How can we help?
Search across every Campistry product, or jump straight to what you need.
Dashboard
Command center
Me
Structure & staff
Flow
Scheduling
Go
Buses & luggage
Health
Medical records
Live
Attendance
Snacks
Canteen & shop
Link
Parent comms
Notes
Reminders
Lite
On your phone
No results
Try a different word, or
Getting Started
New camp? Here's the order Campistry is built around — each step feeds the next one.
Set your camp profile & dates
Dashboard → Profile & Account for your camp's name, address and contact info, then the Dates & Pricing tab to set your Summer Schedule.
Build your camp structure
Me → Structure: add divisions, then the grades and bunks inside each — youngest to oldest, since Flow and your print sheets follow this same order.
Bring in campers and staff
Me → Registration to open camper applications (or add them manually), and Hiring to run your staff pipeline. Roster also supports a bulk CSV/Excel import.
Invite your team
Dashboard → Team & Access to invite office staff, division heads and schedulers, and set what each of them can see and edit.
Choose Auto or Manual Builder
Flow → Setup tab. A camp-wide, one-time choice: Auto Builder fills activities in from rotation rules; Manual Builder has you place every tile yourself.
Build your rotation rules or skeleton
Flow → Master Scheduler — Layers in Auto mode, or a Skeleton in Manual mode.
Generate your first schedule
Flow → Daily Adjustments → ▶ Generate Schedule.
Print it or send it to your team's phones
Flow → Print Center for paper/PDF packs, or point counselors to Campistry Lite for their bunk's schedule on their own phone.
Roles & Access
Every teammate you invite gets a role. Roles decide what they can see and do across Campistry — invite people and set roles from Dashboard → Team & Access, where you can also fine-tune individual sections beyond the role defaults.
Full control: billing, payment processing, every setting and every division.
Same day-to-day reach as an Owner for running camp, typically without billing/payment setup.
Flow access scoped to the divisions they're assigned to — they generate and edit schedules for their own divisions only.
Campistry Lite only — a read-only view of their own bunk's schedule, roster and league team.
Read-only everywhere it's granted — the safe default for a new teammate until you assign them something more.
Glossary
Camp-specific terms used throughout Campistry.
What is a Division, Grade and Bunk?
Camp's org chart, top to bottom: a Division is the broadest group (e.g. "Seniors"), a Grade is a level inside it, and a Bunk is the smallest unit — the actual group of campers and counselors. Set up in Me → Structure.
What is a Layer?
A rotation rule in Flow's Auto Builder — e.g. "2 Sports periods, 1 Special a day" — rather than an exact activity. The solver fills in the specifics.
What is a Skeleton?
The hand-built time-slot layout used by Flow's Manual Builder — you place the exact tile in every slot yourself, and Generate fills in which bunk gets what inside each one.
What does "rotation fairness" mean?
Flow's automatic system for spreading activities evenly — a bunk that did something recently is penalized in the scoring, so whatever it hasn't done in the longest time wins out. Runs on its own; nothing to turn on.
What is a League, and what's a Session or Half?
A League is an inter-bunk sports/game competition in Flow, with its own teams and standings. A Session is a date range parents register for (e.g. "Full Summer," "1st Half") set on the Dashboard. A Half is one half of the summer — used to reset rotation fairness and split pricing.
What's the difference between a Role and an Access Group?
A Role (Owner, Admin, Scheduler, Counselor, Viewer) is a starting point for what someone can see and do. An Access Group fine-tunes that further, section by section, for one teammate. Both live in Dashboard → Team & Access.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Every keyboard shortcut built into Campistry, in one place.
How do I jump between apps with the keyboard?
From almost any page, hold Ctrl+Shift+a letter to jump straight to that app:
Guard has no shortcut of its own — its natural letter is already used by Go, so reach it from the Menu button at the top of any page instead. Esc closes the Menu if it's open. A couple of combos (Ctrl+Shift+N, Ctrl+Shift+T) are sometimes grabbed by the browser itself before they reach Campistry — if one doesn't work, use the Menu button.
Is there a shortcut for a quick note?
