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Understanding User Roles and Permissions in Atarim

Every role in Atarim, what each one can actually see and do, and the layers of control that decide it.

Atarim team Updated 21 Oct 2026 · 13 min read
Getting Started
The Atarim role permissions matrix beside the workspace members table
Before you start

Relevant for

  • Agency admins assigning roles to staff and clients
  • Anyone unsure who can see what, or why two people see different things
  • Teams onboarding a client and deciding between a Website Owner account and a guest invite

Required knowledge

None. Some sections describe admin-only screens, but the role explanations are useful whatever your own role.

Tools & resources needed

  • No setup required to read this
  • An administrator account to change roles or permissions

Atarim organizes access around one core distinction: are you on the agency side or the client side of a relationship? Five roles cover both sides.

On top of the roles sit three more layers: workspace-wide permissions, project access, and per-project permissions. Your role can also differ from project to project. Understanding which layer is responsible for what is the difference between fixing an access problem in thirty seconds and hunting through the wrong screen.

In this guide you'll learn what each role can do, where to change someone's role, how the permission layers work, and what a Website Owner account can and can't reach.

The Five Roles

Everyone with an Atarim account holds exactly one of these. Guests sit outside them: a guest has no account and comments on a project through its link, giving a valid email address. A name is optional; without one they appear as Guest.

RoleWhat it means
OwnerThe workspace’s own account holder. Full access, including plan and billing screens.
AdministratorFull access to every settings screen, including plan and billing.
Team MemberInternal staff. Works on tasks and projects, but does not see People, Settings, Workflows or Analytics.
Website OwnerA client you manage. Each one has their own Atarim login and their own client workspace.
CollaboratorThe lightest-weight role. Invited to one project, with the narrowest default access of any role.
Note
Team Member is stored internally as contributor, so you may occasionally see that word in an export or integration payload. In the interface the role is always shown as Team Member.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Knowing Which Layer Controls What

Several layers decide what someone can do. Most access confusion comes from checking the wrong one, so it’s worth learning the split before anything else.

LayerWhat it controlsWhere to change it
RoleBroad access — whether someone is an admin, staff, a client, or a guest.People screen
Workspace capabilitiesSpecific in-task abilities, per role, across the whole workspace.Settings > Workspace > Workspace Permissions
Project accessWho can open one particular project, and how.That project’s Share panel
Project permissionsWhat the people who can already open a project are allowed to do inside it, per role, for that project alone.Project’s ⋮ menu > Change Project Settings > Project Permissions
Site-level roleYour effective role on one specific website, which can differ from your workspace role.Set when you invite them from that project’s Share panel. Shown under People with Access.
Tip
When someone says “I can’t do X”, work down the list. If they can’t see a whole screen it’s their role. If they can see the screen but not one control, it’s a workspace capability. If it only happens on one project, it’s project access.

What the Workspace Permissions screen can’t change

The grid covers in-task capabilities. It does not cover which sidebar items a role can see — those are set at account level and don’t appear on that screen at all.

Setting up boards is decided by role in the same way. Only Owners and Administrators can create, rename and delete boards and their columns. Team Members can open the boards and move cards on them.

Warning
If you’re trying to give a Team Member access to Workflows, Analytics, People or Settings, you won’t find a row for it in Workspace Permissions. Sidebar visibility isn’t configurable per workspace.

Roles are also resolved per site

The last layer in the table, the site-level role, only surfaces occasionally. Your effective role is worked out per website rather than once for the whole workspace: if you own a site you’re treated as an Administrator on it, otherwise Atarim uses the role you were given on that specific site. Where no role exists for you on a site, it falls back to Collaborator — the most restricted option.

Note
This is why the same person can have broad access on one project and very little on another. It’s deliberate, not a glitch — but it does mean “what role is this person?” sometimes has more than one answer.

Step 2: Viewing and Changing Someone’s Role

Roles are managed from the People screen, which lists everyone in the workspace with their role beneath their name.

Instructions:

  1. Select People in the sidebar.
  2. Open the All Users menu and select a person. The User Settings and Assigned Projects tabs become available beside Activity Feed and Pending Invites.
  3. Use the User Settings tab to change their User Role (Administrator, Team Member or Collaborator) or their Assigned Tasks Notifications. The workspace Owner can also remove them with Revoke Team Access.
  4. To bring someone new in, select Add Team Member.
  5. Choose their role as you invite them: Administrator or Team Member.

Only these two roles can be assigned from this invite. Collaborators are invited to a single project from its Share panel instead, as described in Step 4.

Note
Website Owner isn’t in this list. Client accounts are created through the client flow rather than a workspace invite, so you can’t turn a workspace invite into a Website Owner account after the fact.
People screen with Sophie Turner's User Settings open and the User Role menu showing Administrator, Team Member and Collaborator
Roles Are Shown and Changed From the People Screen
Note
If a teammate can’t see People in their sidebar at all, that’s expected rather than a bug — it’s restricted to the Owner and Administrators.
Warning
Administrators reach every settings screen, including Account & Billing — where plan changes and seat counts affect the whole workspace. Assign the role sparingly.

