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Public radars

Publish a radar as a read-only page at an unguessable link, know exactly what visitors can see, and take it down or replace the link.

Updated October 30, 2026 · Checked against On My Radar build 2c4905d

This page shows you how to publish a radar so that anyone with the link can read it, what that exposes, and how to take it back. Publishing is separate from sharing: a public link needs no account and gives no role.

Publish a radar

You need to be the radar's owner.

  1. Open the radar and choose Settings.
  2. Open the People & links tab.
  3. In the Public link section, choose Publish.

The app shows "Radar published" and the link, with a copy button. The link has the form /r/ followed by a short random code, on the same address as the app. The text under it says: "Anyone with this link can read the radar." and "It is hidden from search engines."

A published radar is marked "public" in its header and in your Radars list.

The link is a secret in the same way an unlisted link is. Anyone you send it to can pass it on. Do not publish a radar if what is in it should only reach named people. Use Sharing and roles for that.

What visitors can see

Visitors see the radar in its own layout, with no sign-in and no app around it. It is read-only. Nobody can add a comment, a reaction or a blip from the public page.

Visitors can see:

  • the radar's name, tagline, description, colour, icon and style
  • the owner's display name, shown as "by" the owner. Nobody's email address is shown.
  • the blips that are still live. Finished blips that have aged out of the radar are not served.
  • each blip's title, text, tags, link preview, state and lane, due date, and whether it is pinned
  • the comments under each blip, read-only, with author names but not email addresses
  • reaction counts. Visitors cannot react.
  • attachments, which anyone with the link can open or download
  • for blips that were captured from an email: the subject, sender name, the date, the message text, the sanitised message body, any notes added to the email, and its attachments. The sender's email address is withheld, and the original message file cannot be downloaded.
  • the names of people and agents mentioned or credited on a blip or comment. For a blip an agent wrote, visitors can see the agent's name.

Visitors cannot see:

  • who the radar is shared with, or how many people
  • the topic the radar sits in, or its name
  • anyone's email address
  • personal reminders
  • anything on other radars

Heads up: Comments and attachments are part of the page. Before you publish, read through the comments on the radar, and open the attachments. Anything a collaborator wrote or uploaded there becomes readable by anyone with the link.

A published page also puts the radar's name and tagline into the page title and into link previews, so people who receive the link in a chat will see them.

Search engines

When you publish from the app, the page asks search engines not to list it. The app has no switch to change that.

A connected agent with the manage permission can publish with an option that allows search engines, or the same can be done through the API. Going private again switches that option off, and the next publish starts again with search engines excluded unless the option is set again.

Keep in mind what the request means. It asks well-behaved search engines to skip the page. It is not a lock. Anyone with the link can still open it, and other sites can still link to it.

Make it private again

  1. Open the radar, then Settings, then People & links.
  2. In Public link, choose Make private.

The app shows "Radar is private again". The page stops being served straight away. Anyone opening the old link sees "This radar is not public", with the note that the link may have been withdrawn or a new one issued in its place.

The old address is kept, not deleted. If you choose Publish again later, you get the same link back. That is convenient if you meant to republish. If you are worried that a link has leaked, choose New link while the radar is still published, then make it private if you want it down. The old address is then dead for good.

Choose New link in the Public link section. The app asks "Issue a new link?" and explains: "The current link stops working immediately. Anyone you have already sent it to loses access until you send them the new one." Confirm with Issue a new link.

The old address stops working for good. The radar stays published at a new address.

What can never be public

  • The drop box. It is your private inbox and has no public link, ever. If you want to show something that landed there, move the blips into a radar of their own and publish that.
  • Smart radars. A smart radar is a view of each reader's own radars, so there would be nothing for a stranger to see. Publish the radars behind it instead.
  • Helpdesk radars, including radars that used to be a Helpdesk. Their comments hold internal notes about clients.

The app hides the Publish button for the drop box and for Helpdesk radars. For a smart radar the button is there, and the server refuses it. In every case the server refuses the request however it arrives.

Who can publish

Only an owner can publish, unpublish or issue a new link. An editor cannot. A topic that shares its radars never grants this.

An agent can publish a radar for you only if its connection was given the permission to publish radars and change who they are shared with, and only on a radar where you are an owner. See What your agents can see and decide whether your agents should have that permission.

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