User documentation

A.1What RackClick is and what it is not

RackClick is a tool for network technicians that documents racks, devices, ports, cables and PoE as installed. Everything it shows is data a technician entered.

The core idea is Click-Click: click a free port, click another free port, and the connection is documented with both ends. Around that idea sit an inventory (Systemhaus, clients, locations, racks, devices), reports and labels for hand-over, and backup mechanisms so no work is lost.

• Offline edition (adopted, v0.9.0-rc10, 2 October 2026): a single HTML file you open in the browser. No installation, no account, no Internet connection. It saves to browser storage and exports JSON.
• Online demo: the same program, served from rackclick.net/demo with ten synthetic clients. Useful to try things without downloading anything. It offers no shared storage between people.
• Server edition: under development, not available. It is described at the end of this documentation with its real status.

What RackClick does not do

• It does not discover devices on the network or read configurations.
• It does not measure PoE draw, electrical load, voltage or runtime: watts and budgets are values you document.
• It does not verify that a physical link works: a drawn cable is a note.
• It has no users or permissions in the offline file; whoever opens the file sees and edits everything.

A.2Opening RackClick and verifying the download

You can start in the online demo or download the offline file. Both show the same interface and the same version.

How to
1. Demo: open rackclick.net/demo. The clients screen appears with the ten synthetic clients.
2. Offline edition: download RackClick-v0.9.0-rc10-Offline.html from the home page and open it with a current browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari). Nothing needs to be installed.
3. Verify the download: compute its SHA-256 and compare it with downloads/SHA256SUMS.txt and the value published on the home page. Windows (PowerShell): Get-FileHash RackClick-v0.9.0-rc10-Offline.html -Algorithm SHA256 · Linux/macOS: sha256sum RackClick-v0.9.0-rc10-Offline.html.
4. To review how the program works, download the source code (RackClick-v0.9.0-rc10-Source.zip) and compare its hash too.

1. 1LANGUAGE
2. 2Manage infrastructure
3. 3Export full backup
4. 4All clients connections CSV
5. 5Load full backup
6. 610 demo clients
7. 7Open client
8. 8Settings
9. 9Autosave

A.3How the information is organised

RackClick always follows the same hierarchy: Systemhaus → client → location → rack → device → port → connection.

The left sidebar lists the Systemhaus, the clients and, inside the open client, its racks with their location. The breadcrumb at the top always shows where you are. In the rack view, the tabs switch between the racks of the same client; the first tab, ← Project, returns to the client view.

1. 1Save client JSON
2. 2Snapshot
3. 3Load
4. 4Merge
5. 5Import
6. 6Client connections CSV
7. 7All rack labels
8. 8Report
9. 9Demo
10. 10New
11. 11Technician
12. 12Logo
13. 13Global search: devices, ports, labels, connections...
14. 14Light
15. 15+ Add Rack
16. 16Rename client

B.1Systemhaus and clients

The Systemhaus is the container for everything. Clients are independent of each other: what you export, print or replace in one client does not affect the others.

Renaming the Systemhaus

How to
1. Click the pencil next to the Systemhaus name in the sidebar, or open Settings and edit Systemhaus name.
2. The name is saved in the project and appears in reports.

Creating a client

How to
1. On the clients screen click Manage infrastructure.
2. Fill in Customer, Site, Building and Room and click Add location.
3. Click Save. The client appears in the sidebar and in the client list, without racks.

Renaming a client

How to
1. Open the client. Its name sits in an editable field above the search; change it and leave the field.
2. If the name already exists for another client, RackClick refuses: “Client name already exists.”

1. 1Customer
2. 2Site
3. 3Building
4. 4Room
5. 5Add location
6. 6Save
7. 7Cancel
8. 8Edit
9. 9Remove location

B.2Locations: site, building and room

Locations describe where each rack is. They are managed in a single dialog for all clients.

How to
1. Open Manage infrastructure (sidebar or clients screen).
2. To add: fill in Customer, Site, Building and Room and click Add location.
3. To correct: click Edit in the row, change the fields and confirm.
4. To remove: click Remove location. If racks are assigned, RackClick prevents it: “Location in use: move its racks first.”
5. At the top of the dialog (Assign rack) you can assign each rack to a location or leave it Unassigned.
6. Click Save. Cancel discards all changes made in the dialog.

B.3Racks

A rack has a name, a location and a size in rack units. Devices occupy units from top to bottom; free units are hatched.

