Initial Setup

In this guide you will learn:

• How to authenticate with your finwave credentials
• How to select and bind your organization
• How to choose which populations the client manages
• What happens after setup is complete

Overview

The first time you launch finwave Desktop, the client walks you through a five-step setup flow. This process binds the client to your organization and determines which populations it will work with. The entire flow takes about two minutes.

Step 1: Authenticate

You are prompted to log in with your finwave credentials using the same OAuth flow as the web application. Sign in with the account you normally use to access finwave.

Tip

If your organization uses single sign-on (SSO), you will be redirected to your identity provider as usual. The desktop client supports the same authentication methods as the web app.

Step 2: Select your organization

After authentication, you see a list of organizations your account belongs to. Select the organization this installation will serve.

If your account belongs to only one organization, it is selected automatically and you proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Confirm binding

A confirmation screen shows the organization you selected and explains what binding means:

This finwave Desktop installation will be configured for Center for Whale Research. All data, populations, and settings in this app will be scoped to this organization. Other users in your organization will use this same installation with their own credentials.

Read the confirmation carefully before proceeding.

Caution

Organization binding is permanent. You cannot switch to a different organization later without performing a full reset, which wipes all local data (scan results, manifests, sync history, and training data). Source files in your data directories are not affected by a reset. Only an organization admin can initiate a reset from Settings.

Click Confirm to bind the client. Click Back to return to organization selection.

Step 4: Select populations

After binding, you choose which of your organization’s populations this installation will manage. You can select one or more populations.

The populations you select determine which data the client discovers, manifests, onboards, and synchronizes. You can add or remove populations later from Settings.

Note

You only see populations that your role grants access to. If a population is missing from the list, check your permissions in the finwave web app or ask your organization admin.

Step 5: Setup complete

The client is now bound to your organization. You will see:

• Your organization’s name and logo in the title bar and navigation header
• A summary of the organization’s data (populations, image counts, encounter counts)
• The main interface, ready for you to begin Discovery

What happens after setup

The organization binding persists across sessions and across users. When another member of your organization launches the client on this machine, they will:

1. See the login screen (the client is already bound — no org selection)
2. Authenticate with their own finwave credentials
3. Access the organization’s data according to their role and permissions

User sessions are independent. Logging out does not affect the organization binding or any organization-level settings like watched directories or manifests.

Organization-level vs. user-level settings

After setup, two categories of settings exist:

Organization-level (persist across users, set by org admins):

• Organization binding and population selection
• Watched directories and manifests
• Sync configuration (quiet hours, bandwidth limits, auto-confirm)
• API endpoint and data directory location

User-level (per-user, set by each individual):

• Authentication credentials (stored in your OS keychain)
• Notification preferences
• UI preferences (theme, layout)

When a new user logs in for the first time, they inherit the organization-level settings and can configure their personal preferences.

Resetting the organization binding

If the client needs to be re-bound to a different organization (for example, when a machine is reassigned):

1. A user with organization admin permissions opens Settings and initiates a reset.
2. A confirmation dialog warns that all organization data, manifests, sync history, and training data will be removed from this installation. Source files are not affected.
3. On confirmation, the client wipes ~/.finwave/ and returns to the first-launch flow.
4. The reset is logged as the final entry in the audit log before the data is cleared.

Related

• What Is the Desktop Client? — purpose and design overview
• Installation — system requirements and install steps
• Discovery — start scanning your directories
• For IT Teams — deployment and security details