Getting started with Project Mad Adder
Set up a new PMA collection without being forced through an artificial hierarchy or a fixed sequence. PMA creates the collection and your owner membership first; you decide whether Animals, Housing, importing, or simply exploring should come next.
Before you begin
- You can sign in to an approved PMA account.
- You know the collection name and general collection type you want to use.
- It helps to know your preferred region and measurement units, but you can change those later.
- You do not need to design facilities, rooms, racks, or enclosures before creating the collection.
Interface walkthrough
These annotated interface maps describe the current PMA controls. They do not replace a real record review in your workspace.
The starting mode changes guidance only. It does not silently create operational Housing or import real records before review.
PMA can recommend a presentation profile from your collection size, team, focus, and structure preferences. Experience Profiles change what is emphasized in the interface; they do not grant permissions or alter plan entitlements.
After the collection is created, choose the workflow that matches what you actually want to do. There is no required setup order.
Step-by-step workflow
Enter the collection basics
Choose a clear collection name and collection type. PMA creates the organization and your owner membership. It does not fabricate a Main Facility, room, rack, or enclosure.
Answer the lightweight personalization questions
Tell PMA approximately how many animals you manage, who helps, your main focus, and how much physical structure you want represented. These answers are recommendations, not prerequisites.
Choose how you want to begin
Select Start empty, Guided sample, or Import existing data. Sample data remains clearly synthetic and removable. Import workflows remain review-first.
Create the collection
Finish creation and let PMA open the choose-your-next-step screen. At this point a valid collection can contain zero animals and zero Housing records.
Choose the first real workflow
Add an animal, create Housing, import your existing collection, or explore the application. PMA does not require Housing before Animal creation, and an animal may remain Unassigned until its real Housing is known.
Create only the Housing that represents reality
If you choose Housing, use direct Add Housing for an enclosure, rack, stack, or repeated positions, or use an approved template when repeatability is useful. Parent Facility or Room structure is optional unless it reflects your real setup.
Add or import accurate animal records
Record known identity, species, sex, dates, origin, morph/genetics, lineage, feeding defaults, and hazards at the certainty you can support. Leave unknown information unknown rather than guessing.
Build operational evidence over time
Record real care events, schedules, Housing details, Guided Rounds, and other workflows as they become useful. Setup Centre remains available as optional guidance and can recognize work you completed in any order.
Expected result
You have a usable PMA collection with no artificial setup dependency. The collection can begin empty, with animals only, with Housing only, or through a reviewed import, and PMA can recognize progress as real records are added.
Safety boundaries
- Creating a collection does not create placeholder Housing or imply a physical facility exists.
- PMA does not silently merge animals, invent lineage, confirm uncertain genetics, or guess Housing assignments.
- No staged import becomes authoritative before explicit confirmation.
- Sample records remain synthetic and separately removable from real collection data.
- Experience Profile recommendations do not change subscription entitlements or staff permissions.
- Setup readiness is guidance, not professional husbandry, veterinary, biosecurity, legal, or facility certification.
Troubleshooting
I do not see a Main Facility after creating a collection
That is the intended current behavior. PMA no longer invents a top-level Facility. Create a Facility only if your real physical structure needs one; otherwise you can create an enclosure, rack, stack, animals, or other records directly.
An older collection still has Main Facility
Older onboarding versions created a default Main Facility. PMA retires an exact unused generated default only when nothing references it. If child Housing, animals, tasks, Spatial records, Continuity, equipment, or another PMA record depends on it, the record is preserved rather than removed automatically.
Setup Centre says a step is incomplete even though I started elsewhere
Refresh Setup Centre and review the evidence it can prove. Most setup items are recommendations. You can continue normal PMA workflows without completing the checklist in a fixed order.
Setup progress says it is stored in this browser
The cloud setup schema may be unavailable or unresolved. Browser progress is a safe fallback, but it should not be treated as cloud persistence until synchronization is restored.
An existing animal does not satisfy every recommendation
PMA only recognizes evidence it can verify. Review missing feeding defaults, measurement preferences, Housing, genetics, care history, or Guided Round readiness separately rather than manufacturing data to make a checklist green.