- Shift+N
Pops open a small sticky note you can jot into right away, from Flow, Health, Live, Guard and most other pages — as long as you're not currently typing into a text box.
- Shift+N or Esc
Saves what you typed and closes the note. It lands in Notes.
What shortcuts work on this Help Center page?
- /
Jumps your cursor straight into the search box above.
- ↑↓
Moves up and down the search suggestions.
- Enter
Opens whichever suggestion is highlighted.
- Esc
Closes the suggestions, or clears the search box.
What shortcuts work when editing or building a schedule in Flow?
After you've made edits to a generated day:
- Ctrl+Z
Undoes your last edit (Cmd+Z on a Mac). Only works when you're not typing in a box and no popup is open.
While building layers or a skeleton:
- Delete or Backspace
Deletes whichever tile or layer block you've clicked to select.
- Esc
Deselects it, and closes any popup open on it.
- Enter
Confirms a name you've just typed into certain popups.
Is there a shortcut that works everywhere?
Esc closes whatever popup, modal or warning box is currently open — that pattern repeats across almost every page in Campistry, not just the spots above.
Dashboard & Account
The first page you land on after signing in — your camp's vitals, setup, and the launchpad for every other product.
How do I get to the other Campistry products?
Use the Quick Launch tiles near the top of the Dashboard, or the small app-switcher icons in the header of any product page.
How do I change my camp's name, address or contact info?
- Camp Setup → Profile & Account tab
- Camp Profile card → Edit
- Update the fields and Save Changes
How do I set my summer dates and halves?
- Camp Setup → Dates & Pricing tab
- Summer Schedule card → set Start of Summer, End of 1st Half, Start of 2nd Half, End of Summer
- Save Dates
How do I plan next session without touching the live camp?
Dates & Pricing tab → Plan a Session → + New Plan. It copies your bunks, divisions, periods, bus routes and league setup so you can build ahead.
How do I set up Sessions & Bundles for registration?
Dates & Pricing tab → Sessions card (owner-only) → + Add Session or + Add Bundle. Bundles group several sessions at one combined price.
How do I connect payment processing?
Camp Settings → Payment tab (owner-only) → connect Stripe or review your current processor, and set which card-form fields parents fill in.
How do I invite my team and set their roles?
Camp Setup → Team & Access tab for a quick summary — the full invite, role and per-section Access Group setup lives on its own Team & Access page, linked from there. See Roles & Access above.
Is there a checklist for setting up a new camp?
Yes — Camp Setup → Setup Checklist tab walks through the order Campistry expects things to be built in, and tracks what you've already done.
Where do notifications and birthday reminders show up?
The Notifications & Reminders card and Birthdays card, just under the hero banner. Click the gear icon on Notifications to mute or prioritize a notification type.
How do I jot down a quick note without leaving what I'm doing?
Press Shift+N anywhere in Campistry for a small overlay, or open Campistry Notes for the full app.
Me
Your camp's structure, roster and hiring pipeline — divisions, grades, bunks, campers, staff and payroll. Flow and every other product read from what's set up here.
How do I set up divisions, grades and bunks?
- Me → Structure → + Add Division
- Name it and pick a color
- Add its grades, then each grade's bunks — all in one modal
How do I place campers into bunks?
Me → Structure → Bunk Builder tab. Drag campers from "Unassigned" into a bunk, or click ⚡ Auto-Generate to place everyone at once based on your Bunk Settings (min/max size, grouping factors, friend requests).
How do I add a new camper?
Me → Registration → share the "Get Link" for parents to self-apply, or click + Manual Entry. Move applications through Applied → Accepted → Enrolled; enrolled campers land on Roster automatically.
How do I bulk-import campers or staff?
Roster → Import → download the CSV/Excel template, fill it in, then upload it.
How do I hire and onboard staff?
Me → Hiring → share the staff application link or add candidates manually, then Advance them through the pipeline.
Where do I set up activities and leagues?
In Flow, not Me. Me only lets you assign a camper to a team inside a league Flow has already created — see the Flow section below.
Where are Camp Dates and Sessions?
On the Dashboard (Camp Setup → Dates & Pricing), not Me. Me just reads them for Roster's date filter and Registration's session picker.
