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Getting Started (Self-Hosted)

This guide is for users whose organization runs Digest Engine in its own environment. In a self-hosted setup, your IT or platform team has already deployed and configured the system. Your job as an end user is to sign in, create or join a project, connect useful sources, and begin shaping the content feed for your editorial goals.

The exact features available to you may vary slightly depending on how your organization configured the environment, but the basic onboarding flow is the same.

Access the Self-Hosted Workspace

Start by opening the Digest Engine URL provided by your administrator or internal platform team.

Depending on how your organization set up authentication, you may sign in with:

  • a username and password
  • single sign-on
  • an invitation flow connected to your company identity provider

If you are unsure which method to use, check with the person who invited you or with your internal admin.

Know What Your Environment May Vary On

In a self-hosted environment, your organization controls the infrastructure and feature configuration behind the product. That means your experience may not look exactly like a hosted SaaS deployment.

For example, your environment may differ in:

  • authentication method
  • available source types
  • email intake configuration
  • processing speed
  • AI model behavior or response time

You do not need to manage those settings yourself, but it is helpful to know that some behavior depends on how your internal team deployed the system.

Create or Join a Project

A project is the workspace for one editorial topic, newsletter, or area of coverage. Some users will create a new project, while others will be invited into an existing one.

If you are creating a project for the first time:

  1. choose a clear project name
  2. define the topic or audience the project should cover
  3. add a description that reflects the type of content you want the system to find

That description helps set the direction for the project, so it is worth being specific.

Add Initial Sources

Once the project exists, connect a few high-quality sources so the project has material to ingest.

Common first sources might include:

  • RSS feeds from trusted publications
  • communities or social sources relevant to your topic
  • internal or external newsletters forwarded into intake, if enabled in your environment

When adding first sources, start small and choose quality over volume. A compact set of strong sources is easier to evaluate than a large set of noisy ones.

Confirm That Content Is Flowing

After sources are added, open the project content area and confirm that items begin appearing.

As content is processed, the system may enrich it with:

  • relevance scores
  • categories
  • summaries
  • entity extraction

If content starts arriving, your project is active and ready for editorial review. If nothing appears after a reasonable delay, it may indicate a source configuration issue or an environment-specific problem that your internal admin needs to inspect.

Start Reviewing the Feed Early

Do not wait until the project is full before you begin reviewing it.

Early review helps you answer a few important questions:

  • Are these the right sources for this project?
  • Is the project description specific enough?
  • Is the incoming content aligned with the editorial outcome you want?

If the first items look noisy or misaligned, refine the setup early instead of letting the wrong pattern build momentum.

Work With Your Internal Admin When Needed

Because this is a self-hosted environment, some issues are best handled by your organization’s administrator or technical team rather than by end users.

That is especially true if you run into problems with:

  • sign-in or access
  • missing source types
  • newsletter intake not being available
  • unusual delays in processing
  • environment-specific configuration questions

You should still be able to do normal editorial work inside the product, but infrastructure or deployment issues typically need internal support.

What to Do Next

Once your self-hosted project is receiving content, the next best pages are:

If you can sign in, access a project, add sources, and see useful content arriving, you are successfully through the initial self-hosted onboarding flow.