Kiosk and front desk

Most makerspaces have a desk, a tablet by the door, or a laptop on the tool wall. Space Works offers several ways to run them, from a simple public catalogue screen to a handover station that keeps working when the Wi-Fi drops.

Surface	Address	Signed in?	Use it for
Front-desk console	/admin	Yes, with a front-desk role	Day-to-day handovers by volunteers
Public desk	/kiosk/<slug>	No	A browse-only catalogue screen for visitors
Station kiosk	/m/<slug>/kiosk/<station>	Station PIN, then a staff operator	A shared handover or scanner device, with offline continuity
Event check-in station	/m/<slug>/event-check-in/<station>	Event PIN	Self check-in at an event door; see Events
Staff scanner	/scanner	Yes	A standalone QR lookup page

The front-desk console

The simplest setup is a normal staff login with a narrow role. Create a Front Desk role (see Roles and permissions) and the console shows only Requests, Direct handout, Job handover, Payments and Notifications, according to what the role holds. Guided issue and return wizards walk volunteers through the box scan, photo and remark.

The public desk

/kiosk/<slug> shows your public catalogue in a kiosk frame, with no sign-in. Use it on a screen where visitors browse what you have. It changes nothing and needs no setup beyond a published catalogue.

Station kiosks

A station is a named, shared device for handovers or scanning. It is designed so the device itself holds no lasting authority:

• a Station PIN only unlocks the kiosk;
• every handover still needs a signed-in staff operator, and is recorded against that person;
• the operator can only do what their own role allows.

Set up a station

You need the Kiosk feature (off by default) and manage_makerspace.

1. In Settings → Feature settings, turn on Kiosk. For direct handouts at the station, Self checkout must be on too.
2. In Settings → Kiosk stations, enter a name and choose a Kind: Handover or Scanner.
3. Choose Create station. The PIN and the station URL are shown once; note them down.
4. Open the station URL on the device and enter the PIN to unlock it.
5. A staff member signs in to start their operator shift. Use Full screen for a cleaner display.

From the stations list you can Rotate PIN, Reveal PIN (you must re-enter your own password), Disable a station, or Re-enable with new PIN.

What each kind of station can do

Operation	Scanner station	Handover station	Operator needs
Look up a QR code	Yes	Yes	view_inventory
Assign a box to a request		Yes	assign_box
Issue a reviewed request		Yes	issue_request + upload_evidence
Return a reviewed request		Yes	return_request + upload_evidence
Direct handout		Yes	issue_direct_loan + upload_evidence (and Self checkout on)
Return a direct handout		Yes	return_request + upload_evidence (and Self checkout on)

Each operation also needs its modules to be installed. The station never reaches the general staff console.

Run a handover at a station

1. Load the request by its number.
2. Scan the box (and assign it, if it has none yet).
3. Take the evidence photo with the device camera.
4. Add a remark (required for returns).
5. Choose Issue items or Return all items.

A station return records every outstanding item as returned. If something came back damaged or missing, process the return in the staff console instead, where you can record each outcome. See Loans.

Working offline

A handover station can finish handovers during a network outage, within strict limits.

What works offline: only a handover that was loaded while online, by an operator whose shift was started while online. The operator can take the photo, add the remark and confirm. The work is shown as Queued until the server accepts it.

What does not work offline: unlocking the station, signing in, and looking up people, requests or QR codes. An offline device also cannot learn that a PIN was rotated or an operator’s access removed until it reconnects.

How queued work is kept:

• Queued handovers and their photos are stored encrypted in the browser on that device. Nothing is stored in plain text.
• Photos are resized (at most 1600 pixels on the longest edge), re-encoded as JPEG and stripped of metadata before they are stored.
• A device holds at most 50 unconfirmed handovers and 100 MiB of photos. Beyond that, capture is refused and existing work is kept.
• If the browser lacks the storage and encryption features this needs, the station simply works online only.

When the connection returns, the station replays the queue automatically: on reconnect, every 15 seconds while there is pending work, and when you choose Retry queued work. Each handover is sent exactly as it was captured, and the server applies all its normal checks (box, photo, remark, permissions) at that moment.

Queued work expires with the station session, the operator’s shift, or the loaded handover, whichever comes first.

Locking a station discards its queue

Lock station (or signing out) clears the station’s encrypted work and photos, including anything still pending or failed. The station asks you to confirm before discarding work. Let the queue empty, or have failed items reviewed, before locking.

When a queued handover fails

Sometimes the server refuses a replayed handover, for example because the request was already returned at the counter, or the borrower’s membership lapsed. Failed work is kept and marked for staff review; other queued handovers carry on.

Failed replays are listed in Operate → Requests for staff who hold the matching action. To resolve one:

1. Open the failed handover and inspect it, including its photo.
2. Decide what really happened:
   • If nothing physically changed hands, acknowledge it after checking.
   • If the handover did happen, make a correction from a station: it uses the current station session, a fresh operator shift, the request loaded online and a new photo. Once the correction succeeds, link it to the failed attempt.
3. The review is recorded in the audit log against the reviewing staff member.

Reviewing a failure never changes stock or loan status by itself; only a successful corrective handover does. Failed direct handouts can only be acknowledged, because the details needed to match a replacement automatically are not retained.

Tips

• Give each physical device its own station, so a lost tablet means rotating one PIN.
• Rotate PINs when volunteers change.
• Mount the device where the camera can see the box and tools clearly; the photo is the evidence.

Related

• Loans
• Roles and permissions
• Events and bookings
• Troubleshooting