Creating a rack

How to
1. In the client view click + Add Rack and type the Rack name when the browser asks.
2. The rack appears as a card with its counts of devices, connections and used U.

Editing or deleting a rack

How to
1. Open the rack and click the pencil (✎) in the toolbar, or the pencil on the card in the client view.
2. Change RACK NAME, LOCATION and SIZE (U): 6, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 42 or 48 U. If the devices already occupy more, the option shows (need N U) and cannot be chosen.
3. Delete this rack removes the rack with its devices and connections after confirming “Delete rack "X" and all its devices?”. Ctrl+Z works immediately afterwards.

1. 1RACK NAME
2. 2LOCATION
3. 3SIZE (U)
4. 4Delete this rack
5. 5Save

Duplicating a rack

How to
1. On the rack card (client view) click the first icon in the top-right corner.
2. If the rack has connections, RackClick asks “Duplicate "X" WITH N connections? OK = with connections · Cancel = devices only”.
3. The copy is named X (Copy) and keeps location, size and devices.

Moving between racks

Inside a rack, the top tabs list all racks of the client; the first tab, ← Project, returns to the client view. The sidebar also shows the racks of the open client with their location.

C.1Adding devices

Devices are added from the catalogue in the right-hand panel: generic templates by category, favourites, your own templates or a custom device.

How to
1. In the rack view click + NEW DEVICE. The right-hand panel shows the catalogue.
2. Optional: type a name in Device name (optional); if you leave it empty, RackClick uses the template name.
3. Click a template from Patch Panels, Switches, Servers, Storage, Network, Power or Spacers. The device is added at the first free position in the rack.
4. The star next to each template marks it as a favourite; favourites appear at the top of the catalogue (FAVORITES).
5. For your own device open Custom Device: name, size (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8 U), icon and one or more port groups (type, count from 1 to 96 and face). + Port Group adds another group; click Create.
6. Click Cancel to close the catalogue without adding anything.

1. 1Device name (optional)
2. 2Custom Device

C.2Editing a device

The edit dialog gathers the device data and its port configuration.

How to
1. Click the pencil (Edit) in the device header.
2. NAME, SIZE (U), PoE BUDGET (W) and ICON.
3. SERIAL NUMBER, IP ADDRESS, MODEL, FIRMWARE and NOTES: free text shown in tooltips and reports.
4. PORT GROUPS: each group has a type and a count. If you reduce the count, RackClick asks “Remove ports … and N connections?” before deleting ports and their connections.
5. Click Save. Cancel discards.

1. 1NAME
2. 2SIZE (U)
3. 3PoE BUDGET (W)
4. 4SERIAL NUMBER
5. 5NOTES
6. 6PORT GROUPS
7. 7Save
8. 8Cancel

C.3Sorting, moving, collapsing and deleting

The header of each device gathers the position actions and the advanced options.

1. 1Save as Template
2. 2Batch Port Status
3. 3Batch Port Color
4. 4MOVE TO RACK

Moving a device to another rack

How to
1. Open Device options and pick the destination rack under MOVE TO RACK; each rack shows its free U.
2. RackClick summarises the impact: “Local connections to convert: N. Cross-rack connections to update: M.” Confirm.
3. The device is placed in the destination with its ports and connections; connections to devices of the original rack become cross-rack.

C.4Templates and favourites

Save a configured device as your own template and mark the templates you use most as favourites.

How to
1. To create a template: Device options → Save as Template. RackClick confirms “📌 Template "X" saved” and lists it under MY TEMPLATES in the catalogue.
2. To mark a favourite: click the star of the template in the catalogue. Favourites are listed under FAVORITES.
3. To remove templates or favourites: Settings → Saved templates / Favorites (Remove template, Remove favorite).

D.1The port: state, label, PoE and colour

Each port has a type, a state, a label (outlet/dose), PoE with documented watts, a colour and a face. Right-click opens all actions.

How to
1. Right-click the port. The menu shows the identifier (e.g. RJ45 PoE #30).
2. LABEL / DOSE: type the outlet or destination (e.g. Office 201, outlet A) and confirm with ✓. A double-click on a free port asks for the label directly (Port label / outlet).
3. STATUS: Free, Reserved, Disabled or Faulty.
4. ⚡ PoE ON: switch PoE on or off and enter the watts in the W field (0–90; “Documented watts must be between 0 and 90.”). The filled yellow bolt means documented active PoE.
5. PORT COLOR: a custom colour to distinguish the port; Reset color returns to the colour by type.
6. CONNECT TO RACK: starts a cross-rack connection (see below).

