Guided check-in: the visit that becomes a record

What the guided check-in is

Every time you open the colony to observe, feed or note something down, that's a visit — and each visit tells a piece of its story. The guided check-in turns that visit into a single flow: you observe, adjust the population, resolve feeding and plan the next step, and AntNotation generates the dated notes for you.

Instead of opening several forms (diary, feeding, state, counts), the check-in gathers everything into a four-step wizard. You fill in what you saw; the record comes out complete and in the right place.

1. Where to find it

The Run check-in button (📋) is always at hand:

• on the colony page, at the top;
• in the colony list, as a row action;
• on the dashboard, on the colony asking for attention.

Archived or lost colonies take no check-in — terminal states get no new records.

2. The smart suggestions

When it opens, the wizard reads the colony's current state and shows, at the top, the suggestions for this check-in:

• ⏰ the check is overdue;
• 👑 no queen on record — confirm it in the counts;
• 🐛 founding with no workers — check whether the first ones have emerged;
• 🍽️ a previous offer still open, waiting for an outcome.

If nothing needs attention, it says: "Nothing needs attention right now. Nice keeping!"

3. Step by step

1 · Observation — date and time (never in the future), the overall impression (🟢 Thriving · 🔵 Stable · 🔴 Concerning), a free field for what you saw, and the quick details: interaction, visible brood, temperature (°C/°F, auto-converted) and humidity.

2 · Population & brood — queens, workers, eggs, larvae and pupae come pre-filled with the current value. Adjust only what changed — only what changes becomes a record. The queen count is the one required field.

3 · Feeding — if there was a previous offer still open, resolve it (mark the acceptance and/or remove the leftover) without leaving the flow. And, if you like, log a new feeding right there: catalog item, offered form, acceptance and quantity.

4 · Next steps — schedule the next check (the date comes suggested by the phase), change the state if needed (with a smart suggestion), note a plan, and decide whether this check-in's notes stay public or private.

4. The suggested cadence

The next-check date is pre-filled according to the colony's moment:

It's only a suggestion — adjust it freely.

5. What the check-in generates on its own

On finishing, in a single save, AntNotation:

1. creates the check-in note (Routine type), dated, with a summary of what changed;
2. records automatic milestones on a leap — 🎉 First workers (from zero to some) and 🎉 First brood (first eggs, larvae or pupae);
3. updates the population and stamps the last check;
4. applies the state change, keeping the history;
5. notes the plan as a Plan-type record, if you filled it in.

At the end, a notification sums it all up: "3 notes generated · population updated · milestone recorded".

6. Public or private?

By default, everything the check-in generates stays private. Only when you switch on Make this check-in's notes public do the records show up on the colony's public page and in the library. The choice is yours, on every check-in.

Tip: do the check-in during the visit, straight from your phone. A few taps, everything dated — and the colony's history draws itself, week after week.

One visit, one complete record. Observe, log, follow along! 🐜✅