Where do I manage staff roles and permissions?
Dashboard → Team & Access, not Me. If a page or tab in Me looks like it's missing, it's almost always a role or section-access setting there.
How does Payroll and Youth Corps work?
Me → Payroll: add staff with a pay type and rate, track Timesheets, and run Pay Runs. Check "Enrolled in a Youth Corps" on a staff record to turn on the Youth Corps tab's compliance tracking — hour caps, supervisor ratios, timesheet deadlines.
Where do I build printable rosters or reports?
Me → Analytics/Reports — pick your columns and group by bunk, division or team.
How do I send a form or document for parents to sign?
Me → Forms & Documents — build or upload a form, then send it. It's the e-form/document counterpart to Link's messaging, and completed, filed documents live here alongside the camper record.
How do I track a family who hasn't applied yet?
Me → Leads & Inquiries — a pre-registration CRM for families who've shown interest but haven't started a Registration application yet. Once they apply, they move into the normal Registration pipeline.
How do siblings get grouped as one family?
Me → Families — auto-suggests households by matching last name, address or parent email, so siblings' billing and communication can be handled together.
How do I add a custom field to a camper's profile?
Roster → Custom Fields — define a field once and it shows up on every camper's profile and on CSV import/export, alongside the built-in ones.
Flow
Campistry's scheduling engine — build your rotation rules or a hand-placed skeleton, generate each day's schedule, then print or export it. Everything here works from the divisions, bunks and activities set up in Me.
Getting started
Should I use Auto Builder or Manual Builder?
Flow → Setup tab has the Manual/Auto slider. Auto Builder fills in activities from rotation rules you define ("layers"); Manual Builder has you place the exact activity in every time slot yourself.
What's the "Current Schedule Date" at the top of every tab?
It's global — every tab (Master Scheduler, Daily Adjustments, Print Center, the calendar) reads and edits whichever date is selected there, so it's worth checking before you build or generate.
Auto Builder — Layers
How do I build Auto Builder's rotation layers?
- Master Scheduler (Auto mode)
- Drag a layer type — Sport, Special Activity, Elective, League Game, or a pinned item like Swim/Lunch — onto a grade's row
- Click the band to set its Time Window, min/max Duration, and Quantity with ≥ / = / ≤
How do I save a layer setup for reuse?
Save it as a named template, or Update the one you loaded. Layers can also be assigned to specific weekdays instead of one default — check which one you're editing before you save.
Manual Builder — Skeleton
How do I build a Manual Builder skeleton?
- Master Scheduler (Manual mode)
- Drag a tile — Activity, Sports, Elective, Swim, League Game, etc. — from the palette onto a grade's column at the time you want
- Drag an edge to resize, the body to move, or across columns to span multiple grades
How do I copy one grade's layout onto another?
Select the grade's skeleton and use "Copy Grade" to clone it onto others, instead of rebuilding by hand.
What happens if I drop a Swim tile onto an Elective tile?
Flow merges them into one combined "Swim + Elective" tile instead of stacking two overlapping tiles.
Generating a schedule
How do I generate the day's schedule?
- Set the date
- Open Daily Adjustments and make any day-only tweaks
- Click ▶ Generate Schedule
How do I generate for just one division?
Click "Choose which divisions to generate" before hitting Generate to narrow the run to specific divisions or bunks.
Rotation fairness
How does Campistry keep activities fair across bunks?
Automatically — nothing to turn on. Activities a bunk did recently are penalized in the scoring, so whatever it hasn't done in the longest time wins out. Same-day repeats can't happen, yesterday's activity is almost never repeated, and a bunk that's never tried something gets a bonus toward it.
When should I use "Reset Activity History"?
Setup tab — only when the fairness engine's memory of what a bunk has done is actually wrong. Resetting it can cause Flow to reschedule things that were genuinely done recently.
Rainy Day Mode
How do I switch to a rainy day schedule?
- Daily Adjustments → toggle Rainy Day Mode on (or "Start From Now" for rain that starts mid-day — this preserves whatever already ran that morning)
- Click Generate Schedule
- Turn the toggle off afterward to restore normal field availability
Leagues
How do I set up a league?
