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There are a few client options; the most widely used one (to my knowledge) is https://github.com/ipfs/kubo for CLI. There's also a desktop client that's pretty nice: https://docs.ipfs.tech/install/ipfs-desktop/

I'm the techy "self hosting" provider for my friend group.

Is kubo the right way to give my non-technical users access to ipfs? Do they need any extra tools like a browser extension?

Probably IPFS desktop is best for them. There is also a browser extension that hooks into (brings with it?) IPFS desktop