Three ways to run it

The same registry runs in three shapes. They differ in one question: whose platforms does the app show?

	Open catalog	One organization	Provider portal
DIRECTORY_MODE	search	curated	portal
Whose platforms	Everyone's	Yours	Each provider's own
Who runs the server	Us (the pilot)	You	Us — or you, for many providers
The app opens onto	A search box	Your fixed list	That provider's fixed list
Who can add a platform	Anyone, self-service	Your admins	Each provider, to their own list
Learner reports	Yes — that's the point	No	No
One app or many	One app for everyone	Your own branded app	One branded app per provider
Read more	For learners	One organization	Provider portal

Open catalog — one app for the whole ecosystem

The pilot at openedx-lms.stepanok.com. Any owner registers their Open edX platform, and any learner finds it by search or by URL in one shared app — the Moodle-or-Canvas shape.

Because anyone can list anything, this is the only mode with a moderation side: learners report platforms from the app, and an admin blocks or dismisses. Nothing is taken down automatically.

Pick this if you want your platform reachable from an app you don't have to build or maintain.

One organization — your own server, your own app

You fork the project and run the registry yourself. It lists only your platforms, there is no public sign-up and no reporting, and your mobile builds point at your own domain. Nothing about your platforms leaves your infrastructure.

Pick this if you run several Open edX platforms and you want the registry inside your own perimeter. → One organization (curated)

Provider portal — many organizations, one server

The same white-label result, without running a server. Each provider registers on the portal, adds their own platforms, and gets a permanent address (/p/<slug>) to compile into their own builds. Each provider sees and changes only their own list.

Pick this if you want your own branded app across your own platforms and don't want to operate infrastructure for it. → Provider portal

What the mobile apps see

All three serve the same two endpoints, so the apps need no code change to move between them — only a different DIRECTORY_URL:

LMS_DIRECTORY:
  ENABLED: true
  DIRECTORY_URL: "https://openedx-lms.stepanok.com"          # open catalog
  # DIRECTORY_URL: "https://registry.example.edu"            # your own server
  # DIRECTORY_URL: "https://providers.example.com/p/your-org" # provider portal
  DIRECTORY_MODE: "curated"   # required for the last two — see below

GET <DIRECTORY_URL>/api/v1/config tells the app which behaviour to use. It answers search for the open catalog and curated for the other two — a provider-portal address reports curated precisely so a provider build behaves exactly like a self-hosted white-label one.

Set DIRECTORY_MODE: \"curated\" in any white-label build

Both apps fall back to search mode when the registry is unreachable. Without the local flag, a branded app that starts offline opens a search box over every public platform. The flag can only add curated mode, never remove it.

See API reference for the endpoints themselves.