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Projects and who can see them

When a new teammate signs in for the first time and the app looks empty — or they see the message “You don’t have project access yet” — nothing is broken. Two separate things decide what a person can see in Routario, and a brand-new account has only cleared the first one.

This page explains both, so you know exactly what to grant and where.

Two questions, two roles

Section titled “Two questions, two roles”

Every account is checked against two questions:

  1. Can they sign in at all? — their workspace role.
  2. Which of your data can they open? — the projects they belong to.

Workspace role is either Administrator or User:

  • An Administrator runs the workspace. They can do everything and can see every project automatically — you never add an administrator to a project.
  • A User is a regular teammate. They can sign in, but they see only the projects they’ve been added to.

Projects are the spaces your work lives in — the data, records, and tools a group works with. A User is placed into one or more projects, and that decides what appears when they sign in.

“You don’t have project access yet”

Section titled ““You don’t have project access yet””

If a User hasn’t been added to any project, Routario doesn’t drop them into an empty, confusing app. It shows a clear screen:

You don’t have project access yet. Your account is active, but not assigned to any project. Projects group the data and tools you work with. Until an administrator adds you to one, the app has nothing to show.

It clears the moment an administrator adds them to a project — no new sign-in needed, just a refresh. Administrators never see this screen, because they’re in every project by default.

Most people never meet this screen any more: when you create or invite someone, the form carries a First project picker, already set to your main project, so their access is granted along with the account. You’ll see it if you deliberately chose No project yet, or for accounts made before that picker existed.

Most workspaces have just one project

Section titled “Most workspaces have just one project”

By default a workspace has a single project (“Default Project”). When there’s only one, projects stay out of the way entirely — there’s no project switcher, and most people never think about them.

But the one project still has a member list, and the rule still holds underneath: a User has to be in the project before they can see anything. The create-and-invite form handles that for you by pre-selecting Default Project, so on a one-project workspace it’s usually invisible. Change that picker to No project yet and the teammate lands on the “no project access” screen above until someone adds them.

When you have more than one project

Section titled “When you have more than one project”

Projects earn their keep once your work splits into groups that shouldn’t mix — separate clients, branches, or teams that each need their own data kept apart.

  • A teammate can belong to some projects and not others, so they only ever see what’s theirs.
  • When someone has access to more than one, a project switcher appears in the sidebar so they can move between them.
  • Within a project, a member holds a project role — User (work in the project), or Manager / Approver for people who take on extra responsibilities like approving actions. The role is set per project, so the same person can be a plain User in one project and an Approver in another.

Who can change this, and where

Section titled “Who can change this, and where”

Managing roles and membership is an Administrator job. There are two things to set, in two places:

  • Workspace role (Administrator or User) — chosen when you create or invite the person, in Settings → Users.
  • Project membership (and their project role) — set on that same form via First project, which is the usual path. To change it later, or to add someone to a second project, use Settings → Projects: open a project, go to Members, and add the person with a role. There’s also a quick add-to-project action on someone’s row in Settings → Users.

A worked example — a new teammate who should work in your main project:

  1. Settings → Users → create or invite them as a User (not Administrator).
  2. Leave First project on your main project and pick their project role (User unless they’ll approve things).
  3. They sign in and go straight to the project — no “no project access” screen.

If you invited them rather than creating the account outright, the access sits waiting and takes effect the moment they accept the invite. You don’t have to watch for that and come back.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”