library and the files of your conversations), Tools (what Athena can do), Agents and Settings. The administrator also sees System. The ? at the top opens this guide, at the chapter of the page you are on.

Your first conversation

• Write in the bar at the bottom and press Enter, or hold the microphone and speak. For a new line press Shift+Enter: the bar grows with the text, up to about eight lines, then scrolls.
• The answer arrives while Athena writes it; above it you see her reasoning and the tools she uses.
• To stop her: ■ next to the microphone, or Esc.
• While she works you can give her a direction: see The chat.

When you don't know how

Ask Athena: «how do I add audio to the Library?», «where do I change the voice?». She checks this guide and tells you where to go.