Your first useful result
Open an issue and save a draft with your own copy. You do not need an email provider, subscriber list, sponsor, or AI connection to start writing. When the draft is ready, this guide takes it through review and delivery.
1. Create or open your workspace
Hosted signup is closed on this deployment. Request access; submitting the request does not create an account. Already a member? Sign in and open the active issue from your Production desk.
Setting up a new self-hosted service?
The first-owner setup page requires your administrator’s setup code. It creates the first owner, publication, and issue, then opens the Production desk.
- Account — enter your setup code, email, and password.
- First issue — name the publication and issue. Voice and appearance defaults can be adjusted later.
- Schedule — set a publishing rhythm. You can connect Resend now or add a destination later.
2. Make the draft yours
Open the issue title, then choose Edit. Write in the canvas, add or arrange sections, and use the Inspector for the selected section’s details. Check the save status before leaving. Issue Setup holds the title, brief, and other issue details.
Overview brings you back to progress and the next action. Reusable formats, brand voice settings, segments, and automated flows can wait until you need them.
3. Review the issue
Review keeps the content read-only while authenticated team members comment, suggest changes, and record decisions. Resolve outstanding review work and record issue-level editorial approval. A solo operator can approve their own issue when peer review is off; peer review requires two distinct approvers.
Readiness also checks voice alignment, verified sources, link health, and sponsor approval. Follow each blocker to the work it needs. AI suggestions do not verify a source or provide an approval.
If the issue has a sponsor, request sign-off for the placement. Changing approved material requires a new approval.
4. Preview, then prepare delivery
Preview shows the saved email and its plain-text alternative. It is a workspace view, not a public review link. Check the output, then open Send plan for readiness, audience, destination modes, and test sends.
Connect a destination in Settings → Email destinations. Email requires eligible subscribers, a configured sender, a physical mailing address, and an unsubscribe path. You can also publish to the native web archive. Substack is a manual export.
An owner or admin confirms the saved version, selected destinations, and current eligible audience before a live send. A changed audience requires fresh confirmation. A scheduled send rechecks eligibility at dispatch time and can include newly eligible subscribers.
PubOps records destination outcomes. The issue becomes sent only after an accepted live destination receipt; a test send or manual export does not count.
5. Read the post-mortem
The sent issue now shows up in Library. Click it to see what you sent, review approval records, and write down what to change next time. Audience measurements depend on events reported by your provider; missing data is not a zero result.
What if something goes wrong?
Open Activity & delivery for publication-scoped records, or follow the issue’s delivery result. Retry is available only when the attempt is eligible. If the provider outcome is unknown, reconcile it before trying again. See the recovery guide for where to look.