User Manual

This is the end-user documentation for Synchronet BBS Software — the manual for people calling a Synchronet BBS, not for sysops running one. (Sysops, see the wiki home page and the SCFG, customization, and how-to sections.)

What you actually see when you call a BBS depends on which command shell, login screen, message editor, and other menus that BBS uses. Synchronet is highly modular: the prompts and command keys you press are part of the command shell, but most of what those keys invoke — reading mail, posting messages, the user-settings menu, listing users online, and so on — comes from separate sections and menus the sysop has configured. The message editor is configured separately — it's either Synchronet's built-in line editor or an external editor of your choice. Two BBSes running the same shell can still feel different if they've swapped one of these out; two BBSes running different shells will often share the very same mail or chat interface once you press the key that opens it.

So this manual is organized along those boundaries: a per-shell page for each shell's prompts and key bindings, a separate page for each major section or menu that has its own UI, and a small set of universal pages for things Synchronet itself handles (Ctrl-key commands, Ctrl-A codes).

Most BBSes you'll encounter run the stock Synchronet Classic command shell. If you don't know otherwise, start there:

• Synchronet Classic Shell — User Guide

If your BBS uses a different shell — for example Wildcat!, PCBoard, Renegade, or WWIV style — see the index at Command Shells and pick the matching page.

How you log on (matrix screen, Login: / Password: prompts, new-user signup flow, etc.) is controlled by the BBS's login module, not its shell. Login happens before the shell even starts.

• Login Modules — index
• Default Login

These are sections and menus with their own user-facing UIs that any shell may invoke. Your BBS may use the stock module or a customized replacement.

• User Settings Menu — the Account Defaults / Configuration menu; in the Classic shell, opened with D from the Main prompt.
• Message Editors — internal line editor, plus external editors like SlyEdit and FSEditor
• Electronic Mail — Email Section, Read Mail, Private Msg
• Message Base — Scan Msgs, Scan Subs, List Msgs
• Chat — Chat Section
• User Listings — List Users, List Nodes, Who's Online
• Auto Message — the shared one-line logon message any user can update (A from Main)
• Information / Statistics — system info, version, sub-board info, account stats (I from Main)
• Text File Section — online text files and articles (G from Main)
• External Programs / Doors — external games and programs (X from Main)
• File Transfer Section — downloading, uploading, batch transfers, temp directory

These work the same in every shell because Synchronet itself handles them, not the shell:

• Control-key Commands — Ctrl-S/Q/C, Ctrl-U, Ctrl-P, Ctrl-K, Ctrl-T, etc.
• Ctrl-A Text Attribute Codes — the color/attribute codes you may see when reading messages or display files
• QWK Mail Packet Menu — read and post messages offline (invoked from any shell)

• Credits — the BBS credit economy from a user's perspective
• Glossary

• Carriage Return (the Enter key) is referred to as <CR>.
• Where a key sequence is needed at a specific prompt (e.g. “from the Main prompt”, “from the File Transfer prompt”), the prompt is named explicitly. Each shell defines its own prompts and command keys — see the page for that shell.
• IBM CP437 / ANSI escape sequences and Synchronet's Ctrl-A color codes appear in many displays. Most modern terminals (e.g. SyncTERM, NetRunner) handle these natively.

• Synchronet Wiki home
• Command Shell (sysop perspective)
• Public Synchronet BBSes you can call