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Net visibility

Every NetRoll net is either Listed or Unlisted. Visibility controls whether the net appears in discovery — it does not encrypt anything or gate who may read a session that someone has reached. This page explains what each setting actually protects, so you can pick the right one for a club net, a training net, or a private schedule.

How it works

flowchart TD
    A[Visitor] --> B{How did they arrive?}
    B -->|Discovery landing page| C[Discovery query]
    B -->|Direct link with token| D[Token lookup]
    C --> E[Listed nets only]
    D --> F{Token valid?}
    F -->|Yes| G[Net and its sessions are reachable]
    F -->|No| H[Refused — 404/denied]
    E --> G

Discovery queries return Listed nets only. Unlisted nets are excluded from every discovery result — the hero, the upcoming list, filters, and sorts.

Every net has a link token — a non-guessable value in the URL, not derived from the net's id, so nobody can walk ids to find a net. For an Unlisted net the token is the only way in. For a Listed net it is a second way in alongside discovery, and discovery links the title to it. A request to the permalink URL without a valid token is refused — a Listed net is still reachable through discovery without one.

Key terms

Term Definition
Listed The default. The net and its scheduled occurrences appear in discovery.
Unlisted The net never appears in discovery. It is reachable only through its link token URL.
Link token A non-guessable token in a net's permalink URL. Every net has one, whatever its visibility. Not derived from the net's id.
Discovery The public landing surface: the active-now hero plus the filterable upcoming list.

Limits and considerations

Unlisted is not private. Anyone holding the link can open the net and its live sessions. Treat the token like an unlisted phone number, not like a password. If a token leaks, the only remedy is to stop using that net definition.

Listing a net publishes its token. Discovery links every Listed net's title to its permalink, so anyone browsing — or scraping — Discovery while a net is Listed can keep that link. Switching the net back to Unlisted does not revoke it: the token does not change with visibility.

Live sessions are publicly readable either way. Reading a session — the roster, the ways in, the working-station highlight — never requires an account. Visibility changes who can find the session, not who may read it once found.

Writes are authorized separately. Being able to open a session grants no ability to change it. Check-ins, signal reports, moderation, and control are all governed by roles and permissions, enforced server-side.

Public reads are rate-limited. Discovery and session-view reads are throttled per client to deter scraping. Over the threshold, the server returns HTTP 429 with retry information.

  • Create a net — where you choose visibility, and how to share a link token
  • Schedule a net — only Listed nets appear in the upcoming list
  • Join a net — the visitor's side of discovery