1. 1LABEL / DOSE
2. 2STATUS
3. 3PoE

Port inspector

A left-click on a port selects it and shows the Port inspector in the right-hand panel: device, type and number, Documented watts, Port face, PoE, Name (label) and Connections. The Port actions button opens the same menu as the right-click.

1. 1Port inspector
2. 2Documented watts
3. 3Port face
4. 4Port actions

D.2Click-Click: documenting a connection

A connection is two clicks: source and destination. RackClick draws the cable, counts it in the rack and includes it in reports, CSV and labels.

How to
1. Click a free port: it is highlighted as the source.
2. Click the free destination port, in the same device or in another device of the rack. “Connected!” appears and the cable is drawn in the next cable colour.
3. If the destination is Reserved, confirm “Reserved port — connect?”. If it is Disabled or Faulty, RackClick refuses and keeps the source selected: pick another destination or press Esc.
4. The connection appears in the CONNECTIONS list of the right-hand panel as DEVICE:port → DEVICE:port with its note.

1. 11 · PP-MAIN-1 · 7

1. 12 · SW-CORE-1 · 12
2. 2Port inspector
3. 3PP-MAIN-1 #7 → SW-CORE-1 #12

Next cable colour

In the right-hand panel (Next cable color) you choose a fixed colour or Automatic. In automatic mode the colour depends on the pair of device types (for example Patch Panel ↔ Switch) according to Settings → CONNECTION COLORS BY DEVICE GROUP. A manually chosen colour takes precedence.

D.3Editing, reconnecting and disconnecting

A click on a connected port opens the connection; a double-click reconnects it to another destination.

Note, patch status and colour

How to
1. Click a connected port. The Connection dialog opens with both ends.
2. CABLE / NOTE: type, length, patch-cord colour, trunk… free text (e.g. Cat6a 15 m blue, OS2 fiber, trunk).
3. PATCH STATUS: —, Planned, In Progress, Done or Tested. It appears in the CSV and in reports.
4. COLOR: changes the colour of the drawn cable.
5. Disconnect removes the connection (“Disconnected”); Close keeps the changes.

1. 1CABLE / NOTE
2. 2Patch status
3. 3COLOR
4. 4Disconnect
5. 5Close

Reconnecting to another destination

How to
1. Double-click a connected port. The bar “Reconnect: choose a free destination port. The current cable remains until the new connection is saved.” appears.
2. Click the new free destination. RackClick confirms “Cable reconnected; attributes preserved.”: note, colour and patch status move to the new end.
3. Esc or Cancel abandons the reconnection without touching the original connection.

1. 1Reconnect: choose a free desti…

D.4Connections between racks (cross-rack)

Connections can join ports of two racks of the same client.

How to
1. Right-click the source port → CONNECT TO RACK → choose the destination rack.
2. RackClick opens that rack and shows the bar “🔗 Pick destination port in …”.
3. Click the free destination port. “Cross-rack connected!” appears.
4. To abandon, click Cancel in the bar or press Esc.

1. 1Pick destination port in …
2. 2Cancel

Cross-rack connections are counted separately (CROSS-RACK in the client view), flagged in the Cross-Rack column of the CSV and shown in both racks. Rack labels count local connections only.

D.5Bulk connection 1:1

Connect the free ports of one device to those of another in order, in a single operation.

How to
1. In the right-hand panel click ⚡ BULK (the BULK CONNECT (1:1) dialog opens).
2. Choose SOURCE DEVICE and TARGET DEVICE.
3. START AT: “Start positions refer to the ordered list of free ports, not the printed port number.” Adjust COUNT and review the PREVIEW.
4. Click Connect. RackClick confirms “⚡ N connections created”.

1. 1SOURCE DEVICE
2. 2TARGET DEVICE
3. 3Connect

D.6Front, rear and port faces

Each device has two faces. The Front/Rear view of the rack shows only the ports documented on that face.

How to
1. Switch between Front and Rear with the buttons under the rack title or the toolbar button.
2. By default the placement is Automatic (schematic): RackClick decides the face by port type.
3. To fix faces: in the device header click Configure faces and choose, port by port, Automatic, Front or Rear (Port face). Click Save.
4. Connections that cross from one face to the other are kept; switch views to see each end. A device with no ports on the visible face shows “No ports documented on this face”.