Step 3: Setting Workspace-Wide Capabilities

Beyond the broad role definitions, the Workspace Permissions screen lets you override specific capabilities per role. The grid runs capabilities down the left and all five roles across the top.

Instructions:

  1. From the main dashboard, select Settings.
  2. Under Workspace, select Workspace Permissions.
  3. Find the capability you want to change. Where one has an information icon, hover it to read exactly what it controls.
  4. Select or clear the checkbox under the role you want to change.
  5. Confirm it saved — an Updating… badge appears beside the heading, followed briefly by a Saved! badge.
Workspace Permissions table of capabilities across five roles
Capabilities across five roles
Note
There’s no Save button and no undo — each checkbox saves as you change it. Reverse a change by setting the checkbox back yourself.
Warning
Editing this grid requires a qualifying plan. If yours doesn’t include it, the checkboxes are still visible but selecting one opens an upgrade dialog instead of changing anything.

What a Clarity Test actually is

One capability on that grid is worth explaining, because the name is easy to misread. A Clarity Test is an AI check that scores how clear a task is and suggests how to make it easier to action — it works on the wording of the task, not on the website.

Note
Not to be confused with Microsoft Clarity, the third-party heatmap tool that appears as the Heatmaps default in The Stack. Same word, entirely unrelated feature.

Step 4: Controlling Access to a Single Project

Every project has its own access controls, separate from the workspace-wide defaults. They live in the project’s Share panel, which has three tabs.

Instructions:

  1. On the Projects screen, hover over the project and select Share. The Collaborate on this project window opens.
  2. Use Team Members to add internal staff to this project.
  3. Use Guests and Clients to invite someone by email address. Add an optional note explaining why you’re inviting them, then send.
  4. Use Manage Access to set who can view the project.
  5. Under General Access, choose between Anyone with the link and Only people with access.
  6. Review the People with Access list, and remove anyone who no longer needs it.
Projects screen with the Plausible Analytics card hovered and its Share button highlighted
The Share button on a project card opens its sharing window
Collaborate on this project window on the Team Members tab, with Add Team Members, Add a Note and Invite My Team
Team Members
Collaborate on this project window on the Guests and Clients tab, with Add Guests or Clients and Instant Invite - No Login Needed
Guests and Clients
Manage Access tab with General Access set to Anyone with the link and the People with Access list
Manage Access
Warning
The Manage Access tab only appears if you’re an administrator on that project. Team Members see Team Members and Guests and Clients, so they can invite people without being able to change who can view the project. Collaborators see a single form, Work Together on This Project, for inviting guests.

Setting what those people can do, for one project only

The six steps above cover the Share panel, which decides who can open the project. What those people are then allowed to do inside it is a separate screen: open the project’s ⋮ menu, select Change Project Settings, turn off Enable Global Settings, then choose the Project Permissions tab.

It is the same grid of capabilities and roles as the workspace-wide screen, resolved for this one project. While a project is still inheriting, the screen shows Using workspace defaults. The first toggle you change creates an override, and from then on this project follows its own grid rather than the workspace default — the workspace grid is unaffected, and so is every other project.

Two things to know before you rely on it. The tab only appears when that project is not using the workspace-wide global settings, so if you cannot see it, turn off Enable Global Settings first. And there is currently no control on this screen for clearing an override and returning the project to the workspace default, so treat setting one as a decision to manage this project separately from now on.

Tip
Guests invited here don’t need an account or a login — they get a link scoped to that one project. Reserve it for people who genuinely don’t need an ongoing relationship, since there’s no automatic upgrade path from a guest link to a full client account.

Step 5: Understanding Website Owner Accounts

Website Owners are the clients you manage. Each one gets their own Atarim login and their own client workspace, rather than being a guest on your projects. While you fund a client, their AI work draws on your credit pool, up to the monthly budget you set. If a client later pays for themselves, they move to the Website Owner plan.

Clients are added from the Projects screen: select Add new, then Add a client. You set their monthly budget in the same step.

Before you start

The client’s email address, and a monthly budget for them of at least 1,000 credits that your credit pool can cover.

Sending the invite

Only the email address is required. The brand name is optional, and you can assign projects later.

