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Polaris Express Docs

Choose your path

Polaris Express is a charging platform that serves three very different audiences from the same codebase: drivers who plug in, operators who run sites, and developers who extend the system. This page helps you pick the docs that match what you’re actually trying to do.

The model

Section titled “The model”

Polaris Express has three concentric audiences, each with progressively deeper access to the system:

flowchart LR
  Driver[Driver<br/>Uses the app] --> Operator[Operator<br/>Runs a site]
  Operator --> Selfhoster[Selfhoster<br/>Runs the platform]
  Selfhoster --> Developer[Developer<br/>Extends the platform]

Each role inherits context from the ones before it. An operator is also a driver. A selfhoster is also an operator. A developer usually plays all four hats at some point.

Drivers

Section titled “Drivers”

If you arrived here because you want to charge an EV, you’re a driver. The driver docs cover the EV card you tap or scan at a charger, the mobile app, and what to do when something goes wrong mid-session.

Operators

Section titled “Operators”

Operators manage one or more sites: chargers, tariffs, reservations, and the people allowed to use them. The operator docs explain the admin console — how charger state flows from OCPP through SteVe into Polaris, how user mappings link drivers to Lago customers for billing, and how to interpret the audit log.

Selfhosters

Section titled “Selfhosters”

If you’re running your own Polaris Express instance, the selfhoster docs cover deployment topology, secrets, the SteVe integration, BetterAuth configuration, and Lago wiring.

Developers

Section titled “Developers”

The developer docs are reference material: the API surface, webhook contracts, feature flag plumbing, and the internal subsystems like Adaptive Cadence and expreScan.

Why it works this way

Section titled “Why it works this way”

Splitting docs by persona rather than by feature avoids two failure modes we kept hitting:

  1. Feature-organized docs bury the task. A driver looking for “why didn’t my card work” shouldn’t have to read about OCPP idTags and pre-authorization webhooks first.
  2. Single-audience docs hide the system. Operators benefit from knowing roughly how SteVe talks to chargers, even if they never run a self-hosted instance.

The persona structure lets you go as deep as you need without forcing it on everyone.

What this means for you

Section titled “What this means for you”

Pick the deepest role that applies to you and start there. The landing page for each section has its own table of contents and links back up the stack when concepts depend on each other.

  • Driver — start with the app overview and tap-to-charge flow.
  • Operator — start with the console tour and the chargers page.
  • Selfhoster — start with the deployment topology.
  • Developer — start with the API reference and webhook contracts.

If you’re not sure which one you are: pick driver. You can promote yourself later.

Section titled “Related”
  • Glossary — every term used across the docs, in one place.
  • Driver: getting started with EV cards.
  • Operator: console tour.
  • Selfhoster: deployment topology.
  • Developer: API reference.