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The Zentile guide.

Everything you need to know to organize your work, customize your setup, and get fast.

</>Building something? Read the API & MCP docs

Core concepts

Zentile is built around three levels of organization. Understanding them makes everything else click.

Hubs

A hub is a workspace. Think of it as a project, context, or area of your life. Examples: "Work", "Side Project", "Home". You can switch between hubs in the sidebar.

Stacks

A stack lives inside a hub. It groups related tiles together. Examples: "Daily Tools", "Docs", "Team Links". You can collapse, expand, reorder, and color-code stacks.

Tiles

A tile is a single bookmark or resource. It has a title, URL, icon, and optional note. Click a tile to open its URL. Pin important tiles to keep them at the top.

The Hierarchy

Think of the structure like this: A workspace contains multiple hubs. Each hub contains multiple stacks. Each stack contains multiple tiles. This gives you unlimited depth for organizing anything.

Example structure: Workspace → Work hub → "Daily Tools" stack → "Slack" tile.

Rich Tile Notes

Any tile can have a rich-text note attached. Flip the tile to see a preview. Use the expand button to open a full editor. Great for storing context, login credentials, usage tips, or reminders about how to use the resource.

Pinning & Favoriting

Pin your most-used tiles to float them to the top of their stack. A dedicated "Pinned" bar appears at the top of your workspace showing all pinned tiles across all stacks, giving you one-click access to your essentials.

Getting started

From zero to your first organized hub in under two minutes.

1

Create a hub.

Click the + button in the sidebar. Give it a name, pick an emoji or icon, and optionally set an accent color. Hit Save.

2

Add a stack.

Inside your hub, click + Add Stack. A stack groups tiles by category. Name it something descriptive like "Daily Tools" or "Reference Docs".

3

Add tiles.

Click + Add Tile inside a stack. Enter a title and URL. Zentile will attempt to fetch the site's favicon automatically. You can override it with any emoji or built-in icon.

4

Launch anything.

Click a tile to open its link in a new tab. Use the star button to pin your most-used tiles to the top of the stack.

Tip: Start with Templates

Import a starter template from the Marketplace to skip manual setup and start with a pre-built hub. Choose from Creator Toolkit, Solopreneur OS, Personal Life OS, and more.

Organizing Pro Tips

  • • Use consistent naming across hubs to make searching faster (e.g., all hubs start with a category)
  • • Keep stacks focused — 3-8 tiles per stack works best for quick scanning
  • • Pin your daily essentials to the top for one-click access
  • • Use accent colors to visually group related stacks or priorities

Moving & Organizing Later

Don't worry about perfect organization from the start. You can move tiles between stacks, reorganize stacks, reorder everything via drag-and-drop, and rename at any time. Your organization will evolve as you use Zentile.

Themes& colors

Zentile ships with 14 themes split into dark and light categories. Change the theme at any time from the theme picker in the header.

Dark themes

Dark Blue (default), Black, Midnight, Sepia, Purple, Pink, Yellow, Neon, Candy

Light themes

Light, Ice, Lemon, Mint, Blush

Hub & Stack Accent Colors

Each hub and stack can have its own accent color. Click the color dot in a hub or stack header to choose from 21 presets or pick any custom hex color.

Use accent colors to visually group related stacks, highlight priorities, or match your brand aesthetic.

Why Themes Matter

The right theme keeps you in focus. Dark themes reduce eye strain during long work sessions. Light themes work great in bright environments. Switch anytime — all your organization is preserved.

Customization Tips

  • • Match your system theme for seamless integration
  • • Use warm themes (Sepia, Yellow) for creative work
  • • Try Neon or Candy for a playful, energetic vibe
  • • Switch to light themes during daytime for better readability

Tile notes

Every tile supports a rich-text note. Use it to store context, login hints, instructions, or anything else related to that link.

1

Add a note.

Hover a tile and click the lines icon (note button). The tile editor opens with a rich text area at the bottom.

2

Format text.

Use the toolbar to apply Bold, Italic, Underline, Headings (H1–H3), Paragraph, Bullet list, or Numbered list.

3

Flip to preview.

Save the tile. Hover and click the note icon again — the tile flips to show a compact preview of your note on the back.

