Circle
The group itself. A Circle has a purpose, the people who have joined it, and an agreement they all accepted. NSYDR recommends 3 to 12 people for a Circle where everybody is genuinely known, and a single Circle holds up to 30.
About NSYDR
A Shared Home for a Circle That Wants to Keep Showing Up
NSYDR helps small groups turn good intentions into an ongoing rhythm of showing up for one another.
The Product
What NSYDR Is
NSYDR is a place for a small group of people who have decided to show up for one another — and who want that to survive the weeks when life gets in the way.
It holds the few things a group like that needs in one place: why it exists, what everybody agreed to, what each person chooses to share, what the group is doing together now, and how somebody knows when a person could use some care.
A Circle might be friends growing together, a mentoring or peer group, a team, a recovery or support group, a study group, or people around any other shared purpose.
The Purpose
Why It Exists
Groups begin with strong intentions. Then life happens between meetings, and the person holding it together ends up carrying all the remembering.
Most tools answer that with more measurement: who replied, how fast, how often. That turns a relationship into a performance, and people leave rather than be scored.
NSYDR takes the other path. It carries the repetitive part — the rhythm, the reminding, the record of what was agreed — and leaves the relationship to the people in it.
The Shared Rhythm
How a Circle Works
A Circle gives people a repeatable way to stay present for one another.
- 01
Agree
One shared place for a Circle: its purpose, its people, and the agreement they all accepted.
- 02
Gather
A rhythm — meetings proposed and confirmed, check-ins, commitments people set for themselves.
- 03
Follow Through
A way to ask for care and support, where the person asking chooses who sees it.
- 04
Return
A record of what was agreed and what changed, that belongs to the Circle.
Three Essential Words
Circle, Steward, Charter
These three ideas hold the structure of NSYDR.
Steward
The person who holds the Circle’s rhythm. A Steward is not a supervisor and does not see everything: they keep the agreed rhythm, send invitations, prepare meetings, and see what people have chosen to share with them. Stewardship is always agreed to, never assigned to somebody who did not say yes.
Charter
What the Circle agreed to, in writing, before anybody joined: why it exists, how people take part, what is shared, and how they support one another. Everybody accepts a version of it, and changing it opens a new version rather than rewriting what people already agreed to.
Clear by Design
Privacy and Trust
You choose the audience before you send anything, every time — not once in a settings screen.
A Steward sees what the Circle and the people in it have chosen to share with a Steward. There is no hidden view where more of it appears.
An Organization can see how its Circles are functioning — how many people, whether an agreement is published, what is waiting on an answer. It cannot read conversations, personal commitments, private care details or a Steward’s notes.
Privacy boundaries are built into what NSYDR requests and displays. There is no fuller hidden view waiting behind the screen.
Your photo is optional, and your initials are a perfectly good way to appear. If you add one, you say who can see it before it is saved.
Honest Boundaries
What NSYDR Does—and Does Not—Do
NSYDR Helps With
- Keeping the Circle’s purpose and agreements in one shared place.
- Coordinating meetings, commitments and check-ins.
- Making private care and support requests possible.
- Remembering what was agreed without scoring people.
NSYDR Does Not Replace
- NSYDR is not a replacement for the tools you already use. Your documents, boards and video calls stay where they are; NSYDR links to them and coordinates the relationship around them.
- It is not a social network. There is no feed to perform on, no follower count, and nothing public unless you choose to publish it.
- It is not a scoreboard. There is no leaderboard, no reliability figure, no response rate, and no ordered list of who answers most. Quiet is a reason to check on somebody, never a mark against them.
- It is not an emergency service. NSYDR is not emergency monitoring or dispatch. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency service.
If Something Doesn’t Feel Right
NSYDR does not decide who is right in a personal disagreement, and it does not mediate relationships.
If what is troubling you is a disagreement between people, or something that happened outside NSYDR, the step that usually helps most is your Steward, your organization, or someone you trust.
If someone is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services.
Many Purposes. One Shared Need.
Who It Is For
A few friends who keep meaning to meet and want it to actually happen.
A mentor and the people they are walking alongside.
A peer group, a team, or a group of people learning the same thing.
A recovery or support group that needs care to be private and real.
A church, company, school or program running many of these at once — that is what an Organization is for.
Circles at Scale
Organizations
A church, company, school or program that provides Circles for its people. An Organization can set Circles up and see how they are functioning; it does not get to read what people say inside them.
Common Terminology
The most important words are explained above. Open this glossary when you want the rest.
Explore More NSYDR Terms
- Commitment
- Something a person decided to do, that they set themselves and answer for themselves. “Late”, “partial”, “blocked” and “I did not do it” are real answers, not failures.
- Check-In
- A short, regular moment to say how something is going. It is a question, not a test.
- Care
- Asking for encouragement, support or connection. The person asking chooses who can see it, and somebody seeing it can say “I saw this” without promising more.
- Meeting
- Times are proposed, one is confirmed, and if it moves, the change is recorded rather than the meeting quietly disappearing.
- Invitation
- How somebody joins. An invitation is addressed to one person, it is accepted by that person, and accepting it means agreeing to the Charter. There is no other way in.
- Updates
- What has happened that involves you, in one place, each item saying why you received it.
Getting Started
Choose the path that fits you.
You were invited
Open the invitation the person who invited you sent. It names the Circle and who invited you, and you read the Charter before you agree to anything.
You want to start a Circle
You write its purpose and its Charter, then invite people one at a time. Nothing is sent to anybody while the Circle is still forming.
Pricing
A Circle can start free. Larger Circles and Organizations are paid, and every plan is listed in one place.
If You Have a Question
Write to support@nsydr.com. A person reads it.