Hacienda is the new version of DFOS, which rolled out in mid-May 2026. It replaces the old desktop with a more flexible structure built around apps, Groups, and Folders — giving space runners more control over how things are organized and who can access what.
If your space predates Hacienda, your old content was automatically moved into Migrated Chat and Migrated Blog tiles on your desktop. Nothing was lost. This guide will walk you through setting up your new structure and getting everything where you want it.

The new structure

Your space is now a desktop of apps you choose and arrange. The core apps are Chat (for real-time messaging) and Blog (for posts and discussion). On top of that, you have three ways to organize them:

• Groups — containers with access control. Open (anyone in the space can join), Invite only, Paid, or Private. Groups can only be added at the desktop level — they can't be nested inside each other.
• Folders — group multiple apps together visually, without any access restrictions.
• Shortcuts — pinned links to content inside your space, or to an external URL.

Step 1: Choose your structure

Before you build anything, decide how you want your space organized. Three options:
Option 1: Standalone apps. Add Chat and Blog directly to your Desktop. Simple, open, and accessible to all space members.
Option 2: Apps inside a Group. Create a Group first, then add Chat and Blog inside it. Use this to gate access, organize by sub-community, or keep certain content private.
Option 3: A combination of both. Some apps standalone on your Desktop, others inside Groups.

Step 2: Build your apps

Open your space in the app. (Your [spacename].dfos.com URL is your public front door — the desktop is what you see when you open the space in the app.)

To enter Editing Desktop, click the Edit desktop icon (four offset squares) in the top bar. On mobile, go to the space menu and select Edit desktop. This is admin-only.

Adding a Group

Click add on the Editing Desktop and select Group under the Organisation tab.

Group creation has three steps: Details (name, avatar, description) → Access (Open, Invite only, Paid, or Private) → Invite (optional — you can invite existing space members at this point, or skip and do it later).

Once the group is on your desktop, open it and click add to put a Chat or Blog app inside it.

Adding standalone apps

Click add on the Editing Desktop and select Chat or Blog under the Apps tab.

Setting permissions

The best time to set permissions is when you create a room or topic. Right-click the app tile and select App settings (on mobile, open the app and tap the settings cog in the header). Click the three dots beside any room or topic and select Edit room or Edit topic to set who can post and who can chat. You can also set this during the app install flow.

Step 3: Organize your migrated content

Your Migrated Chat and Migrated Blog tiles are fully live apps — members can keep using them, and links to old content still work. Each old topic became a same-named room or topic inside them, with the original access settings kept.

You don't have to do anything with them — they work fine as-is. But if you want to move content into your new structure, here's how.

To move a room or topic out of a Migrated tile:

1. Right-click the Migrated Chat or Migrated Blog tile and select App settings. On mobile, open the app and tap the settings (cog) button in the header.

2. Find the room or topic you want to move and click the three dots beside it.

3. Select Move to another chat app (for rooms) or Move to another blog app (for topics). A picker will show you everywhere you can move it, including apps inside Groups and Folders. All content comes along — only which app it lives in changes.

4. Select your destination and confirm.

5. If you want to combine rooms or topics within the same app, use Merge into another room or Merge into another topic — this works within one app only.

Repeat for each room or topic you want to move. Anything you leave in the Migrated tiles stays there and is still fully accessible.

If you delete a Migrated tile, the UI will warn you and ask you to confirm — it shows you exactly what will be removed. Deletion is permanent and can't be undone yourself, but if something goes wrong the team can recover it. Reach out if you need help.

If you had private or admin-only topics that aren't showing up in your Migrated tiles, they were intentionally held during the auto-migration. Contact the team and they can bring them into your space.

All set up!

Your space is fully on Hacienda. From here, drag apps around to organize them, nest things into Groups and Folders, and use Shortcuts to surface anything from a deeper spot onto your main desktop. If you run into anything, the team is here.

Terminology reference

In the old desktop, everything lived in topics — one place that held both chat and posts. In Hacienda, chat and posts are split into separate apps. Chat apps organize messaging into rooms; Blog apps organize posts into topics. When you see "room" anywhere in this guide, it means a channel inside a Chat app. "Topic" means a channel inside a Blog app. Old combined topics were split into these automatically during migration.