Your workspace guide.

Set up your shelf

Add each item, the whole quantity available and the unit you count it in. Use separate entries when units or best-before dates differ. Search, availability tabs and category filters work together; you can sort by name, quantity or date.

Best-before dates support your review. GatherShelf does not decide whether an item is safe to distribute.

Start with household choices

Create a request with a short, non-identifying reference. Enter the exact quantities a household asks for. Zero means that item is not requested.

A volunteer should check labels, allergens and suitability. GatherShelf does not infer dietary requirements or substitute items.

Review, adjust, then record

The planner shares each item proportionally to its requested quantities. It uses largest-remainder allocation to produce whole units, with stable request IDs to resolve ties. This is a starting rule, not a universal measure of fairness or need.

Use Adjust quantities to change a packing plan without rewriting the original requests. Amounts cannot exceed available stock or what a household requested. Unrecorded adjustments stay in this screen during navigation but are lost on refresh. Reset plan returns to the proportional result.

After checking the physical packing, record the distribution. The stock and requested quantities change in one transaction. Unfilled demand remains open and the distribution is saved to history. If the workspace changed in another tab, close the form and review the latest information before saving.

Keep a copy

Download a JSON backup from Settings before clearing browser data or switching devices. The workspace stores up to 1,000 stock items, 1,000 open requests and 1,000 distributions within a 5 MB backup. Saves beyond these limits are rejected while keeping previous records. Download JSON and history CSV before starting a new workspace when capacity is reached. Restore accepts a valid GatherShelf JSON file up to 5 MB and asks for confirmation before replacing the current records.

Stock and distribution history can also be exported as CSV for spreadsheets. CSV files are reports; use a JSON backup to restore a workspace.

Privacy and operating limits

Records live in this browser's IndexedDB. No account is required and household records are not sent to a server. There is no automatic synchronization between phones or computers. This workspace is intended for one device at a time.

Browser storage and backup files are not an encrypted records vault. Anyone with access to this browser or a backup can read its contents. Use household references, limit personal details and store backups securely.

The allocator is not a nutrition, safety, allergy or eligibility assessment. Volunteers remain responsible for labels, dates, local pantry policies and household suitability.