How to: Send Your App to others

The Inbox App is a component of the SyftBox ecosystem designed to send and receive App requests between datasites.

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This app is compatible with MacOS and Linux.

Why use the Inbox utility?

• Receive and process App requests from other datasites
• Send App requests to other datasites
• Broadcast App requests to all datasites
• Send and receive email and desktop notifications for new App requests

Usage

Send App Requests

You can share your Apps with other datasites in two ways:

1. Send to a Single datasite
   Copy your App folder into the target datasite's inbox/ directory.

2. Broadcast to All datasites
   Place your App folder in the /SyftBox/apps/broadcast/ directory.
   The system will:

   • Validate your App
   • Send it to all datasites with the Inbox App installed

After a App is sent, datasite owners will receive notifications (desktop and email). They can then review the code of your App request and choose to approve or reject it. Approved requests are executed automatically if the recipient's SyftBox client is active.

Manage Incoming App Requests

Incoming App requests appear in your datasite's inbox/ folder.

To handle them, first notice that the inbox/ folder contains two symlinked subfolders:

• approved: Links to /SyftBox/apps/, where approved Apps start executing automatically
• rejected: Serves as a temporary bin. Rejected Apps remain here for 7 days before being deleted

In addition to those symlinked subfolders, you will see new directories that corespond to proposed Apps:

• Inspect the code of each App requests in the inbox/ folder
• After reviewing, move the App folder to either approved or rejected, based on your decision

Uninstall the Inbox App

The Inbox App is an App in itself and can be uninstalled if needed. To uninstall, simply delete the /SyftBox/apps/inbox/ directory along with its contents.