Accounts

You can sign in to a Scamp account from the start screen. Signing in is optional: Scamp is a local-first tool, and every feature works the same whether you're signed in or not. Nothing prompts you on launch, and there's nothing to dismiss.

Sign in

The account panel sits at the bottom of the sidebar on the start screen, below your projects. Signing in is an account-level action rather than a per-project one, which is why it lives here rather than inside an open project.

At the bottom of the start-screen sidebar, click Sign in.
Your browser opens at scamp.club. Sign in there, or create an account.
The browser hands the result back to Scamp automatically. The panel fills in with your name and email address.

While Scamp waits, the button reads Waiting for browser…, with "Finish signing in in your browser." and a Cancel link below it. Cancel stops the wait immediately; you don't have to close the browser tab.

If you never finish in the browser, the attempt gives up after 15 minutes, and the panel returns to signed out.

After you sign in

The panel shows an avatar with your initial, your name, your email address, and a Sign out link. Long email addresses are shortened so they can't widen the sidebar.

Signing in or out updates every open Scamp window, not only the one you used.

What an account does today

Being signed in doesn't change how you design. Scamp still stores every project as ordinary files on your machine, still works offline, and still never uploads your work. Today an account exists so that:

Your installation is counted as active while the app is open.
Cloud features can be added later without asking you to sign in again.

Your projects, page contents, images, and project names are never sent anywhere as part of this.

How long a session lasts

Sessions last 30 days and renew every time you use them, so they expire from disuse rather than on a fixed date. In practice, using Scamp regularly means you stay signed in.

If your session expires, Scamp signs you out locally rather than leaving the panel claiming you're signed in until you restart.

Where Scamp stores your sign-in

Scamp stores the session token encrypted by your operating system's own secure storage: Keychain on macOS, DPAPI on Windows, and your keyring on Linux. The app's main process holds it, and it never reaches the part of Scamp that renders your designs.

Some systems can't provide secure storage, most commonly a Linux machine without a keyring. When that happens, Scamp signs you in for the current session only and tells you so:

This device can't store your sign-in securely, so you'll need to sign in again next time you open Scamp.

You stay signed in until you quit. Nothing is written to disk unencrypted.

Sign out

In the account panel, click Sign out. Scamp deletes the stored token from your machine immediately, and every open window updates.

One window at a time

Scamp runs as a single instance. Launching it again focuses the window you already have rather than opening a second copy. This is what lets the browser hand a completed sign-in back to a known place.

Troubleshooting

The browser opened, but nothing happened when I signed in. Check that you completed sign-in in the browser window Scamp opened, rather than in an existing tab that's already signed in elsewhere. If the panel is still waiting, click Cancel and try again.

Sign-in says it failed with no obvious reason. The panel shows the reason under the button. A network error and an unreachable server both appear here. Trying again is safe.

I signed in, but I'm signed out again after a restart. Your OS couldn't store the token securely; the panel says so while you're signed in. See Where Scamp stores your sign-in.

Get started: The start screen.
Settings: Privacy and anonymous usage counting, which is separate from your account and controlled independently.