The web shell

DataMind Oda serves its interface to a browser on your computer from a web server built into the app. This page covers how that server behaves: the local address DataMind Oda prints for it, the sign-in your browser keeps, and the limits to know; The Oda web app covers working in it, Oda in the browser covers starting it, and Install and sign in covers setting up DataMind Oda itself.

Open the local address

Start the web shell. When it starts, DataMind Oda prints a local address on this computer.
Open that exact address in a browser on this computer. The first visit signs that browser in and loads the app.
Return later from the same browser: the sign-in is kept in a cookie, so the app opens directly.

Note

A browser that has not been signed in yet gets a plain page instead of the app: Sign-in required; reopen the address the server printed when it started. Reopen the exact address from the latest start of the web shell, and that browser is signed in.

What the server serves

The app page and the app's own files, including scripts, styles and images, from a folder on this computer. It reaches nothing else: an address that tries to leave the app's folder is refused instead of served.
One page, at the address DataMind Oda printed. Addresses the server does not know answer not found or an empty page, so a mistyped or stale address fails clearly instead of opening the app by accident.
The app page asks for the sign-in; the app's own files are served without it. Treat everything under the address that is not behind the sign-in as public.

Keep it on this computer

The web shell is meant for this computer: DataMind Oda serves it on a local address, and the server itself adds no encryption and no protection. The sign-in you meet is added by the app on top of it: it guards the app's page, and anything else under the address is served to whoever can reach it.

Important

Keep the web shell on this computer: anything under its address that is not behind the app's sign-in would be exposed to whoever can reach it.

See Oda in the browser and The Oda web interface for how the web shell is started and where it can be reached.

Questions, answered

Do I need to install the web shell separately?

No. It is a way for DataMind Oda to serve itself: the app on this computer serves its own page and files to a browser. There is nothing to install for it.

Do I sign in with a password?

No. There is nothing to type: opening the address DataMind Oda printed signs your browser in, and the sign-in stays in a cookie. A browser that has not opened it sees Sign-in required; reopen the address the server printed when it started.

Can the server reach other files on my computer?

No. It serves the app page and the app's own files from the app's folder, and nothing else. An address that tries to reach outside the folder is refused instead of served.

Why should the web shell stay on this computer?

Because the server behind it adds no encryption and no protection of its own. The sign-in guards the app's page, and everything under the address that is not behind it is public to whoever can reach the address. Keep the web shell on this computer.

Can I open a chat or a screen by its own address?

No. The web shell is one page served at the address DataMind Oda printed: open that address, then navigate inside the app.

Is the web shell the same as the browser in a chat?

No. The browser in a chat's side panel is where you and Oda work on web pages together, covered by The browser in Oda. The web shell is Oda's own interface, served to a browser on this computer.

What does the web shell show for an address it does not serve?

not found, or an empty page. Nothing else opens, so a mistyped or stale address fails clearly; check the address against the one DataMind Oda printed.