> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.serval.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Permissions

> Understand user roles at the organization and team level in Serval

Serval uses a two-level permission system: **organization roles** control what you can do across the entire org, while **team roles** control what you can do within specific teams.

## Organization Roles

Every user has one organization-level role that applies across all of Serval.

| Role       | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Member** | Standard user. Can submit tickets, request access, and use Serval's help desk features.                                                                                                                                                        |
| **Admin**  | Full administrative access. Can manage users, create teams, configure organization settings, and access all teams.                                                                                                                             |
| **Guest**  | Limited external user. Typically, a guest is a user who emailed in from a domain that isn't allowlisted. Can only see and interact with the specific tickets they're associated with, and can't browse other tickets, teams, or internal data. |

<Info>
  Most users should be **Members**. Reserve **Admin** for IT administrators who need to manage the platform. **Guests** are usually created automatically for external senders from untrusted domains. For more information, see [Email intake](/sections/documentation/helpdesk/email#untrusted-domains).
</Info>

To add a new user, navigate to "Settings" and select "Invite User" --> add their email addresses, choose to make them admin or not and optionally add them to a Serval team

***

## Team Roles

Within each team, users are assigned a team-specific role that controls their capabilities for that team.

| Role                | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Read-Only Agent** | View tickets, journeys, and analytics for the team. Can't make any changes.                                                                                                                                                                            |
| **Agent**           | Everything a Read-Only Agent can do, plus respond to and resolve tickets, add internal notes, create saved views, and retry or cancel workflows while handling tickets.                                                                                |
| **Viewer**          | Everything an Agent can do, plus view-only access to workflows, skills, knowledge, access policies, rules, campaigns, and databases.                                                                                                                   |
| **Drafter**         | Everything a Viewer can do, plus draft (create and edit) workflows and skills. A Drafter can't run, publish, or delete them.                                                                                                                           |
| **Contributor**     | Everything a Drafter can do, plus run published workflows, and create and run scheduled Catalyst sessions. Can't publish or delete.                                                                                                                    |
| **Builder**         | Everything a Contributor can do, plus create, publish, and delete workflows and skills; run unpublished workflows; install installable workflows; and manage rules, campaigns, knowledge sources, access policies, approval procedures, and databases. |
| **Manager**         | Everything a Builder can do, plus configure integrations and connected apps, manage team settings, SLAs, schedules, and visibility groups, run access reviews, override approvals, view audit logs, and archive tickets.                               |

<Note>
  A user can be a Manager in one team and an Agent in another. Team roles are independent.
</Note>

<Note>
  The **Drafter** role is being rolled out gradually and may not yet be available in your account.
</Note>

## Permission Summary

### What Org Guests Can Do

* View and reply to the specific tickets they're associated with
* Upload attachments to those tickets
* No access to other tickets, teams, users, or organization settings

### What Org Members Can Do

* Submit tickets through Slack, email, or web portal
* Request access to applications
* View their own tickets and access requests
* Use the catalog to browse access and catalog items

### What Org Admins Can Additionally Do

* Create and manage teams
* Invite and deactivate users
* Configure organization settings (SSO, branding, etc.)
* Access all teams regardless of team membership
* Manage API keys

### What Team Read-Only Agents Can Do

* View all tickets and journeys associated with their team
* View team analytics and dashboards
* View saved views, workbench threads, and the archive
* Can't edit tickets, add notes, or change configuration

### What Team Agents Can Additionally Do

* Respond to, update, and resolve tickets
* Create internal notes
* Create and edit saved views
* Retry and cancel workflows while handling tickets
* View native knowledge base pages

### What Team Viewers Can Additionally Do

* View workflows and skills (read-only)
* View knowledge sources, databases, and entities (read-only)
* View access policies, approval procedures, rules, and campaigns (read-only)

### What Team Drafters Can Additionally Do

* Create and edit workflows and skills (can't run, publish, or delete them)
* Create and edit native knowledge base pages and tags (can't delete or archive)

### What Team Contributors Can Additionally Do

* Run published workflows
* Run workflows on behalf of other team members
* Can't publish, delete, or run unpublished workflows
* Create, edit, and run scheduled Catalyst sessions

### What Team Builders Can Additionally Do

* Create, publish, and delete workflows and skills
* Run unpublished workflows
* Install and configure installable workflows
* Share workflows with other teams
* Create and edit rules and [campaigns](/sections/documentation/campaigns/overview)
* Edit knowledge sources
* Create and edit access policies and approval procedures
* Create and edit databases and entities

### What Team Managers Can Additionally Do

* Configure integrations and connected apps
* Manage team settings
* Manage SLAs, schedules, and visibility groups
* Run access reviews and override approvals
* Manage change models
* View audit logs
* Archive, trash, and permanently delete tickets

## Managing Permissions

### Changing Organization Roles

1. Go to **Settings** → **People**
2. Find the user and click their name
3. Select **Member**, **Admin**, or **Guest** from the organization role dropdown
4. Save changes

### Changing Team Roles

1. Go to **Settings** → **Teams**
2. Select the team
3. Find the user in the team members list
4. Change their role to **Read-Only Agent**, **Agent**, **Viewer**, **Contributor**, **Builder**, or **Manager** (or **Drafter**, where enabled)
5. Save changes

<Tip>
  Use your identity provider to automatically assign roles. Map directory groups to Serval roles in **Settings** → **Integrations** → **Directory Sync**.
</Tip>

## Capabilities Toggle

Team managers can enable or disable specific Serval products per team using the **capabilities toggle** in team settings. This lets you control which features are available to a team — for example, you can disable Access Management for a team that only handles IT support tickets, or enable Workflows only for teams that need automation.

Navigate to **Team Settings** → **Capabilities** to configure which products are active for each team.

***

## Org Admin Quick Join

Organization admins can add themselves to any Serval team immediately when clicking a ticket link — without navigating to organization settings first. If an admin clicks a link to a ticket in a team they don't belong to, they can join that team on the spot and access the ticket.

***

## Common Questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can someone be an Admin but only an Agent on a team?">
    Yes. Organization role and team role are separate. An Org Admin could be an Agent on specific teams if they only need to handle tickets, not configure that team.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What if a user isn't on any team?">
    Users without team membership can still submit tickets and request access. They just can't view team visibility groups or use team-specific features.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Who can approve access requests?">
    Access approvers are configured per access policy, not by role. Both Agents and Managers can be designated as approvers.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>
