Permissions in Branching Spaces
In a Space that uses Branches and Reviews, nobody edits Main directly. Changes are made on a branch and reach Main when the branch is merged. The permissions you set in Team Access Control decide what each person can do at every step.
The permissions
- Read lets a person view the Space and its branches, and comment on Main.
- Review adds editing on branches. A reviewer can edit and comment on a branch, commit, pull Main into the branch and request a review. Reviewers are also the people you can pick when you request a review. Review does not let a person create, delete or merge a branch.
- Write adds creating and deleting branches, on top of everything Review allows on a branch. Creating a branch with the Writer Agent or a recurrent branch schedule also needs Write.
- Publish lets a person merge a branch into Main, accept a reader's suggestion and publish the Space.
What each permission allows
The table shows the usual combinations: Read alone, Read and Review, Read and Write, and Read, Write and Publish.
Action | Read | Review | Write | Publish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
View the Space and its branches | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Comment on Main | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Edit and comment on a branch | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Commit, pull Main into a branch, request a review | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Create a branch | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Delete a branch | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Merge a branch into Main | No | No | No | Yes |
Accept a reader's suggestion | No | No | No | Yes |
Publish the Space or a branch preview | No | No | No | Yes |
When a person lacks a permission, the button stays visible but greyed out. Hover over it to see what it needs, for example Only people who can publish this space can merge to Main.
Common setups
- Subject-matter reviewers, inside or outside your organization: give them Read and Review. They can edit and comment on the branches sent to them for review, but they cannot create branches or merge.
- Writers: give them Read and Write. They create branches, edit, commit and request reviews.
- Editors who decide what goes live: give them Read, Write and Publish. Only they can merge into Main and publish.
Set the permissions
Open the Space settings and click the Team Access Control tab.
Click Add users or user groups, then pick a user or a group.
Tick Read, Review, Write or Publish for that user or group.
Ticking Review or Write also ticks Read, and unticking Read clears every other permission. The Review column appears only in Spaces that use Branches and Reviews or Drafts and Reviews.
Branches always use the permissions of their Space. When you change a person's permissions on the Space, every branch follows, including branches that already exist. The person sees the change the next time they load the page.
Spaces synced with GitHub
In a Space synced with GitHub, merging a branch into Main also pushes the change to your repository, so it needs Publish too. Merging changes that wait for review from the repository needs Publish as well. A pull request merged on GitHub itself is not checked against Archbee permissions.