- Flow → Leagues tab → create a league and name it
- Add its sports and team rosters
- Drop a League Game tile/layer into your builder so Generate reserves that slot
- Enter scores after games to keep standings current; use Playoff Mode once the regular season ends
Daily Adjustments
What's the difference between Daily Adjustments and Master Scheduler?
Master Scheduler holds your reusable template (Layers or Skeleton). Daily Adjustments is where you handle anything specific to one day — trips, resource blackouts, one-bunk overrides — plus the actual Generate button.
How do I pull one bunk off its normal schedule for the day?
Daily Adjustments → Schedule tab → Bunk Overrides.
How do I block off a field or activity just for today?
Daily Adjustments → Resources tab → mark it unavailable for the day.
Calendar & printing
How do I jump to a different date?
Use the header's Current Schedule Date field, or open the Calendar and drill down Year → Month → Week → Day. Days that already have a generated schedule are visually marked.
How do I print schedules for staff, parents or a bunk board?
Print Center → pick a ready-made pack (Director's Pack, Parent Handout, Per-Bunk Sheets, Counselor Pack, Week At-a-Glance, and more) or build your own view, then Print or Export to Excel. "Live Mode" opens a fullscreen, auto-updating display — handy for a lobby TV.
Go
Bus routes, driver stops, and Luggage — camper bags that travel separately from the bus.
How do I set up Go for the first time?
Go → Setup: enter your camp's departure address and name, then set routing defaults — reserve seats per bus, time per stop, walking distance.
How do I get camper addresses in?
- Go → Addresses → download the CSV template
- Fill in name, division, grade, bunk, address, arrival/dismissal
- Upload it, then click "Validate & Geocode"
How do I set up my buses?
Go → Bus Fleet → Add Bus (capacity, reserve seats, color), or Quick Create several at once. If a bus runs more than one route a day, add Shifts and assign divisions to each.
How do I add bus monitors or riding counselors?
Go → Staff → Add Monitor/Counselor with a home address, and choose whether they need their own stop or just a seat on a route that passes near home.
How do I generate routes?
- Go → Routes & Map → check the Pre-Flight Checklist
- Choose Door-to-Door, Optimized Stops, or Corner Stops
- Generate Routes, then fine-tune on the map
- Apply to save your edits, then Export or Print
What is Luggage and where do I find it?
It lives inside Go, not as a separate product (it reuses Go's stops, addresses and vehicles). Add Drop-off Locations, then New Booking per camper — service type and bag count auto-price it — print bag Tags, and track bags through the Manifest as they're received, loaded and delivered.
Why isn't Go using Google Maps for my routes?
Go tries free USPS/Census-based geocoding first. A built-in cost guard blocks paid providers like Google or Geoapify — even if a key is saved — unless paid access is explicitly enabled in Setup.
What's "Neighborhood" routing mode?
An experimental (beta) mode alongside Door-to-Door, Optimized Stops and Corner Stops. Leave it off unless you're specifically testing it — the other three are the proven modes.
Health
Medical records, medication dispensing, and infirmary visits for medical staff and directors.
How do I log when a camper is given their medication?
- Health → Medications (or the Dashboard queue) → Dispense Med
- Search the camper — their medication list pulls in automatically
- Mark Given / Refused / Missed / Held → Save
How do I log an infirmary visit?
Health → Sick Visits → Log Visit → search the camper, pick or type a complaint, add treatment notes → Save.
How do I check a camper's allergies or find emergency contacts?
Health → Allergies & Dietary, or Directory — both are searchable, read-only lookups that sync from Me; corrections belong there, not in Health.
How do I review a medical document a parent uploaded?
Health → Medical Forms → Parent-Submitted Documents → Approve, Flag, or View.
What does the Health Dashboard show me?
A daily snapshot — medications on file, medications already given today, today's visits, and allergy alerts — with Log Visit and Dispense Med shortcuts right there.
Live
Daily attendance, camper locator, and same-day pickup or bus-change requests from parents.
How do I take attendance for the day?