1. 1Rear
2. 2Power connections

1. 1Port face
2. 2Save

D.7Power: PDU, UPS and Power ports

Ports of type Power document the power path with inlet and outlet roles. It is generic documentation without electrical calculation.

How to
1. Add devices with Power ports (PDU, UPS, server power supplies) or create a Power group in a custom device.
2. Set the Power port role of each Power port (Inlet, Outlet or Unspecified) from its actions.
3. Connect with Click-Click just like a data cable: an outlet to an inlet.

• “Power ports connect only to power ports; two declared inlets or outlets cannot be joined.”
• When changing a role that is already in use: “This role change contradicts an existing power connection. No changes applied.”
• PoE and AC power are different things: PoE is a property of an RJ45 port; Power is a port type.

D.8State, PoE and colour for a port range

For many ports at once, use the device’s from–to range.

How to
1. Device options → Batch Port Status.
2. Type the range in Ports (from – to, port numbers of the device) or click All ports.
3. Click the state (Free, Reserved, Disabled, Faulty; the number of affected ports is in brackets) or, under PoE for RJ45 ports in this range, PoE on / PoE off.
4. RackClick confirms “⚡ Ports X–Y → state”. Watts are documented separately, port by port.

1. 1Ports (from)
2. 2Ports (to)
3. 3PoE for RJ45 ports in this range
4. 4PoE on

Likewise, Batch Port Color applies a colour to a range (“🎨 Ports X–Y: color set”) or clears it (“color cleared”). The range identifies ports by their number within the device.

E.1Automatic saving in the browser

RackClick saves every change to browser storage. It does not write inside the HTML file.

• The 💾 ✓ hh:mm:ss indicator in the toolbar shows the time of the last successful save (on the clients screen, ✓ Autosave).
• The dot on Save client JSON * means there are changes not exported since the last export.
• Saving depends on the browser and the profile: another browser, another profile or clearing site data makes the project disappear. The HTML file does not change.
• Work with a single tab of RackClick: the offline edition does not synchronise several tabs or several users.

If saving fails

How to
1. Autosave FAILING appears with the notice “Automatic saving is failing (storage full) — Export your project NOW to avoid data loss”. Click Export JSON now and keep the file.
2. Free space in the browser or switch profile and load the JSON again.

Recovery at start-up

If the saved project is damaged when RackClick opens, the program acts on its own and says so: “Project repaired at startup — original saved to quarantine”, “Autosave invalid — recovered from backup” or, at worst, “Safe mode: no saved project could be loaded. Data secured in quarantine”. Settings then shows the QUARANTINE section (“Data from a failed startup is stored here”) with Created and Reason: you can Download bundle, Download autosave only and, once you no longer need it, Delete quarantine. Classic view (recovery only) is a reduced interface to rescue data if the integrated view does not render.

E.2Exporting and loading JSON

The JSON is your real backup: take it with you, keep it outside the browser and load it on another computer.

Working from a USB stick or on another computer

How to
1. Export the client JSON (or the full backup).
2. Copy the HTML file and the JSON to the stick. Moving only the HTML does not carry your work.
3. On the other computer open the HTML and use Load or Load full backup with a copy of the JSON. Keep the original until the result is checked.

E.3Snapshots

A snapshot is a named recovery point inside the browser. It covers the complete infrastructure, not one client.

How to
1. In the client view click Snapshot and type the Snapshot name (e.g. Before the switch swap). RackClick confirms “Snapshot saved!”.
2. To restore: Settings → Snapshots → Restore. “Snapshots cover all clients. Restoring replaces the complete infrastructure.”
3. To remove a snapshot: Delete in the same list.

1. 1Snapshots
2. 2Restore
3. 3Delete

E.4Undo and redo

Almost every action in the rack can be undone and redone while the tab stays open.

• Ctrl+Z undoes and Ctrl+Y redoes. The ↩ ↪ buttons in the toolbar show how many steps are available.
• The notice “↩ Undo: …” says what was reverted; “Redo” the opposite.
• Deleting racks or devices, replacing the inventory with the demo and bulk connections can be undone.

F.1Rack and client reports

The report gathers the drawing of each rack, its devices and the connection table. It is printed or saved as PDF from the browser.

