Guides

Team & roles

Your team lives in Settings → Team. This is where owners and admins invite teammates, change who can do what, and remove people who no longer need access. HelpStack uses four roles — OWNER, ADMIN, AGENT, and VIEWER — and each one unlocks a different set of permissions. This guide explains how to manage members and exactly what each role can and cannot do.

Who can manage the team#

Only OWNER and ADMIN users can add, edit, or remove team members. AGENT and VIEWER users can see the team list (agents and viewers have read-only access to the team area) but cannot make changes.

The members list#

Open Settings → Team to see everyone in your organization. Each row shows:

Avatar — the member's initials.
Name and email — their display name and the email they sign in with.
Role badge — their current role (OWNER, ADMIN, AGENT, or VIEWER).
Inactive badge — shown when a member's account is marked inactive.
Last login — when they were last signed in, so you can spot accounts that aren't being used.

Adding a member#

If you're an owner or admin, use Add a member and fill in:

Email — the address they'll use to sign in. This must be unique within your organization.
Name — their display name, shown to the rest of the team.
Role — OWNER, ADMIN, AGENT, or VIEWER. See the permission matrix below to choose.
Password (optional) — you can set a password for them, or leave it blank. If you leave it blank, HelpStack generates one automatically.

Once you save, the new member can sign in immediately with their email and password.

The one-time temporary password#

If you leave the Password field blank when adding a member, HelpStack auto-generates a temporary password and shows it to you exactly once, right after you create the account. There is no way to view it again later.

Copy it before you close the dialog. Send it to the new teammate through a secure channel and ask them to sign in. If the password is lost, you'll need to set a new one for them (or have them reset it) rather than recovering the original.

Editing a member#

Use Edit on a member's row to change their:

Name
Role

You cannot edit your own record from the team list — this prevents you from accidentally locking yourself out of your own role. If your details need to change, ask another owner or admin to update them.

Removing a member#

Use Remove on a member's row to take away their access. You'll be asked to confirm before the removal goes through.

You cannot remove yourself. To leave an organization, have another owner or admin remove your account.

Role permission matrix#

Roles are listed from most to least powerful. Each higher role includes everything the roles below it can do.

Capability	OWNER	ADMIN	AGENT	VIEWER
View conversations	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Send messages / reply	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Generate AI replies	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Update conversation metadata (status, assignment, etc.)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Manage channels (create / edit / delete)	Yes	Yes	Read-only	No
Manage team members (add / edit / remove)	Yes	Yes	Read-only	No
Manage AI providers & agent tools	Yes	Yes	Read-only	No
Read FAQs & notifications	Yes	Yes	Yes	View only
Read/write organization settings	Yes	Yes	No	No
View analytics	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
View billing	Yes	No	No	No
Manage / Cancel / Reactivate subscription	Yes	No	No	No
Set the default AI provider	Yes	No	No	No

A few things worth calling out:

OWNER is the highest role. Owners can do everything an admin can, plus everything related to billing (viewing the plan, managing the subscription, canceling and reactivating) and setting the organization's default AI provider.
ADMIN has full read/write/delete on conversations, channels, team, and AI/tools, and can read and write organization settings — but cannot take billing actions.
AGENT is your front-line support role: agents can read and write conversations (send messages, generate AI replies, update metadata) and have read-only access to channels, team, and AI. They can read FAQs and notifications but cannot manage settings.
VIEWER is read-only: viewers can look at conversations and analytics but cannot send messages or change any settings.

Which role should I give?#

Person	Recommended role	Why
A co-founder or operations lead who handles billing	OWNER	Only owners can manage the subscription and set the default AI provider. Keep the number of owners small.
A team lead who configures channels, AI, and teammates but doesn't touch billing	ADMIN	Full control of the workspace without exposing billing.
A support agent who answers customers day to day	AGENT	Can reply, use AI, and organize conversations, but can't change channels or settings by mistake.
A manager, stakeholder, or auditor who only needs to watch	VIEWER	Can read conversations and analytics without any risk of changing anything.

Tips:

Start small. Give people the lowest role that lets them do their job; you can always upgrade later from Edit.
Limit owners. Because owners control billing and the subscription, only grant OWNER to people who genuinely need it.
Use VIEWER for read-only stakeholders rather than creating an agent account that can accidentally send messages.

A note on platform staff#

There is also an internal, platform-level role used by HelpStack staff for support and maintenance across the service. It is not a role you assign inside your own organization, and it doesn't appear in your team list. You only ever work with OWNER, ADMIN, AGENT, and VIEWER.

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