Live → Roll Call → tap a camper to toggle Present/Absent, or use "All Present" for a whole bunk or the whole camp. Use "+ Mark Absent" to record a reason.
How do I take attendance on paper, for a bunk without a device?
Live → Scan Sheet → print a bubble-sheet template per bunk (each carries a QR code), have staff fill it in, then photograph the completed sheet to scan it back in.
How do I find out what a camper is doing right now?
Live → Camper Locator → type their name (or pick a specific time) → Find.
How do I see a parent's early pickup or bus change request?
Live → Activity → the Messages sub-tab lists anything pending Confirm/Decline; Changes is the resolved log.
How do I print letters parents wrote through Link?
Live → Camper Mail → "To print" tab → Print selected or Print all new.
How do I see every early pickup or bus change over a date range?
Live → Attendance Reports → Dismissal Changes tab → set a From/To date range → Generate Report. It cross-references Go's saved routes; the main attendance report on the same page exports to CSV.
Snacks & Shop
Canteen accounts, point-of-sale, and Camp Shop — camp swag ordered by parents. Shop lives inside Snacks, not as its own product.
How do I add money to a camper's canteen account?
Snacks → Accounts → Add Deposit.
How do I add items to sell?
Snacks → Menu Items → add an item (barcode optional), or bulk-upload with the Excel/CSV template. Restock lets you enter the total you paid to auto-set a per-unit cost.
How do I set daily spending limits?
Snacks → Settings for a camp-wide default, or Accounts → Set Limits for one camper.
How do I let someone run the register without my full login?
Snacks → Settings → Register PIN login: set a shared PIN. A manager unlocks the POS with just their Campistry email and that PIN — no full password needed.
Can I run the canteen with no internet, like on a trip?
Yes — Snacks → Offline POS → download a self-contained register file (accounts and inventory baked in, works up to 180 days with no connection), then Import to sync its transactions back later.
How does Camp Shop work?
It's inside Snacks — Catalogue, Orders, Fulfil, Inventory and Reports tabs handle the back office. Parents place their orders through Campistry Link's own Camp Shop page.
Link
The bridge between camp and home — messaging, forms, photos and payments for parents, plus a code-gated tip lookup for staff. Link has three views: this Camp Office console, the Parent Portal, and Staff.
How do I message parents?
Link → Messages → Compose → pick recipients individually or by group, write your message, optionally attach a Form or List, preview exactly what parents will see, then send now or schedule it.
How do I build a form for parents to fill out?
Link → Forms & Docs → build a template and send it. Completed responses land in the Received sub-tab, auto-sorted by division, grade and bunk.
How do I get parents signed up for Link?
Link → Parents. Families become eligible automatically once their camper is on the roster in Me — send the one announce-it email to invite them. If a parent signs up with an email that doesn't match your roster, resolve it from the Access Requests queue.
How do I send camp photos with automatic tagging?
Link → Photos → build a face-recognition index from parent-uploaded reference photos, upload your camp photos, then review the auto-tagged matches (plus Unknown Faces/Needs Review) before sending.
How do I set up staff tipping?
Link → Tips Setup → set a suggested amount per role, then add payout methods (Zelle/Venmo/PayPal/Cash App, or Stripe Connect for card tips) under Staff Payments.
What can parents actually do in their portal?
From one Home screen: check their child's info and canteen balance, pay tuition or set up a payment plan, order Camp Shop items, tip staff, message the office, submit pickup/bus-change requests, fill out forms and packing lists, and view the day's schedule (read-only).
How does staff tipping work without a full camp login?
Link → Staff is a single My Tips page. A staff member enters the access code your office gave them — no camp account needed — to see their tip balance and recent tips.
Notes
Private sticky notes and reminders, available from every Campistry page.
How do I quickly jot something down without leaving what I'm doing?
Press Shift+N from anywhere in Campistry for a small overlay, or click + New Note inside Notes for the full editor.
How do I share a note with a teammate?
Open the note and enter their email — they'll see it (read-only in Lite) as long as it matches someone on your camp.
How do I get reminded about a note later?
Open the note → set a date/time and an optional message → it shows up under the Reminders view when it's due.
