Quick Start Guide

Get your first digital product distributed with Continuata in under 15 minutes.

What You'll Build

By the end of this guide you'll have created a product, uploaded your files, tested the download yourself, and know exactly how to connect FastSpring so customers receive a download link automatically when they purchase.

Step 1: Create Your Account

Create your Continuata organization account:

  1. Go to continuata.io/signup
  2. Choose a unique organization ID (e.g., my-audio-company)
  3. Enter your organization name and admin details
  4. Verify your email address

Step 2: Create a Product

A product in Continuata represents one downloadable item — for example, a sample library or a VST plugin.

  1. In your dashboard, click New Product
  2. Fill in:
    • Product name — the display name customers see (e.g., Epic Drum Kit Vol. 1)
    • URL slug — a short, permanent identifier used in store integrations and webhooks (e.g., epic-drums-v1). Keep it simple and lowercase. Cannot be changed later.
  3. Click Create Product

Step 3: Upload Your Files

Upload is done from the Versions tab on your product detail page. Each upload creates a numbered version — you can have multiple versions and promote any one to be the active (downloadable) release.

Browser requirement for upload

Uploading requires Chrome or Edge (any recent version). Safari and Firefox do not support the folder picker used during upload. Your customers can download in Chrome and Edge natively, or via the free Continuata Bridge on Safari and Firefox. This restriction only applies to you as the vendor uploading files.

  1. Open your product and click the Versions tab
  2. In the Upload New Version section, type a version number into the Version field (e.g., 1.0.0)
  3. Click Select Folder to Upload — your browser's folder picker will open
  4. Choose the folder that contains your product files. The entire folder structure will be preserved exactly as-is for your customers
  5. Click Upload to R2 to start the upload
  6. Wait for all four stages to complete:
    • Hashing — each file is fingerprinted for deduplication and integrity checking
    • Packing — files are grouped into ~8MB packs in the browser; unchanged packs from previous uploads are detected and skipped
    • Uploading — only new packs are transferred to cloud storage
    • Verifying — all packs are confirmed present in storage before the version is finalised
  7. On success you'll see "Upload complete! Refreshing versions…"

Pause & resume — you can pause the upload at any time using the Pause button that appears once uploading starts. Current speed (MB/s) and estimated time remaining are shown throughout. On resume, already-uploaded packs are not re-transferred.

File organisation tip

Organise your folder before uploading. Customers will see the same folder and file names exactly as they appear on your disk. Hidden files and __MACOSX folders are skipped automatically.

Step 4: Test the Download Before Going Live

Always test the download yourself before activating a version for real customers. Use the Test Download button — it generates a short-lived token that bypasses the published check, so you can verify the full download experience without making the product public.

  1. On the Versions tab, find your newly uploaded version in the Version History list
  2. Click Test Download next to that version
  3. A download link will appear — open it in a new tab
  4. On the download page, click Choose Download Location and pick a folder on your computer
  5. Click Start Download and verify all files arrive correctly
  6. Try pausing and resuming mid-download to confirm resume works
  7. Try closing the tab mid-download and re-opening the link — a Resume Download button should appear to continue from where you left off

What to check

  • • All files download and open correctly
  • • Folder structure matches your upload
  • • Pause and resume works mid-file
  • • Download speed looks healthy

Browser support for download

  • • Chrome / Edge — full native support
  • • Firefox — requires Continuata Bridge
  • • Safari — requires Continuata Bridge

Step 5: Activate and Publish

Once you're happy with your test download, promote the version and make the product public.

  1. Activate the version — on the Versions tab, click Set Active next to the version you tested. This marks it as the version customers will receive when they purchase. A version marked Active shows a green badge.
  2. Publish the product — in the product header, change the status dropdown from Draft to Published. Only published products can deliver downloads to customers. Setting a version active also automatically sets the product to Published.

Active vs Published

Active version — which set of files a customer gets when they download. You can switch versions at any time without the customer knowing.
Published product — whether the product accepts real customer download requests at all. Keep it on Draft while setting up.

Next Steps

FastSpring Integration

Step-by-step guide to connecting FastSpring webhooks and testing with a sandbox order.

Other Store Integrations

Connect Shopify, WooCommerce, Gumroad, or any platform via webhooks.

API Integration

Build custom solutions with the REST API for advanced use cases.

Core Concepts

Learn about content-addressed storage, delta updates, and how the download pipeline works.

You're ready to ship

Your product is uploaded, tested, and live. Customers can now download files with automatic resume, integrity verification, and global CDN performance.

Go to DashboardSet up FastSpring
Back to DocumentationFastSpring Integration