Using Go2

Getting started

Go2 shortens addresses and runs them through your own name — yourname.go2.education/welcome instead of a long URL. You create a link once and it is served from every address the platform gives you, with one redirect and nothing else in between.

These pages assume you are signed in to the customer console at app.go2.education.

• Creating an account — how to get in, and the password rules that apply everywhere.
• Your first link — the shortest path from "nothing" to a working redirect.

Useful from day one:

• Links — managing addresses, short names, query parameters.
• QR codes — posters and print.
• Sub-accounts — teams, branches, sites under one account.
• Users and roles — who can do what.
• Settings — your personal preferences and the account's shared details.

Current constraints

1. One link per account (and per sub-account) at a time. Creating a second link in the same account returns "Free tier allows one link." Delete or let the current one expire first.
2. New links expire 30 minutes after creation. The expiry is set when the link is created; edit the link to change it.
3. Account activation uses a verification link. The link emailed to your address activates the account and expires after 24 hours. If automatic sign-up is disabled, a member of the Go2 team contacts you after you submit the form.

Creating an account

New accounts are created at app.go2.education/signup, with an email address and a password. After that you sign in with the same address and password.

What happens after you submit the form

Automatic account sign-up is currently disabled, so submitting the form registers an interest rather than an account. One of two things then happens:

• if your account can proceed, a verification link is emailed to the address you submitted. Clicking it activates the account, and you can then sign in with the same address and password. The link expires after 24 hours;
• otherwise, a member of the Go2 team will be in touch.

Either way, every address is its own account — no two submissions share one.

Passwords

Every route to setting a password applies the same four rules:

• At least 12 characters.
• Must contain a symbol.
• Must not be a common guess (password12345!, admin..., welcome... are rejected).
• Must not contain your email's local part.

An address like margaret@example.com cannot use a password containing margaret, even inside a longer phrase. If your choice is rejected without a clear reason, this rule is usually why.

Signing in

• The console is app.go2.education. The admin console admin.go2.education is a separate system — signing in to one gives you nothing on the other.
• Sessions last eight hours.
• Signing in over plain HTTP is refused; only HTTPS is accepted for the management console.

After signup you are the account owner of a new account. See Roles for what that means.

Your first link

The shortest path from nothing to a working short address:

1. Open the console and go to Links.
2. Enter the destination URL. It must be a full http:// or https:// address; a bare domain or a javascript: value is rejected.
3. Optionally enter a name (see Short addresses). Leave it blank and a short random code is generated for you.
4. Choose Create Link.

The link is live at more than one address immediately — for example a link named welcome on an account named marketing is served from both marketing.go2.education/welcome and go2.education/marketing/welcome. Both redirect in one hop; there is no chain and nothing to keep in sync.

Two limits

• One link per account (or sub-account). Creating a second link in the same space answers "Free tier allows one link." Remove or expire the current one first. See Managing links.
• Links expire 30 minutes after they are created. The expiry is set automatically. If the link stops working "for no reason", check the expiry and edit it to extend it.

When a new link goes live

Allow up to 15 minutes for a change to take effect everywhere under normal conditions. Two consequences:

• A brand-new link may briefly return not found while the change propagates.
• A freshly disabled or deleted link may briefly keep redirecting.

Do not rely on disabling a link alone for anything that must stop instantly — contact support for anything urgent.

Links

A link is a short name in one of your account's namespaces that redirects to a destination URL. Every link you create is served at several addresses (branded subdomain and short path form) — you configure it once and Go2 serves every alias with one redirect.

• Managing links — create, edit, disable, duplicate, delete.
• Short addresses — how names work, generated codes, reserved names.
• Query parameters — what happens to the visitor's query string.
• Comments and expiry — notes and the expiry field.

Things to know before you start

• One link per account (or sub-account) at a time. Creating a second one in the same space is refused.
• New links expire 30 minutes after creation. Extend the expiry on the link if you need it alive longer.
• Names are unique within one space, not across your whole account. Two spaces can each have a link called welcome.

Managing links

The Links page lists the links in the space you are looking at.

Creating a link

1. Go to Links → New link.
2. Enter the destination — a full http:// or https:// URL.
3. Optionally pick a name, or leave it blank for a generated code.
4. Choose Create Link.

One link per account (or sub-account) at a time. A second create answers "Free tier allows one link." New links expire 30 minutes after creation — the expiry is set for you. See Comments and expiry to change it.

Editing a link

Open a link and you can change:

• the destination — anyone holding the link is sent to the new address after you save;
• Include query parameters — see Query parameters;
• the comment;
• the expiry date;
• enabled/disabled — a disabled link stops redirecting and answers not found. Disabling is reversible and is different from deleting.

Changes take effect within up to 15 minutes. A disabled link may briefly keep redirecting during that window.