Can anyone else see my notes?
No — notes are private to you by default, including from camp owners, unless you explicitly share one.
I deleted a note by accident — can I get it back?
Yes, as long as you haven't deleted it a second time from Trash — open Trash and click Restore.
How do I organize a lot of notes?
The sidebar has quick views — All Notes, Pinned, Shared, Reminders, Trash — plus Tags for your own categories. Click a view to filter the grid, or use the search box to filter within it.
Lite
The mobile companion to Campistry — a phone-first view of schedules, rosters and messaging for head staff and counselors.
How does a counselor get access to Campistry Lite?
They need an email and bunk assignment set on their staff record in Me → Hiring first. After that they can sign themselves up on the Lite sign-in page with that same email and verify with a texted or emailed code — no invite link required.
What can a counselor see and do in Lite?
Read-only: My Day (their bunk's schedule), My Bunk (roster), their league team/standings, and their own Tips payout setup. They can't generate schedules or build forms/lists — only view what's already been built on desktop.
How do I turn on Face ID / fingerprint unlock?
Lite → avatar → Settings → Biometric app lock. It locks the app on launch/resume on top of your normal sign-in, with sign-out as the fallback if it's unavailable on your device.
What can head staff do differently from counselors in Lite?
Fuller, per-product tabs gated to owner/admin/scheduler roles: Flow Lite (whole-camp schedule, camper locator, reports), Me Lite (full roster & medical), Link Lite (parent messaging, tips), Health Lite (medication dispensing — the one place in Lite that writes data), and Live Lite (attendance).
Can Lite ask before I delete something?
Yes — avatar → Settings → "Confirm before deleting." Turn it on if you'd rather get a prompt than delete something with one tap.
Troubleshooting
Common problems and the first thing to check.
My changes disappeared after I reloaded the page
Check your internet connection first — Campistry saves to the cloud as you work and keeps a local copy so you can keep going offline, but a change made while disconnected only reaches the cloud once you're back online. If you were online the whole time, try a hard refresh before re-entering the change.
The generated schedule has gaps or looks wrong
Check the Current Schedule Date at the top of Flow — it's global, so it's easy to be looking at (or have generated) the wrong day. Also check Rainy Day Mode isn't on by accident, and that your Layers/Skeleton actually cover the whole day.
A parent can't sign into Link
Link → Parents → check the Access Requests queue — this is where a sign-up with an email that doesn't match your roster ends up. Their camper also needs to already be enrolled in Me for them to become eligible in the first place.
A counselor can't sign into Campistry Lite
Me → Hiring → open their staff record and confirm both an email and a bunk assignment are set — both are required before Lite will let them in.
I generated the wrong day, or overwrote a manual tweak
Double-check the Current Schedule Date before you hit Generate — it's the single global date every Flow tab reads and edits. A full Generate rebuilds the whole day, which can overwrite prior tweaks; use "Regenerate selected" on just the tiles you need re-rolled instead.
A page or button I expect just isn't there
Almost always a role or Access Group setting, not a bug — ask your camp Owner to check Dashboard → Team & Access. See Roles & Access.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions that come up across every product, not just one.
Why can't I see a page, tab or button I expect?
Almost always a role or section-access setting, not a bug. Ask your camp Owner to check Dashboard → Team & Access. See Roles & Access above.
Is my work saved automatically?
Yes — Campistry saves to the cloud as you go, and keeps a local copy on your device so you can keep working if you lose connection. Changes sync once you're back online.
How do I quickly get from one product to another?
The small icon row in the header of most product pages, or the Quick Launch tiles on the Dashboard.
How do I get my camp's schedule onto my phone?
Campistry Lite — see the Lite section above for how counselors and head staff sign in.
I think I found a bug, or something looks wrong — what do I do?
Use Contact Support below with what you were doing and what you expected to happen — the more specific, the faster it gets sorted out.
What is Campistry Guard?
Pool safety and swim tracking — coming soon. You'll see it grayed out on the Dashboard until it ships; there's no page to use yet.
Still stuck?
Tell us what you were doing and what you expected to happen — that's the fastest way to get it sorted.