Custom roles: exactly who can do what
Build a login that opens only the sections you choose — a bookkeeper who sees Invoices and Customers, a service writer who runs the Inbox and the job board — without handing over full admin.
Getting started6 in this section
Every login carries exactly one role, and the role decides which parts of the dashboard open. Three roles come built in, and past those you can build your own at Team → Roles & permissions. A custom role is nothing fancier than a name plus a list of sections it can open — so you can hand a bookkeeper Invoices and Customers, or a service writer the Inbox and the job board, without giving away the keys to Settings, Team and billing. Building and assigning roles is admin work: you need the Owner or Admin login to reach this page.
The three built-in roles
Owner and Admin are what the app calls managers — they hold the full-admin key and every section is theirs automatically. Technician holds none. A custom role sits in the middle: it grants one or more specific dashboard sections and nothing else. Whoever has it lands on their first granted section after login, and the sidebar only shows the sections they can open — no greyed-out teasers for areas they can't reach.
One thing that surprises people: a section grant is fully operational, not read-only. Someone with the Quotes section can build and send quotes, not just look at them. Invoices can record payments and refunds. Customers can call and archive. Inbox can text and email your customers back under your shop's number. Jobs can move work through the board and send a customer their job tracker. The section key controls which pages and nav items open; your shop's data stays walled off from other shops no matter what, so these are safe to hand out — just tick only what the person should be able to *act* on.
The sections you can grant, and what each lets someone do
Create a custom role
- 1
Open Roles & permissions
Go to Team → Roles & permissions. Your existing custom roles show at the top with a badge per section and a member count; the built-in roles sit at the bottom for reference.
- 2
Name it and tick its sections
In the Create a role card, give it a plain name — "Front Desk", "Bookkeeper" — and tick the sections it should open. You must pick at least one; a role that grants nothing is worse than no role at all, so the form won't save empty.
- 3
Save
The role appears in your list right away, ready to assign. You can come back and Edit it (rename or re-pick sections) any time — changes reach everyone who holds it on their next click.
Assigning a role is the normal invite flow
Custom roles show up automatically in the role picker when you invite someone, and in the change-role picker on an existing member's Team page. So there's no separate step — pick your new role wherever you'd pick Admin or Technician, and it takes effect on their next click.
What you can't grant à la carte
The admin-only areas — Settings, Team, memberships, billing, Automations, the AI Scheduler, Dispatch, AI Agents, Data Import, Services and the KPI Dashboard — aren't in the grantable list on purpose. They stay Owner/Admin-only. Two narrow edges work the same way: the Reviews & market section lets its holder reply to and manage reviews, but connecting your Google Business account under Reviews → Settings still needs full admin, like every other integration; and in the Inbox, a scoped login can talk to the follow-through assistant and clear its suggestions, but approving one — which mints a real priced quote or books a job — is still an Owner/Admin call.
Roles can't self-escalate
The role editor only ever offers the ten dashboard sections above — there's no way to tick "full admin" onto a custom role, and the server drops anything that isn't a real section key. So a custom role can never quietly grow into an Owner-equivalent login.
Troubleshooting
Someone with only the Inbox section can't be picked as the owner of a conversation.
Why: Their role change hasn't landed on the page you're looking at, or they're not an active member of this shop.
Fix: Reload the inbox. The assignee picker lists everyone whose role grants Inbox — full admins and anyone holding the Inbox section — so once the role is saved and they're active, they appear.
I can't open Team → Roles & permissions at all.
Why: Managing roles is admin work — your login isn't Owner or Admin.
Fix: Ask the shop Owner (or an Admin) to build or assign the role. Only full-admin logins can reach the /team pages.
The role won't save.
Why: It has no name, or no sections are ticked — a role that grants nothing isn't allowed.
Fix: Give it a name and tick at least one section, then save.
Delete is greyed out on a role I want to remove.
Why: Someone is still assigned to it, and deleting would leave them with a dangling role.
Fix: Change those members to another role on their Team page first, then delete the empty role.
My new role isn't in the invite picker.
Why: It was created but never saved, or you're looking at the wrong shop.
Fix: Confirm it appears under "Your custom roles" on Team → Roles & permissions — custom roles show in the invite and change-role pickers automatically once they exist.
Common questions
What's the difference between Admin and a custom role with every section ticked?
Admin is a true full-access manager: it also reaches Settings, Team, billing, Automations, scheduling and the rest of the admin areas. A custom role can only ever hold the ten grantable dashboard sections — even with all ten ticked, it still can't open Settings or invite team.
Can I edit the built-in Owner, Admin or Technician roles?
No. They're the fixed rails the rest of the app branches on, so they can't be renamed, re-scoped or deleted. Build a custom role when you want something in between.
Someone's role changed — do they need to log back in?
No. Role changes take effect on their next click; sections appear or disappear from their sidebar without a fresh login.
If I grant Jobs, does that include the Calendar and the Workflow board?
They come with it, but not *because* of it — Calendar, Workflow and Documents are open to your whole team already, including Technicians, because that's the day's schedule and everyone needs it. The Jobs section adds the office side on top: the searchable archive of every job you've ever run, and the button that sends a customer their job tracker link.
Will someone with the Jobs section see what a job made me?
No. The Est. margin figure on a job needs the Reports & insights section (or a full-admin login). A Jobs-only role runs the work and never sees the profit on it.
Can a custom-role login see the main Dashboard KPIs?
No — the KPI Dashboard is manager-only. A scoped login lands on its first granted section instead (Quotes, Invoices, whatever comes first), and the sidebar shows only what it can open.