Team roles, permissions & collaboration
Understanding project roles
Every Emergent project has a single owner and can have any number of admins and members. Each role grants a different level of access to the project's resources, configuration and billing.
Personal projects
If you create a project on your own, you are the owner by default. Note that the default project cannot take invites; create a new project first before inviting collaborators.
Role capabilities
The table below shows what each role can do:
| Capability | Owner | Admin | Member | Viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View & test the app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (Enterprise only) |
| Chat with the agent | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - |
| Approve & publish changes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - |
| Edit project settings | ✓ | ✓ | - | - |
| Invite or remove members | ✓ | ✓ | - | - |
| Manage the database | ✓ | ✓ | - | - |
| Configure custom domain | ✓ | ✓ | - | - |
| View billing & usage | ✓ | ✓ (view only) | - | - |
| Change plan or payment | ✓ | - | - | - |
| Delete the project | ✓ | - | - | - |
Viewer role is Enterprise-only
The Viewer role is available on Enterprise plans only. Viewers are ideal for stakeholders, clients or QA testers who need to see the live app and its history but should not make changes.
Shared credit pool
All projects draw from a shared credit pool that belongs to the owner's account. Every collaborator - regardless of role - uses credits from that pool when they interact with the agent or publish changes.
- The owner's credit balance funds all project activity.
- Team members do not need their own credits or subscriptions.
- Usage by any team member is attributed to the owner's account for billing purposes.
Monitor usage in multi-user projects
Because all team members share the same credit pool, it's important to track usage if you have a large team or are working on multiple projects simultaneously.
Inviting team members
Open project settings
Navigate to your project and click the Profile icon in the top navigation bar or the Project title card on the homepage.
Go to the Members tab
Select Members from the settings menu to see the current list of collaborators.
Send an invite
Enter the email address of the person you want to invite, choose their role from the dropdown (Admin or Member), then click Invite.
They will receive an email with a link to accept the invitation and join the project.
Invite by email only
Invitations are sent to email addresses. The recipient must have (or create) an Emergent account with that email to accept the invite.
Changing a member's role
Owners and admins can update any team member's role at any time:
- Open Settings → Members.
- Locate the member in the list.
- Click the role dropdown next to their name and select the new role.
- The change takes effect immediately - no email confirmation required.
Note
You cannot change your own role if you are the owner.
Removing a team member
Owners and admins can remove any member (including other admins) from the project:
- Open Settings → Members.
- Click the Remove button next to the member's name.
- Confirm the action in the dialog.
Removed members immediately lose access to the project, including the chat history, codebase and published app configuration. They can be re-invited later if needed.
Removing an admin
Admins can remove other admins. If you have multiple admins, coordinate role changes carefully to avoid accidental lockouts.
Transferring ownership
Project ownership cannot be transferred (stays with the creating account).
Note
If you need to change who manages billing and project control, please contact support at support@emergent.sh.
Best practices for team collaboration
- Assign roles conservatively: Grant the minimum permissions needed for each team member's responsibilities.
- Use viewers for external stakeholders (Enterprise only): Clients, investors or non-technical collaborators can see progress without risking accidental changes.
- Monitor the credit pool: Keep an eye on usage if your team is large or actively iterating - credits are shared across all collaborators.
For more on how credits work and recharge policies, see Managing credit usage.
