Experience Mode

Rock is an incredibly powerful tool, but sometimes all that power can feel a bit like looking at the cockpit in an airplane. We created the Essentials and Trailblazer experience modes to help you focus on what matters most for your organization right now.

Think of these modes as a way to adjust the intensity of Rock. You are never losing features, you are simply choosing how much complexity you want to see at once.

The goal of Rock has always been accessibility. One of the biggest barriers is often perceived complexity. Essentials Mode is designed to lower that barrier. It empowers your staff to focus on ministry impact by presenting only the tools and settings relevant to their daily work.

Which Mode Is Right for You?

Choosing a mode is not about how many people attend your weekend services. Instead, it is about the technical understanding your team has.

• Essentials Mode: Perfect for organizations that want to focus on the primary use cases of Rock (storing people, managing groups and tracking giving) by giving them a more focused interface.
• Trailblazer Mode: Designed for the power user who loves to tinker under the hood with Lava, SQL and complex workflows.

How Modes Change Your Experience

Changing your mode transforms how your team interacts with Rock, from the screens they see to the help documentation they read.

Filtered Community Site Content

One of the biggest benefits of Experience Mode switching is how your learning is tailored to your path. When enabled, Rock will automatically filter the resources you see.

Depending on the mode you are in, articles will look different from the screenshots, to the depth of the article's content. Even the articles you see will be different, so you only see relevant articles and learning content.

Simplified UI Sections

You can create specific sections in your Rock instance that only appear based on the mode you have selected. This helps keep the interface clean and focused.

Below is a real example of the Group Type Detail block being viewed in Essentials mode versus Trailblazer mode. Notice how things change.

Picking Your Mode

When you start up Rock for the first time, you will get an opportunity to pick between Essentials and Trailblazer mode. Once it is selected (or if you've been using Rock since before Experience Mode was a thing), you will use the process below to change your mode. 

You can set your experience mode within the System Configuration for Rock. This allows you to decide which path your organization will take as you start your journey.

Navigate to Admin Tools > Settings > System Configuration and click the General Configuration dropdown.

Once you pick your mode, click Save.  

Remember, this is not a permanent choice. As your team grows in discipline and process maturity, you can always move from Essentials to Trailblazer to unlock those deeper layers of complexity.