> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.sundevs.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Core Concepts

> Users, visibility, passwords, burn after read, expiration, private mode and size limits.

## Anonymous, authenticated, and admin users

* Anonymous users can open the home page and create normal shared pastes when private mode is off.
* Authenticated users can sign in and access their own protected/private content.
* Admin users can manage the instance and access all protected admin pages by default.

There is no self-service registration page. User accounts are created from the admin [User Management](/sunpaste/admin/user-management) page.

## Visibility

SunPaste uses three visibility levels:

* `PUBLIC`: intended for normal sharing
* `UNLISTED`: intended for direct-link sharing only
* `PRIVATE`: only the owner or an admin can open it

<Note>
  - In the current UI, both `PUBLIC` and `UNLISTED` are opened by direct link.
  - SunPaste does not expose a public feed or public search page.
  - Anonymous users cannot truly create `PRIVATE` pastes. If they choose Private, the UI falls back to Unlisted and the API also downgrades anonymous private requests to Unlisted.
</Note>

## Password protection

* A password-protected paste shows a password form before content is revealed.
* The password is stored hashed with BCrypt.
* On the browser home page, the password must be at least 6 characters and include both letters and numbers.

## Burn after read

* A burn-after-read paste shows a warning screen before the content is revealed.
* After the first successful view, the paste is permanently deleted.
* Its QR code files are also deleted when the paste is burned.

## Expiration

* A paste can expire at a future date/time.
* Expired pastes are marked as expired and stop being accessible.
* Expired pastes are not immediately deleted; they are flagged as expired.

## Playground private mode

An admin can enable "private mode" from [Settings](/sunpaste/admin/settings). When this is on:

* Anonymous users cannot save or share from the home page
* Public and unlisted browser view links require login
* Raw endpoints and API-style shared access also require login

This is stricter than a raw-download-only privacy mode. It affects the normal viewer page too.

## Size limits

Defaults:

* Anonymous users: `5 MB`
* Authenticated users: `10 MB`

Admins can raise those limits up to:

* Anonymous users: `15 MB`
* Authenticated users: `30 MB`

Large pastes above the filesystem threshold are stored on disk instead of inline in the database.


## Related topics

- [Pterodactyl Setup](/sunguard/setup/pterodactyl.md)
- [Quickstart](/sunpaste/quickstart.md)
- [Settings](/sunpaste/admin/settings.md)