Duplicating (Copy)

Copy creates a second link under a new name. The destination and the comment are carried across; the original is untouched. This is how you make a new address for the same poster or campaign. Running several short names for one destination is the standard workflow, since each space holds one link.

Why a copy instead of renaming: a short address that has been printed or handed out cannot be changed underneath the people holding it. Editing does not cover the name.

Deleting a link

Delete when the address must stop answering for good. A deleted link stops redirecting within up to 15 minutes. Deleting is not reversible through the console; create a new link to replace it. If a link with the same name is created afterwards, the new record is a separate link.

What a "disabled" response means to visitors

Both disabled links and expired links answer not found to visitors. There is no intermediate page announcing the link used to exist.

Short addresses

The short name (the slug) is the last segment of every address your link is served from. A link named welcome in an account called marketing sits at:

• marketing.go2.education/welcome — the branded subdomain
• go2.education/marketing/welcome — the short path form

Rules for names

• Lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores, up to 64 characters.
• Names are not case-sensitive: Welcome and welcome are the same link (they are stored lowercase).
• Unique within one space, not across your account: two spaces can each have a link called welcome.
• Some names are reserved by the platform — app, admin, api, www and similar, plus dotted names like robots.txt and favicon.ico. These cannot be used as link names (or as account/sub-account names).

Generated codes

Leave the name blank and Go2 generates a short random code (a 7-character hexadecimal string, e.g. a1b2c3d). Generated codes are checked against your existing links and retried on collision, so you will not receive a duplicate.

Generated codes are harder to guess than memorable ones. If a link handles something sensitive, a generated code is the safer choice.

Names are immutable

Once a name has been printed or handed out, it cannot be renamed — a change would break every copy already in the world. Editing a link covers the destination, comment and expiry, never the name. To serve the same destination under a different name, use Copy to create a second link under the new name and leave the original alone.

Trailing slashes

A single trailing slash is accepted as the same address (go2.education/marketing/welcome/ and .../welcome are the same). There is no extra redirect step.

Query parameters

Each link has a setting, Include query parameters, that decides what happens to the query string on the short address when a visitor follows it.

The default behaviour

The setting is on by default. When it is on:

• yourname.go2.education/welcome?utm_source=twitter forwards the query to the destination;
• if the destination already carries a parameter of the same name, the inbound value wins (the appended value replaces the destination's own).

When it is off, the query string is ignored entirely and the destination is served exactly as you stored it. Off is the right choice when the destination must never receive whatever a visitor appends to the address — for example a link that points at something that acts on query parameters.

Who controls it

You do, per link, on create and on edit. Nothing about the visitor changes it. Your operator can switch forwarding off for every link at once — you would see your links stop passing the query string, but you cannot turn it back on yourself.

Why an appended key replaces the destination's value

Merging the inbound query into the destination's own query is the consequence of enabling forwarding: the visitor's request is data you did not write, and when it names the same key as the destination it shadows it. Disable forwarding on any link whose destination must not see it.

Comments and expiry

Comments

A comment is your own note about what a link is for — which campaign, which poster, which customer. It is:

• optional;
• carried across when you Copy a link under a new name (this is the part that usually gets lost when someone retypes the destination);
• never part of the short address, and never served to visitors.

Expiry

An expiry date makes a link stop working on its own, without anyone touching it. Once the expiry time passes, the link answers not found, exactly as if it were disabled.

New links are created with an expiry 30 minutes in the future — it is set for you, not offered. Edit the link and change the expiry to make it live longer, or to give it an explicit end date. A cleared expiry keeps the link alive indefinitely.

An expired link stops answering within the normal propagation window — it is not an instant kill switch for anything that must stop at a precise second.

Disabled versus expired

Both look identical to visitors (not found), and both leave the link's record intact so you can edit it. The difference is intent and control:

Deleting is the third state and is permanent (see Managing links).

QR codes

Every link can be exported as a QR code, drawn entirely in your browser. A code is generated from the link's address on demand; no QR code is stored or sent to us.

Export and style

A code downloads as SVG or PNG. Three controls change the printed result:

• Foreground colour (module colour).
• Background colour.
• Centre mark — the destination's own icon, the first letter of its name, or nothing. The destination's icon is the default centre mark.

The icon is fetched by your browser straight from the destination's website, the way a bookmark icon is. Nothing passes through us and nothing is stored. If the icon cannot be read — for example because the destination blocks cross-origin reads — the on-screen code still shows it but the download falls back to the monogram, with a note saying so.

Rules that protect the printed result

• Contrast is refused, not warned about. A foreground that is not darker than the background, or a pair under 3:1 contrast, disables the download.
• Error correction is forced to the highest level (H) when a centre mark is present.
• Check the margin. Printed codes need a clear quiet zone around them or scanners struggle. Export at a larger size than you think you need.

If a finished code will not scan, the usual causes are too little margin or scaling it down too far; export larger and keep the quiet zone clear.

