Getting started

Rally is a place for communities. You can chat in text channels, hang out in voice with your camera or screen, message friends directly, play chess or Connect Four right inside a conversation, and jump into multiplayer 2D and 3D games that people build with Rally Studio. Everything runs in your web browser at rally.place.

Sign in or create an account

Rally doesn’t use passwords. You sign in with a one-time code that Rally emails to you. The first time you sign in with an email address, Rally creates your account automatically.

1. Go to rally.place and select Sign in (or Get Started).

2. Type your email address and select Send code.

3. Open the email from Rally. Its subject starts with your 6-digit code, for example “482913 is your Rally code”.

4. Type the code into the six boxes. Rally signs you in as soon as you enter the last digit.

A few things to know about codes:

• Each code works for 10 minutes. The sign-in page shows a countdown.
• If the email doesn’t arrive, check your spam folder. After 60 seconds you can select Resend code.
• If you typed the wrong address, select Use a different email.
• After several wrong tries, a code stops working. Select Resend code to get a fresh one.
• If you see “Too many attempts. Wait a minute and try again.”, wait a minute before trying again.

Rally keeps you signed in on that browser. If you don’t use Rally for 30 days, you’ll need a new code.

Pick your name

Your starting display name and username are based on the part of your email address before the @. You can change both in Profile and settings, which is a good idea if you’d rather not show that part of your email.

Note

You need to be at least 13 years old to use Rally. See the Terms of Service for the full rules.

The app at a glance

After you sign in, Rally opens to Home. The screen is split into a few areas.

Area	Where it is	What it’s for
Community rail	The narrow column on the far left	Home (the Rally logo), the icons of the communities you’re in, Create or join a community (the plus button), Discover communities (the compass), and Games (the game controller).
Sidebar	Next to the rail	In Home: Friends and your Messages (direct messages). In a community: the community’s name and menu, then its channels grouped by category.
Your panel	Bottom of the sidebar	Your avatar, name and status. Select it for the status menu, or use the gear to open Settings. When you’re in a voice call, the call controls appear here too.
Main area	The center	Your friends list, a conversation, or a voice call.
Member list	Right side, on wide screens	Who’s in the community, with online members listed before offline ones. Some roles get their own group. Turn the list on or off with the Show members button in the channel header.

On a phone or a narrow window, the rail and sidebar fold away. Select the menu button in the top-left corner (Open navigation) to open them.

Find your way around

Unread messages and mentions

• A channel with messages you haven’t seen yet shows its name in bold, with a small marker to its left.
• A red number badge counts mentions of you. You’ll see these badges on channels, on community icons in the rail, and on direct messages.
• The Home icon shows a badge for unread direct messages.
• The browser tab title shows your total, like “(3) Rally”, so you can spot new activity from another tab.

Opening a channel marks it as read. For more on how unread messages work, see Channels and messages.

Get desktop notifications

Rally can show a desktop notification when someone mentions you or sends you a direct message while Rally isn’t the tab you’re looking at.

1. Select your name at the bottom of the sidebar.

2. Choose Enable desktop notifications.

3. Allow notifications when your browser asks.

The menu item only appears if your browser hasn’t asked you yet. If you blocked notifications earlier, allow them again in your browser’s site settings for rally.place.

See who someone is

Select a person’s name or avatar in a community to open their profile card. It shows their name, username, roles, and when they joined the community, with buttons to Message them or Add friend. Select View full profile to see their public profile page.

If you lose your connection

If Rally loses its connection, a yellow bar appears at the top of the screen saying Reconnecting…. If you’re offline, it says “You’re offline. Messages will sync when you reconnect.” Rally catches up on its own once you’re back.

Handy keyboard shortcuts

Key	What it does
Enter	Send your message
Shift + Enter	Start a new line
@	Start a mention, then pick a person or role from the list
Up (in an empty message box)	Edit your last message
Esc	Cancel a reply or an edit, or close Settings

Where to go next

Set up your profileChange your name, username, avatar and theme.

Join or create a communityInvites, Discover, and running your own community.

Chat in channelsMessages, formatting, mentions, reactions and files.

Hang out in voiceTalk, turn on your camera, and share your screen.

Friends and direct messagesAdd friends and start private conversations.

Play Rally GamesFind and play multiplayer 2D and 3D games.

Want to make a game of your own? Start with the Rally Studio overview.