# Kept

Kept is a home inventory: a record of everything you own and where it is. Homes, garages and storage units, the rooms, shelves and boxes inside them, and the things inside those, each with what it cost, its receipt, manual, warranty, photos and history.

Point your phone at a thing, a receipt or a label, and Kept's AI reads the photo into a new item for you to check. Ask "where's the drill?" and it tells you which shelf. Your instance comes with ElfHosted's included AI already set up, so there's no key to find.

**What's in it?**

- **Locations, places, boxes and things**, with photos, documents, purchases, tags, custom fields and quantities.
- **Reminders** for warranties, services, documents, loans and low stock.
- **Lending.** Who has what and when it's due back. Borrowers don't need an account.
- **Consumable stock.** Quantities with a low-stock reminder, so you know to buy batteries before you run out.
- **Labels and scanning.** Print a short ID and a QR code for every box, then scan one to open it.
- **A 3D map** of each location, with its rooms, shelves and boxes one tap away.
- **Search by meaning** as well as by word.
- **An assistant** you can ask in plain words. Changes it suggests wait for your OK.
- **A phone app** you install from the browser, with capture, scanning and search that work offline too.

**When does Kept make sense?**

- **Insurance and warranties.** You want receipts, serial numbers and warranty dates in one place before you need them.
- **A household shares stuff.** Tools, kit and spare parts get lent and lost, and everyone wants to know where things went.
- **You're moving house.** Numbered boxes with labels and contents sheets, unpacked by scanning.
- **You'd rather photograph than type.** The included AI fills in the details from a photo.
- **Want something lighter?** [HomeBox](</app/homebox/>) is a simpler inventory, and [Warracker](</app/warracker/>) tracks warranties on their own.

[Get a 7-day trial of ElfHosted Kept! 🪄](<https://store.elfhosted.com/product/kept/>)

## How do I access Kept?

Kept is available:

- From your dashboard: [https://your-username.elfhosted.com](<https://your-username.elfhosted.com>)
- Directly: [https://your-username-kept.elfhosted.com](<https://your-username-kept.elfhosted.com>)

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Signed-in users see their own URLs**
>
> The addresses above show the general pattern. [Sign in](<https://docs-internal.elfhosted.com/app/kept/>) and these become your personal, clickable links.

## How do I use it?

### Claim your Kept with its setup code

A new Kept belongs to nobody until you claim it with a six-character setup code. Kept prints the code in its log each time it starts, until it's been claimed, as `KEPT SETUP CODE: XXX-XXX`.

The quickest way to get it is to **ask Sam** in ElfBot for your Kept setup code. He reads it out of Kept's log for you. If Kept has restarted since, use the newest code.

1. Open Kept from your dashboard.
2. Enter the setup code.
3. Create your account. It becomes the instance admin.

Kept has its own sign-in, and sign-up starts closed, so nobody else can create an account unless you invite them. After that, sign in to Kept directly at its address with the account you just made.

### Adding the household

As the admin, invite people from Kept's admin settings. They don't need an ElfHosted account: each person makes their own Kept account from the invite, then opens your Kept's address directly and signs in with it. Shared locations give each person a role, so you can let someone see the garage without letting them change it.

### The included AI

Once you've claimed your Kept, ElfHosted's included AI appears as Kept's AI provider for the whole instance. It powers three things:

- **Capture:** photograph a thing, a receipt or a label, and Kept suggests the details for you to confirm.
- **The assistant:** ask about your inventory in plain words, and approve any change it suggests.
- **Search by meaning**, alongside ordinary word search.

It runs on an allowance included with your plan, which suits a household cataloguing its things. If you'd rather use your own AI account, an admin can change or remove the provider in Kept's AI settings; its usage is then billed by your provider directly.

### Connect your own AI assistant (MCP)

Kept has an MCP server, so an assistant such as Claude can answer "where's the drill?" from your inventory and, if you allow it, add, move and change things. Its address is:

[https://your-username-kept.elfhosted.com/mcp](<https://your-username-kept.elfhosted.com/mcp>)

**First, allow it per location.** In each location the assistant should reach, open **Location settings**, then **What to track**, and turn on **Connect ChatGPT or Claude**. Where it's off, a connected assistant sees nothing there.

Then connect in one of two ways:

- **A personal token**, the tested route, for any MCP client that lets you set a server address and an `Authorization` header, such as Claude Code. In Kept, open **Settings**, then **Connections**, and choose **New token**. Pick the locations, and **Read only** or **Read and change**. The token is shown once, with the address and header to paste into your assistant.
- **A connector (OAuth)**, for apps that add MCP servers as connectors. Add the address above as a connector, and the app sends you to Kept to sign in and choose what it may do. Whether this works depends on the app, so if a connector won't connect, use a personal token instead.

Kept refuses anything without a valid token or connector sign-in, and no assistant can delete things or see secret fields. Revoke a token or a connected app in **Settings**, then **Connections**, at any time.

An assistant connected this way runs on its own plan with its own provider, not on your included AI allowance.

### Backups

We back up Kept's database and its files (photos, receipts and documents) daily, and you can restore a backup from [ElfBot](<https://docs-internal.elfhosted.com/app/elfbot/>).

## Kept also works with

- [x] [HomeBox](</app/homebox/>)
- [x] [Warracker](</app/warracker/>)
- [x] [Grocy](</app/grocy/>)

## How do I get support for Kept?

1. For general use of Kept, refer to the [official site](<https://github.com/keptinventory/kept>) or to one of the links in the resources section below.
2. For specific support re your ElfHosted configuration / account, see the [ElfHosted support options](</get-help/>)!

## Kept resources

- [Kept (*official site*)](<https://github.com/keptinventory/kept>)
- [Kept Website](<https://keptinventory.info>)
- [Kept Features](<https://keptinventory.info/users/features/>)
- [Kept Discord](<https://discord.gg/g4WCXPfuNv>)