Sub-accounts

An account can delegate to many teams, branches or sites. Each gets a sub-account with its own links and its own administrators, all under your account's name.

• What is a sub-account — how the address space nests, and the one level limit.
• Managing sub-accounts — create, rename, comment, disable, duplicate, delete.

Each sub-account holds the same one-link-at-a-time budget as the account itself.

What is a sub-account?

A sub-account is a namespace under your account's own name, with its own links. Your account's short name is the parent; sub-accounts sit underneath it. A link called promo in a sub-account called northside inside an account called retail is reachable at go2.education/retail/northside/promo — and from the branded host form retail.go2.education/northside/promo.

What you get with a sub-account

• A separate address space: the same link name can live in two sub-accounts without conflict, because names are unique within one space, not across the account.
• Separate administrators: a person can be given a role that applies to one sub-account only (see Roles). A sub-account administrator can reach their own sub-accounts and nothing else — not other sub-accounts, not the parent, not billing.

One level deep, and no deeper

A sub-account hangs off the root account only. go2.education/retail/northside is the deepest namespace supported — a third level is not supported. The console will not let you create one.

Your visitors never sign in

Following any of these addresses is a plain redirect. Signing in applies to the management console, never to the links themselves.

Managing sub-accounts

You create, rename, comment on, disable, duplicate and delete sub-accounts from your own console.

Creating a sub-account

In Sub-accounts → New, enter a name. The name follows the same rules as link names: lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens (no underscores), up to 63 characters, no leading or trailing hyphen. It is checked against:

• the DNS-label grammar (the name must work as a host label),
• the platform's reserved names (app, admin, api, …) — refused,
• additional reserved names protected by your operator — refused,
• names already live on the account — refused.

If a sub-account cannot be created fully, it is removed automatically. Its address is shown as the path form (go2.education/yourname/<sub>).

Renaming

A sub-account can be renamed. The old address stops resolving (it answers not found), the new one starts, and the link inside keeps redirecting. As with links, a name already printed on materials dies when you rename: rename before you distribute, or keep the old one.

Comment, enable and disable

• Comment — your own note about who or what the sub-account is for.
• Disable — the sub-account's addresses stop redirecting (not found). Reversible, and distinct from deleting.

Duplicate

Copy a sub-account's settings (comment, enabled state) under a new name. The copy starts empty — links are not copied. If you need the same destination in the new space, create its link there.

Deleting

Only an empty sub-account can be deleted. One that still holds links answers subaccount_not_empty and names exactly how many links stand in the way. Delete the links first, or keep the sub-account.

Deleting frees the name.

Users and roles

An account is used by people. Each person signs in with their own address and has a role that decides what they can do.

• Inviting users — how people join your account.
• Roles — what each role can and cannot do.

The account owner manages people: only the owner can invite, change a member's role or remove a member. A sub-account administrator can manage the people working inside their own sub-accounts using the per-scope roles described in Roles.

Inviting users

The account owner invites people by email address. The invitee receives a link, opens it, sets a password, and a membership is created with the role the owner chose — the new person appears on the account immediately.

How the invitation works

• The invite is a short-lived, single-use link. An already-used or expired link cannot be redeemed.
• Invitations are delivered by email.
• Only the owner invites, changes a role, or removes a member.

Choosing a password

The invitee's new password follows the same rules as signup: at least 12 characters, a symbol, not a common guess, and it must not contain their email's local part. See Creating an account for the full list of rules.

Per-scope roles

Someone with the right to manage a sub-account can give a member a role that applies to one sub-account only, overriding their account-wide role inside that sub-account. This is how a person works only in northside without ever being able to reach the parent account or other sub-accounts. See Roles.

Roles

Every account has six roles. There is no free-form permission editing.

Restrictions

• Only the owner manages people. Inviting, re-rolling and removing members is part of being the owner. The last owner on an account cannot be removed, so an account never ends up with nobody able to manage it.
• A sub-account administrator cannot reach the parent account, other sub-accounts, or billing.

Per-scope roles

A person's account-wide role can be overridden inside one sub-account: the person managing that sub-account can give a member a role that applies only there (sub-account administrator, link editor or reporting viewer). This is how someone works only in northside — their access inside every other sub-account, and the parent, is unaffected.

Settings

Settings holds your own details — your name, password, appearance, and time zone. Account details shared by the team are further down the same page.

Profile

• Display name — shown next to your activity.
• Email — shown here. Cannot be changed here.

Password

Appearance

• Light, dark or system. System follows your computer's setting.
• Time zone.
• Show site icons.

Account details

The account name, company, and billing contact are shared. Changing them requires the account administrator role (see Roles).

Billing

See Billing.

Billing

New accounts are invite only. Contact us for a custom quote.

Single sign-on (SAML / OIDC)