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Draft: not yet reviewed by a clinician

Use this page to prepare questions for your care team. It does not replace their advice. Your own targets and doses come from your nephrologist, diabetes team and renal dietitian.

Using the app

The app is a food log for people who live with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 1 diabetes. You write down what you eat, and it adds up the nutrients your care team asked you to watch: potassium, phosphorus, sodium, protein, fluid and carbohydrate (project README).

It runs on a small server at home or at your clinic, not in a company's cloud. The person who runs that server is called the admin in these pages.

What it does

You want to… Use Page
Put the app on your phone's Home Screen your browser's Share or Install menu Install the app
Sign in, set your stage and get starting targets Profile → Suggest targets First setup
Enter lab results and see your eGFR Profile → Lab results Targets and warnings
Bring in lab results from a spreadsheet, the iPhone Health app or a patient-portal file, and check each row Profile → Lab results → an Import from… card Targets and warnings
Copy lab results from a photo, a screenshot or the PDF of a report, on the AI at home only Profile → Lab results → Read a lab report photo or PDF Optional AI
See why a food is red, yellow or green the warnings on every food Targets and warnings
Log a meal, a snack or a drink Add Logging food
Scan a barcode or use a photo of a label Add → Scan a barcode or Quick add Barcodes and label photos
Plan the week, reuse meals, make a shopping list Plan Planning meals and using the menus
Ask "what fits in my dinner?" What fits now on Add, What fits on Today Meal guidance
Get optional AI ideas Settings → AI ideas Optional AI
Ask a question in plain words, by typing or speaking, when your admin has turned it on Ask Optional AI
Tell the app what you like to eat, and see what it noticed in your log ⋯ next to a suggestion, Settings → Meal guidance Meal guidance
Add your own USDA or AI key Settings Settings and keys
Write down your weight and blood pressure, enter the numbers your care team gave you, and see them on a chart Today → Weight and blood pressure, Settings → Weight and blood pressure, Trends Weight and blood pressure
Send your weight and blood pressure from an iPhone Shortcut, when your admin has turned it on Settings → Account → Your data → Phone shortcuts Weight and blood pressure
Write down a symptom, and show how it went Today → Symptoms, then Trends Reports for your care team
Print one page for an appointment Trends → Get ready for a visit Reports for your care team
Take numbers to your dietitian Trends → Export CSV Reports for your care team
See, export or delete your data Settings → Account Privacy and your data

The screens at the bottom of the app are Today, Add, Plan, Trends and Profile, and Ask when your admin has turned it on (architecture contract). This handbook opens from the Learn entry (the book icon) at the top of the app and from Settings → About & privacy, at /learn/ on the same server; warnings and notes in the app link to the page that explains them.

What it does not do

The app is a logging aid. It is not a medical device and it gives no medical advice (project README). In practice that means:

  • No insulin or medicine doses. It shows carbohydrate in grams. It never turns grams into units, never suggests a dose and never tells you to change one (architecture contract).
  • It never blocks or warns against treating a low. Foods marked as low treatments (glucose tablets, gel, measured juice or clear regular soda) get no carbohydrate warning. Treat a low first and log it later (ADA 2026, section 6; Treating a low).
  • Its targets are starting points. "Suggest targets" fills in numbers from guidelines, labeled "discuss with your care team". The numbers your nephrologist, diabetes team or renal dietitian give you always win.
  • It does not read your lab results for you. You can type in a few lab values (Profile → Lab results) so the starting targets fit you better (First setup). Your team explains what the results mean.
  • It is not for emergencies. It does not watch your glucose and it cannot call for help.

Call 911 (or your local emergency number)

If you have chest pain, trouble breathing, a low you cannot treat by mouth, confusion or a seizure, call for help first. Do not open the app. The full list of warning signs is on Get help now.

What to do first

  • Ask the admin for the address you will keep using, for example https://food.home.example.net. Install the app from that address (Install the app).
  • Sign in with the invite link or the account the admin made for you (First setup).
  • In Profile, enter your weight, height, CKD stage, dialysis and diabetes type.
  • Copy in the targets your care team gave you. If you have none yet, tap Suggest targets, save, and take the numbers to your next visit.
  • Log one full day, including drinks and low treatments, then look at Today.

Privacy in short

  • Your log lives in one database on your admin's server. Your phone keeps only a copy for offline use (design note 02).
  • Each person has their own account. Other people on the same server cannot see your log, and the admin's screens have no way to read it. The admin can still reach the database file itself, so pick an admin you trust (design note 07).
  • Nothing leaves the server until a feature that needs the internet is turned on: USDA search, barcode lookups or AI. Barcode lookups in Open Food Facts and AI are also off for you until you agree (design note 04).
  • You can download everything you logged, and you can delete your account (Privacy and your data).

New in version 0.5

  • Weight and blood pressure: a card on Today, charts in Trends, the two numbers your care team gives you, and the handbook's own words for a very high reading (Weight and blood pressure).
  • Bring your past weights and blood pressure in from the iPhone Health app, or send the latest from an iPhone Shortcut (Targets and warnings, Weight and blood pressure).
  • Choose the .zip itself when you import: you no longer have to unzip it first (Privacy and your data).
  • Read a lab report from the PDF your lab's website gives you, on the AI at home only (Optional AI).
  • A chat assistant you have connected can remember what you like to eat, if you allow it with a separate box (Optional AI).
  • Tidier screens on a phone and on a computer.

New in version 0.4

  • Ask, a chat inside the app that answers from your own numbers, by typing or by speaking, if your admin turns it on (Optional AI).
  • Symptoms you write down, and one page to print for an appointment (Reports for your care team).
  • Lab results from a spreadsheet, the iPhone Health app, a patient-portal file or a photo of a report (Targets and warnings).
  • Changing or deleting an entry works without a connection too (Logging food).
  • Suggestions that learn what you like, with the reason shown (Meal guidance).
  • Move your data to another server (Privacy and your data).

New in version 0.3

  • Accounts for everyone in the household, invites, and the Settings screen (design note 07).
  • Logging while offline, synced once when you are back online (Install the app).
  • Barcode scanning and label photos (Barcodes and label photos).
  • Starting targets that use your age, sex, activity and lab results, and a Lab results screen with your eGFR (First setup; Targets and warnings).
  • Meal guidance: "what fits now", swaps, "plan the rest of my day" and insights (Meal guidance).
  • Optional AI ideas, off unless your admin and you both switch them on (Optional AI).
  • This handbook, opened from Learn in the app.

If something goes wrong

  • A number looks wrong. Check the serving size and the amount you entered. Builtin foods come from USDA data; foods you or others typed in can have mistakes (Logging food).
  • The app will not open away from home. Most home servers are reachable only on your home Wi-Fi or through a VPN. Ask your admin.
  • You forgot your password. Ask the admin for a reset link. There is no email reset (Privacy and your data).

Sources

Not yet reviewed by a clinician. Facts and sources last checked 2026-10-07.