Your First Batch

Complete walkthrough of creating a recipe, starting a batch, and moving blocks through your farm's stages.

Your First Batch

There are two ways to make your first batch: the quick start you see right after you create your farm, or the full path below, one screen at a time.

The quick start

Right after you create your farm, Sporeline opens Make your first batch. It asks five things:

  • Species and Strain, for example Oyster and Blue.
  • Bag size. Pick one of your own bag types, or one of the standard sizes listed under Standard sizes. A standard size is only added to your farm when you pick it.
  • Recipe name. It fills in as species and strain; change it if you like.
  • How many blocks, from 1 to 500. It starts at 10.

Press Make 10 blocks (the number follows what you typed). Sporeline adds the bag type if you picked a standard size, makes the recipe, makes the batch with all its blocks, and opens the batch page. That is where the labels are: Print All prints one QR label per block, or scan a block to move it forward.

The recipe starts with placeholder numbers: one ingredient called Substrate at the bag’s weight, and 0% hydration and supplement. Open it under Recipes and put in your real formula whenever you are ready. Your blocks and yields are kept either way.

If something goes wrong, the page says which step failed and keeps what it already made, so pressing the button again does not make a second bag type or recipe.

Rather set everything up yourself? Do the full setup opens the setup wizard, Import a spreadsheet takes an Excel file, and Skip for now goes to the dashboard. The rest of this guide is the full path.

The dashboard’s setup checklist lists each step and how many are done. Connect environmental sensors is optional: it stays on the list, but it doesn’t count toward the total, so your farm shows Setup complete once every other step is done.

The full path

This walks you through the complete setup required to create a batch and start tracking blocks — from creating a recipe to watching your blocks move through the lifecycle.

Prerequisites

  • An active Sporeline account with the Owner or Manager role.
  • At least one location set up under Locations (optional but recommended before starting).

Step 1: Create a Bag Type

Bag types define the physical container your substrate goes into. You need at least one before you can create a recipe.

  1. Navigate to Bag Types in the sidebar.
  2. Click New Bag Type.
  3. Enter a name (for example, “5lb Polypropylene”) and the material properties.
  4. Click Create. You will be returned to the bag types list.

You only need to do this once per container type. Sporeline also provides a Load Standard Types button that preloads common Unicorn Bags options if you want to start quickly.

Step 2: Create a Recipe

Recipes define the substrate formula used by a batch and are the primary unit of aggregation in yield reports.

  1. Navigate to Recipes in the sidebar.
  2. Click New Recipe.
  3. Fill in:
    • Name — a short identifier (for example, “Oyster HW 80/20”)
    • Species — the scientific or common name of the mushroom
    • Strain — the specific cultivar
    • Bag Type — select the bag type you created in Step 1
    • Ingredients — add rows for each input with material name and weight in grams
  4. Click Create Recipe.

You will be taken to the recipe detail page. You can edit the recipe at any time from here.

For every recipe field, and for making a whole NOC day of lots at once, see Recipes and Planning a NOC Day.

Step 3: Create a Batch

A batch groups a set of blocks produced from the same recipe in the same run.

  1. Navigate to Batches in the sidebar.
  2. Click New Batch.
  3. Fill in:
    • Batch Name — a unique identifier for this run (for example, “BT-2026-001”)
    • Block Type — choose Substrate Block for fruiting blocks, or Grain Spawn for spawn production
    • Recipe — select the recipe you created in Step 2
    • Number of Blocks — how many blocks you are making (1–500)
    • Block Creation Mode — choose Instant to create all blocks now (default), Print-First to generate labels before creating blocks, or Scan-First to register blocks by scanning existing labels
    • Notes — optional notes about this run
    • Input Lots — optional traceability data linking to specific substrate, spawn, or bag lot IDs
  4. Click Create Batch.

Sporeline creates one block per count, each with a unique ID. Blocks start at your farm’s Entry Stage, which you set in Farm Settings. On a new farm that’s Inoculated until you change it.

Step 4: Review the Batch

After creation you are taken to the batch detail page. Here you will see:

  • KPI cards showing planned vs. actual block count and total yield accumulated so far
  • Stage Overview — a breakdown of how many blocks are at each stage
  • Blocks table — the full list of blocks with current stage, location, and yield

Click any block in the table to open its detail page.

Step 5: Print Labels (Optional)

You can print a QR code label for every block in the batch from the batch detail page.

  • Click Print All to generate a PDF with one label per block and open it in a new tab.
  • Click Add All to Queue to stage all labels in the Print Queue for batch printing later.
  • Select individual blocks using the checkboxes, then click Print Selected to print a subset.

Each label contains a QR code that links directly to the block detail page when scanned.

Step 6: Move Blocks Through Your Stages

As blocks progress, move each one to its next stage.

  1. Open a block by clicking it in the batch or blocks list, or by scanning its QR code on the Scan page.
  2. In the Move card at the top of the page, click the stage. The usual next step is marked Next.
  3. Click Move.

The stages offered are the ones your farm set up in Farm Settings, so your list may be longer or shorter than another farm’s. For example, a new farm starts with Inoculated → Incubating → Fruiting → Completed, and a farm that bags and sterilizes its own substrate might start at Bagged.

To move several blocks at once, tick them in the Blocks list and use Move to in the bar that appears. See Move Blocks Between Stages and Locations.

What’s Next