# Contexts

Contexts organise a hive into a tree. Every context has its own dashboard, its own
feed, its own apps — and its own audience, decided by the groups active on it.

## Create a context

Only a hive admin can create contexts — the **Create new** button appears on the
context dashboard when you have admin rights there.

1. Open the context you want to create inside (or the hive root).
2. In the **Contexts inside** card, choose **Create new**.
3. Optionally import and crop a cover image.
4. Name it, add a description, then **Create**. The new context opens automatically.

A new context inherits the hive's **Admin** group, so admins can immediately manage
it. Activate member groups to open it to more people.

## The context dashboard

Opening a context shows:

- **Description & cover** — what this place is for.
- **Contexts inside** — the sub-contexts you can see.
- **Active groups** — who can see this context. Admins activate and deactivate
  groups here; see [Groups](/en/groups/).
- **Apps** — the built-in apps plus any custom apps installed here; see
  [Built-in apps](/en/built-in-apps/).
- **People** — who is effectively in this context, via its active groups.

The docked **message panel** beside the dashboard shows the feed for this context
*and everything below it* — messages posted deeper in the tree surface here too, and
you can filter them (see [Messages](/en/messages/)).

## Moving around

The **breadcrumb** in the top bar shows the path from the hive root to where you are;
**Go UP** climbs one level. The icon rail's **Contexts** item lists the current
context's subtree.

> **Design tip:** a context is a *place*, not a topic label. If a set of information
> has its own audience or its own lifecycle — a project, a department, a client — it
> deserves its own context.