# Do I need an account?

Source: https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/guide/accounts

No. Here is what you get if you make one anyway, and what it costs you if you don't.

**No.** Download Gryt, open it, and you can host a server and talk to people on
your network in under a minute. Nobody signs up for anything.

That is not a trial or a limited mode. A guest identity is a real identity: it
signs the same challenge, gets the same roles, and can own a server. The
difference is who vouches for it.

## The two ways to be somebody

When you join a server, your client signs a one-time challenge with a private
key that never leaves your device. The server checks the signature against a
certificate saying which key belongs to whom. What differs is who signed that
certificate.

A **guest** identity signs its own. The key vouches for itself, there is no
sign-up, no email address, and nobody — including us — can connect it to a
person. Your client makes a separate key for each server, so two servers cannot
work out they are talking to the same person.

An **account** identity is signed by `id.gryt.chat` after Keycloak has
authenticated you. The same `sub` appears on every Gryt server, which is what
makes you recognisably the same person across all of them.

## Which one you want

| | Guest | Account |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-up | none | email and password |
| Same person on other servers | no, deliberately | yes |
| New device | a new identity, unless you [authorise the device](https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/guide/quick-start) | sign in |
| Lost your device | the identity is gone with it | sign in again |
| Servers that will have you | those accepting `local` | all of them |
| A ban on you holds | until you make a new key | until you make a new account |
| Anyone can tell it is you | only that server, only while you keep the key | yes, by design |

**Pick guest** for a LAN party, a game night, one weekend's server, or anything
you would rather not attach your name to. It is the lower-commitment option in
every sense, including the one where you lose everything if the laptop dies.

**Pick an account** if you are on servers you intend to stay on, if you use more
than one device, or if you want people to recognise you when you turn up
somewhere new. It is also what a server admin needs if bans are supposed to
mean something.

You are not choosing once. Making an account later
[keeps the membership you already have](https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/server/identity) — your roles and
history come with you rather than starting again.

<Callout type="info">
  A server tells you which it accepts before you try. The Add Server dialog
  shows **No account needed** or **Gryt account required** as soon as it has
  looked the server up, so you never find out by being turned away.
</Callout>

## For server admins

The tier your server accepts is one setting, and the trade is bans. A guest can
generate a new keypair in about two seconds, so a ban on a guest identity holds
until they bother to. Servers accepting guests lean on the door instead —
invites, approval, LAN-only — rather than on bans.

The full picture, including how to set it, is in
[Server → Identity](https://docs.gryt.chat/docs/server/identity).