How to
1. Client report: in the client view click Report. Fill in Technician first and, if you like, the client Logo: both appear in the header.
2. Rack report: in the rack view click Report.
3. Check the scope (client or rack), the technician and the client name. Click Print / PDF and choose a PDF destination in the browser dialog. Check paper size and scale in the preview.
4. CSV downloads the connections of the same scope. Classic report (fallback) shows the previous report version.
5. Back returns to the previous view.

1. 1Back
2. 2Print / PDF
3. 3Classic report (fallback)

If the client has a change log, the client view shows the 📜 Log (N) button and the report includes the section Change log (last 20) with the last twenty entries; “Clear all log entries?” removes them after confirmation.

F.2Rack labels

Each rack has a label with name, location, devices, units, local connections and identifier.

How to
1. All rack labels (client view): one page with all labels of the client, ready for Print / PDF.
2. Label (rack view): opens the label of that rack in a print window.
3. The footer of each label states version, client, technician and date; the Rack ID identifies the rack in the project.

1. 1Print / PDF
2. 2Back

• Labels count the local connections of the rack, not the cross-rack ones.
• “Labels for this client only. Print or save as PDF. No scannable QR code is included.” The rack’s QR button downloads a decorative motif (decorative-qr-not-scannable-…png); the file name says so.

F.3Rack exports: CSV, XLS, PNG, PDF

The rack toolbar offers every output of that rack.

1. 1Save client JSON
2. 2Edit (rack)
3. 3Report
4. 4Export (JSON)
5. 5CSV
6. 6Label
7. 7QR
8. 8PNG
9. 9PDF
10. 10XLS
11. 11Zoom

In the client view, Client connections CSV exports the connections of all its racks (rackclick-<client>-connections.csv); on the clients screen, All clients connections CSV adds the Client column. Columns: Rack, From Device, From Port#, From Type, To Device, To Port#, To Type, Cable/Note, Cross-Rack, Patch Status, Created. CSV files are written as UTF-8 with a byte-order mark so Excel opens them correctly.

F.4Search

Find devices, ports, labels and connections without walking through the racks.

How to
1. In the client view type into 🔍 Global search: devices, ports, labels, connections.... Results show rack and device; click one to open it. With no matches: “No results for …”.
2. In the rack view, the 🔍 Search... field in the right-hand panel filters within the rack.

1. 1Global search: devices, ports, labels, connections...

G.1Settings

Language, theme, colours and maintenance of templates, favourites and snapshots.

1. 1Systemhaus name
2. 2LANGUAGE
3. 3THEME / PANEL
4. 4PORT TYPE COLORS
5. 5CONNECTION COLORS BY DEVICE GROUP
6. 6Saved templates
7. 7Favorites
8. 8Snapshots

G.2Demo data and new project

Synthetic data is for learning and for playing through scenarios. It is not real data.

G.3Gestures and shortcuts

Everything done with mouse and keyboard in the rack view. The rack’s bottom bar reminds you: “L-click: connect · R-click: status/PoE/label · Dbl-click: label · cross-rack · bulk · Ctrl+Z: undo · Ctrl+S: save · Esc: cancel · Del: delete selected”.

G.4File formats

What each file RackClick writes or reads contains.

G.5Limits and assumptions

What to know before handing over documentation made with RackClick.

• Everything is documentation entered by a technician: states, watts, IP addresses, serial numbers and notes. Compare the drawing with the real installation before hand-over.
• The online demo saves in the browser of whoever opens it; there is no shared storage and no users.
• The offline file has no accounts or permissions. Grouping by client is not access control.
• Front/rear faces are schematic; power is documented without electrical calculation.
• Labels count local connections; the QR is decorative.
• The PDF depends on the browser’s print dialog.
• Keep a single tab and export JSON regularly.
• The earlier rc9 file shows a few English strings in German and Spanish; v0.9.0-rc10 translates them (see “What RackClick is”).

G.6Server edition (under development)

Besides the offline edition there is a project for a server edition for Systemhaus companies with several users. It is not available and is not part of this file.

Status as of 29 September 2026: estimated progress 45 % of the complete delivery, with no installable candidate and no adoption. What is published here describes the planned scope and what has been verified so far, not a finished product.

• Planned later: round trip with the field (field package and controlled return). Directory integration (AD/OIDC), external portal and MCP need a separate scope.
• The offline edition will remain: the server uses the same interface components and reads the same client JSON files.
• Adoption of the server edition depends on the product owner’s final QA.

G.7Glossary