Instructions:

  1. From the Projects screen, select Add new.
  2. Choose Add a client. The Add a client panel opens.
  3. In Brand name, enter the business name their work runs under, such as the company on the invoice.
  4. In Client email, enter the client’s address. It takes one address.
  5. Optionally, enter Average client revenue and Monthly requests, or tick Unlimited. Then choose the day the requests reset (Resets on day 1, 15 or 28 of each month).
  6. Leave Notify the client ticked to email them an invite under your brand, or clear it to invite them later.
  7. Set the Client budget, from 1,000 to 10,000 credits a month. The field shows how many credits are available.
  8. Optionally, select projects under Assign projects to this client.
  9. Select Add client. A Client invited. message confirms it, and the client appears on Projects as a pending folder.
  10. To send the invite link yourself, open the folder’s ⋮ menu and select Copy Link. To change the budget later, use Set Budget in the same menu once the client has accepted.
Add new menu on the Projects screen with Add a client highlighted
Add a client panel with the brand name, client email, revenue, monthly requests and client budget filled in
Adding a client
Set a client's budget window with the monthly credits slider and the Allocate credits button
Set the AI credit allocation
Note
If the client already has an Atarim account they can accept immediately. If not, they are prompted to register first. Either way they need to use the email address the invite was sent to, and they land in their client workspace as its Website Owner.
Tip
If you see Enter an email address. or That does not look like a valid email address., check the Client email field.

What’s included

They keep the collaboration essentials: AI chat with Claro, AI reviews, the Chrome extension, the WordPress plugin, image and URL-based collaboration, image annotations, responsive mode, design versions, page approvals, attachments, and the ability to edit and delete their own comments. While you fund a client, their AI work stops when they reach the budget you set, and a client with no budget can’t use AI chat.

What’s not included

Agency-side features are outside the plan. A Website Owner account has no access to white labeling, analytics and reporting, workflows and automations, forms, multiple workspaces, Kanban boards, the shared email inbox, canned responses, time tracking, task tags, project stages, integrations, activity logs, or the Atarim API.

Some task-level features are also excluded, and these are the ones a client will notice first. Website Owners cannot set task status or priority, and don’t have the task inbox, internal tasks, notes, starred tasks, task filters, or the Clarity Test.

Website Owner's Projects screen with a sidebar showing only Projects and Workflows
What a Website Owner sees: their own projects
Warning
A Website Owner account can’t change Workspace Permissions or Project Permissions. Those settings stay with your agency.
Note
Website Owner accounts are set up through the client flow rather than a workspace invite, so they do not appear in your internal team list. You invite the client’s contact yourself, and they can’t invite users of their own.
Recommendation
Use a Website Owner account when a client needs an ongoing home for their sites and their budget. Use a guest invite when someone needs to leave feedback on one project and nothing more. Choosing guest for a long-term client means re-inviting them for every project.

FAQs

How many roles are there?

Five: Owner, Administrator, Team Member, Website Owner, and Collaborator. Guests, who comment without an account, don’t hold a role.

What’s the difference between Owner and Administrator?

Owner is the workspace’s own account holder. Both reach every settings screen including billing. A few actions stay with the Owner, such as removing people with Revoke Team Access.

Which roles can I assign when inviting someone?

Administrator or Team Member. Collaborators are invited to a project from its Share panel, and Website Owner accounts are created through the client flow.

Why does someone have more access on one project than another?

Roles are resolved per site. If you own a site you’re treated as an Administrator on it; otherwise Atarim uses the role you hold on that specific site, falling back to Collaborator where none exists.

Why does an export say “contributor” when the interface says Team Member?

Team Member is stored internally as contributor. It’s the same role — only the label differs.

Can I change someone’s role after inviting them?

Yes, from the People screen, within the constraints of the account type they were invited under.

Is a Clarity Test the same as Microsoft Clarity?

No. A Clarity Test is an AI check that scores how clear a task’s wording is. Microsoft Clarity is a third-party heatmap tool that appears as the Heatmaps default in The Stack. Unrelated.

Can a Website Owner see other clients in my workspace?

No. Their account only ever shows their own users and projects.

Can a Website Owner configure permissions themselves?

No. A Website Owner account can’t change Workspace Permissions or Project Permissions. Those settings stay with your agency.

Do guests need an account?

No. A guest invite is a link scoped to a single project, with no login required.

Can I upgrade a guest to a full client account later?

Not automatically. You’d set them up as a client separately, so it’s worth deciding which one they need up front.

Conclusion

Knowing which role someone holds tells you most of what they can see and do. The five roles cover both sides of the agency-client relationship, and the capability grid on top lets you adjust specific abilities without changing anyone's role.

The one thing worth carrying away is the split between role, workspace permissions and project access. Role decides which screens exist for someone, workspace capabilities decide which controls appear inside them, and project access decides which projects they apply to at all. Almost every "why can't they do this?" question resolves once you know which of the three you're looking at.

Tips & best practices

  • Assign Administrator sparingly — it carries billing access, not just full feature access
  • Check the Workspace Permissions grid directly rather than assuming defaults; any administrator can have changed them
  • Decide between a Website Owner account and a guest link up front — there's no automatic upgrade path from one to the other
  • Audit the People with Access list on long-running projects; guests rarely get removed once the work is done
  • When someone reports missing access, identify the layer first — role, workspace capability, or project — before changing anything
  • Remember that hidden isn't broken. Two people on the same workspace will see different sidebars, and that's by design
  • Don't hunt the Workspace Permissions grid for sidebar access — it doesn't control that layer

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