Uploading to pgs, prose or pastes requires an invite or a pico+ membership. Anyone can still create a pico account without one, and pipe works for every account.

Signup happens over SSH with no email, which makes automated signups cheap. Invites let us keep that flow while cutting down on bot and spam accounts. Read the announcement for the full background.

What an invite grants #

An invite gives your account access to pgs, prose and pastes for five years. pico+ members already have all three and don't need an invite.

Prose access includes blog analytics. For more storage, larger files, and the other pico+ services, see pico+.

How to get an invite #

1. Create a pico account if you don't have one. Invites are sent to an existing pico username.
2. Ask someone who can invite you. If you don't know anyone, email hello@pico.sh or ask in #pico.sh on IRC.
3. Once you've been invited, your next upload to pgs, prose or pastes will work. No action is needed on your end.

You can confirm you've been invited from the pico TUI: the user info panel shows "invited by" with the inviter's username, and the services list shows pages, prose and pastes as "active".

How to invite someone #

Anyone with a valid pico+ membership, or anyone whose invite is still active, can send invites.

1. SSH into our pico TUI
2. Select the "invite" submenu
3. Type the person's pico username
4. Press enter

The same page lists everyone you have invited and when.

Errors #

Uploading without access returns one of these:

ERROR: uploading to pgs requires an invitation or pico+
ERROR: uploading to prose requires an invitation or pico+
ERROR: uploading to pastes requires an invitation or pico+

Get an invite or sign up for pico+. If your access or your pico+ membership has lapsed, the message says "expired" instead.