Access modes

Every page and uploaded file has an access level, enforced by sherlink — the single policy owner behind all three public hosts (p., f., sl.).

• private (default) — reachable only by your own account. A stranger gets a plain 404, not a "this is private" message — the resource's existence is never leaked.
• password — anyone with the URL and the password can view it, once per browser (an unlock cookie remembers it after that).
• allow_list — reachable by specific accounts or email addresses, granted individually. An unauthenticated visitor is asked to sign in; a signed-in visitor who isn't on the list gets no access, not a sign-in prompt.
• public — anyone with the URL, no sign-in or password required.

Setting it

At creation:

sherpage_publish({ title, files, access: "public" })

Or after the fact — a page's own access is changed with sherpage_set_access; an uploaded file's access lives on its short link, changed with link_set_access, since a sherserve object doesn't carry its own policy, only sherlink does:

link_set_access({ code_or_id: "<code>", access: "password", password: "…" })

Expiry and view budgets stack on top

expires_at and max_views apply regardless of access level — an expired or budget-spent resource answers as expired, checked before the access level itself, so a dead allow-listed resource never demands a sign-in only to refuse afterward.

Next

Rate limits and quotas — the last thing standing between a call and a 429.