4

Expand to read.

On the tile back, click the expand icon (four-corner arrows) to open the note in a full-size modal for comfortable reading and editing.

Note Use Cases

  • Login credentials: Store username hints (never passwords)
  • API keys & tokens: Keep documentation links for OAuth flows
  • Usage tips: Remind yourself how to use a tool effectively
  • Team context: Document who owns what or how to contact support
  • Decision logs: Record why you chose this tool

Rich Text Features

Notes support full markdown-style formatting including headers, lists, bold, italic, and more. This makes it easy to create well-structured documentation right inside a tile.

Example: Use H1 for the main topic, bullet points for steps, and bold for emphasis.

Icon library

Every tile and hub can display an emoji, a custom icon from the built-in library, or auto-fetched favicon from the site URL.

Built-in icons

Zentile includes 100+ brand and tool logos organized by category: Dev Tools, Productivity, Design, Communication, Cloud, AI & ML, Marketing, Finance, and Media. These are available offline with no internet connection required.

Custom icons

You can also paste any image URL as a custom icon. Open the tile editor, go to the Icon tab, and paste a direct image link.

Auto favicon

When you enter a URL for a tile and leave the icon field empty, Zentile will automatically attempt to load the site's favicon using DuckDuckGo's favicon service.

Emoji Collections

Beyond built-in brand icons, Zentile provides extensive emoji libraries organized by category: Smileys, People, Animals, Food, Nature, Places, Activities, Objects, Symbols, and Flags.

Mix and match: use branded icons for tools and emojis for moods, status, or personality.

Icon Selection Tips

  • • Use brand icons for real tools (GitHub, Slack, Figma)
  • • Use emojis for categories or moods (🎓 Learning, 💡 Ideas)
  • • Keep icons consistent within a stack for visual cohesion
  • • Let auto-favicon work for less common sites
  • • Use color + icon together for maximum visual distinction

Icon Library Management

Your custom icons and emoji preferences are saved in Zentile. Build your perfect icon set over time — the more tiles you create, the easier icon selection becomes thanks to recently used suggestions.

Import& export

Your data lives in your browser. Zentile gives you full control to back it up, move it, or share it.

Export all data.

Open Settings (gear icon in the header) → Export. Downloads a JSON file with all your hubs, stacks, tiles, and notes. Keep this as a backup.

Import a backup.

Open Settings → Import. Select a previously exported JSON file. Your data will be restored exactly as it was.

Share a hub.

Open any hub and click the share icon in the hub header. This generates a shareable JSON pack others can import directly into their own Zentile.

Important:

Zentile stores all data in your browser's localStorage. Clearing browser data will erase your Zentile data. Export regularly to avoid data loss.

Backup Strategy

  • • Export your data monthly or after major changes
  • • Store exports in cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive)
  • • Keep dated backups so you can recover from different points in time
  • • Test imports occasionally to ensure backups work

Sharing Best Practices

When sharing hubs, consider who should see it and what you're sharing. You can share entire hubs, or export specific stacks.

  • • Share curated hubs with your team for onboarding
  • • Share resource stacks with friends or colleagues
  • • Keep private notes in separate hubs if sharing hubs

Keyboard shortcuts

Use these shortcuts to move fast without touching the mouse. Power users can stay in the flow with quick keyboard commands.

ActionShortcut
Open keyboard shortcuts overlay?
Open SettingsS
Open Themes pickerT
Add new hubH
Add new tileN
Close any open modalEsc
Toggle sidebarB
Collapse all stacksCollapse/Expand button (3-state)

Accessibility & Workflow

Keyboard shortcuts are designed for accessibility and speed. You can accomplish most tasks without ever reaching for the mouse — stay in flow, stay productive.

Press ? anytime to see the full shortcuts list in the app.

Quick Workflows

  • Add & Organize: Press H → add hub → N → add tiles → Esc
  • Browse & Customize: T → pick theme → S → adjust settings
  • Quick Setup: H creates a hub, then click + to add stacks instantly
  • Focus Mode: Toggle B to hide the sidebar and reduce distractions

Tips for Learning Shortcuts

Start by learning the ones you use most often: H (new hub), N (new tile), Esc (close). The rest will come naturally.