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Everything else in these docs is organized by tool or by decision. Use cases are organized by outcome — the thing you’re actually trying to run, followed from the day you decide you want it to the day you might turn it off.

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Use-case guide vs. service guide

A service guide (like the Immich guide) tells you how to run one tool: where it lives, how to open it, what to check after setup. A use-case guide follows one intent — “store my family’s photos somewhere I own,” for example — across its whole life. It strings together the how-to and service guides you’d actually hit along the way, in the order you’d hit them, instead of leaving you to figure out which service guide applies at which stage.

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The lifecycle model

Every use-case guide on this site walks through the same five phases:
PhaseWhat it covers
DecideWhy you want this, and which kit, placement, and plan fit how you’ll run it
Set upGetting a working app live: rollout, first owner login, adding the people who’ll use it
Live with itDay-to-day use, finding help, staying updated, working through the odd hiccup
ProtectKeeping backups in place so a bad day doesn’t mean losing everything
Move or leaveChanging exposure, moving hardware, pausing it, or deleting it for good
Haven’t picked a kit yet? Start with choosing a kit — the use-case guides below assume you already have, or are about to have, one running.

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Use cases

This catalog starts with one use case and grows from here.

Family Photo Vault

Run your family’s own photo cloud with Immich, from first decision to everyday use.