Everything works without an account, but signing in lets you save your own links, layout, widgets, and notes. Here's how to make the dashboard yours.
You can use the tools and a default layout while signed out, but a free account saves your customizations and syncs them wherever you sign in. Click Create account on the homepage (or Sign in if you already have one), enter an email and password, and you're in.
Tip: once you're signed in, an Edit button and a ⚙ settings button appear at the top right — those are your two main controls.
Edit mode is the master switch for customizing. Click the Edit button (top right) and the dashboard reveals all its controls — drag handles, add tiles, and the little ✎ / × buttons on each item. Make your changes, then click Done to lock everything back down. Every change saves automatically as you go.
In Edit mode, every category shows an Add link tile (the circle with a +). Click it to open the dialog, then:
Save, and the link appears as a tile. To change or remove a link later, find it in Edit mode and use the ✎ (edit) or × (remove) buttons on the tile.
Categories are the labeled groups your links live in. Click + Add category and give it a name to create one. In Edit mode each category header shows ▲ ▼ to move it and × category to delete it along with its links.
To move a link from one category to another, edit the link (✎) and change its category in the dialog.
Widgets are small live panels: Calendar, Local Weather, Quick Notes, Ping, and DNS Lookup. First, give them somewhere to live with + Add widget section (or use one you already have). Then, in Edit mode, click the + widget tile inside that section and pick one.
The Ping and DNS widgets run real lookups from the server, so they need you to be signed in.
In Edit mode the whole page is rearrangeable. Grab the ⠿ drag handle on any section header and drag it, or use the ▲ ▼ arrows. This works for your link categories, your widget sections, and the Cloud Status block — so you can float the things you use most to the top.
ackdelay quietly counts which links you open and can surface your top ones in a Most Visited row pinned to the top of the page. Turn it on or off in ⚙ Settings → Appearance. To wipe the counts and start fresh, use the × reset button on that row while in Edit mode.
The bar at the top is a full web search box — type a query and press Enter. Switch engines using the chips beneath it (Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Perplexity), or jump straight to an AI answer with AI Mode. Your engine choice is remembered.
The ⚙ button opens Settings:
Beyond the homepage, the Tools page has fast utilities for network and dev work — subnetting, IP and MAC lookups, DNS, encoders, hashing, regex, and a password generator. A few have dedicated pages with guides of their own: What's My IP, Subnet Calculator, DNS Lookup, and MAC Lookup.
This guide grows as the site does. On the way: getting the most out of the Ping & DNS widgets, sharing a default layout with a team, keyboard shortcuts, and walkthroughs for each tool. Got a question that isn't covered yet? Let us know at hello@ackdelay.com.