What this guide covers
This guide explains how to use KeyAtlas from a user and creator perspective. It focuses on project discovery, tracking, sharing, posting, and profile tools.
1. Getting started
Create an account
- Open KeyAtlas and choose Sign In or Sign Up.
- Create your account, verify your email if prompted, and complete your profile.
- Once signed in, your profile becomes your home for projects, favorites, collection, watchlists, and settings.
Understand the top navigation
The main navigation gives you direct access to:
- Projects
- Forums
- Vendors
- Guides
- Calendar
- Statistics
- Activity
- Compare
2. Project discovery
Browse all projects
The Projects page is your central discovery screen. You can switch status tabs, search, filter, sort, and change the view style.
Status tabs
Status tabs make it easy to focus on a project stage such as Interest Check, Group Buy, and Shipping.
Search and filters
You can narrow results by multiple dimensions:
- Category
- Status
- Profile
- Vendor
- Designer
- Shipped
- Featured
- Text search query
Sort options
You can sort by newest, oldest, alphabetical order, recently updated, and Group Buy timeline related modes.
Save filter as watchlist
If you discover a filter set you want to reuse, save it as a watchlist. Watchlists can also send notifications when matching projects appear.
Discover pages
In addition to the main Projects page, KeyAtlas includes focused discovery views for:
- Interest checks
- Active group buys
- Ending soon
- New this week
- Build guides
- Vendors
3. Project page walkthrough
What you see on a project page
- Hero section with title, status, and key information
- Social proof section with followers, bookmarks, and comments
- Specs and metadata
- Regional vendor list and links
- Timeline section for IC and GB dates
- Project gallery
- Sound tests for keyboard projects
- Project update timeline
- Comments section
- Related projects
Primary actions for users
- Follow project
- Bookmark project
- Add project to your collection
- Share project link
- Report project if needed
Share behavior and tracking
The Share button generates source tagged links automatically. This helps creators understand where clicks come from, such as Discord, Reddit, X, Geekhack, and generic links.
4. Creator tools on project pages
Creator side actions
If you own the project, you can open creator actions from the project page to maintain your listing and post updates.
Referral stats in Share
Creators can view referral performance inside the Share popover:
- Total referral clicks
- Top traffic sources
This lets you measure which campaign channels are working without leaving the project page.
5. Creating and publishing a project
Open submit flow
Go to Profile, then choose Submit Project, or open the submit route directly.
Fast start options
- Import from a source URL, including long forum style topics
- Duplicate one of your existing projects as a template
Form sections you should complete
- Basic information: title, category, status, profile, designer, description
- Pricing: min, max, currency
- Vendors: regional vendor mapping and links
- Timeline: IC date, GB start, GB end, estimated delivery
- Hero image
- Gallery studio
- Tags
- External links
Autosave and draft recovery
The submit form autosaves drafts and can recover unsaved local draft content if your session is interrupted.
Preview and publish flow
- Save Draft while you are working.
- Use Preview to check presentation.
- Publish once all required fields are complete.
6. Gallery and image workflow
Gallery Studio
Gallery Studio supports:
- Uploading images
- Pasting image URLs
- Bulk URL pasting
- Reordering images
- Editing alt text and link behavior
Rich text image support
Rich text editors support pasting and dropping images directly. Images upload automatically and are inserted into content once upload succeeds.
7. Updates and comments
Project updates
Creators can post updates in the project update timeline. Followers can use updates to track major milestones such as GB launch, production progress, and shipping.
Comments and replies
Project pages include threaded comments. You can post, reply, and edit your own comment content.
8. Forums
Forum structure
Forums are organized by category, then threads, then posts.
Common forum actions
- Browse categories
- Open threads
- Create new thread in a category
- Post replies
- Use rich text formatting and image insertion in posts
9. Guides
Reading guides
The Guides section lists published build guides with author and difficulty information.
Writing guides
Signed in users can create guides with:
- Title
- Difficulty level
- Cover image
- Rich text content
Guide pages support sharing and are designed for long form educational content.
10. Vendors
Vendor directory
The Vendors section helps you find stores and see which projects are connected to each vendor.
Vendor detail pages
Vendor pages aggregate linked projects so you can evaluate vendor activity and coverage.
11. Calendar and statistics
Calendar view
Calendar helps you track upcoming and active milestone dates:
- Interest Check dates
- Group Buy start dates
- Group Buy end dates
- Estimated delivery quarter references
Statistics page
Statistics summarizes platform level trends, including:
- Total published projects
- Active group buys
- Shipped counts
- Category and status distribution
- Top designers and vendors
- Monthly Group Buy trend lines
12. Compare and activity
Compare
Compare allows side by side project analysis when evaluating multiple candidates.
Activity feed
Activity aggregates recent community events including new projects, comments, forum threads, and updates.
13. Profile and personal tools
Profile overview
Your profile shows account details, follower and following counts, and quick links to public profile and project submission.
My Projects tab
Manage your submitted projects and quickly jump into draft edit or preview.
Favorites and Collection
Favorites are your bookmarked projects. Collection is your owned or tracked set that you want to keep grouped in one place.
Watchlists
Watchlists are saved filters with optional notifications. You can also follow entire categories with one toggle.
API tab
Profile includes API key management and API documentation for personal integrations.
Settings tab
Account settings allow updates to profile presentation details such as display name, username, and bio.
14. Best practices for users and creators
- Follow projects you care about before GB windows close.
- Use watchlists for recurring searches instead of manual re filtering.
- For creators, keep timeline fields current and post updates at milestone changes.
- Use clear gallery images with alt text so project pages remain readable and shareable.
- Use Share links from the built in Share action so referral analytics stay accurate.
- Keep tags and links clean so discovery and search work better for everyone.
15. Quick start checklist
- Create account and finish profile basics.
- Follow a few projects and save one watchlist.
- Bookmark projects into Favorites or Collection.
- Use Calendar for upcoming GB deadlines.
- If you are a creator, submit a project draft and test the Preview flow.
- Publish and use Share links to monitor referral source performance.
