# Project visibility and project roles

Choose whether a project is open to the organization or restricted, and give people Viewer, Contributor or Maintainer roles and sensitive permissions.

*Where in the portal: Projects → ⋯ → Manage access*

*Last updated: 2026-10-21*

A project has a visibility and, for the people you add, a project role. Visibility decides who can open it; the role decides what they can do there.

*Projects → ⋯ → Manage access*

## Visibility

You choose visibility when you create a project and can change it later in the project's settings.

| Visibility | Who can open the project |
| --- | --- |
| Organization | Every member, as a Viewer. |
| Restricted | Owners, admins and the members you add. |

Owners and admins always have access. Scans, finding conversations, results and Activity are shared with everyone who can open the project. A restricted project with nobody added shows **Owners + Admins** in the project list.

## Project roles

Roles apply to a person in one project.

| Role | What it allows |
| --- | --- |
| Viewer | Read shared project content. |
| Contributor | Run scans and work on findings. |
| Maintainer | Manage project settings and access. |

In an organization-visible project, members who were not assigned a role keep Viewer access. Assigning a role adds to that.

## Sensitive permissions

Some actions are granted on their own, apart from the role:

- **Manage pull requests**
- **Override merge gates**, which also requires Manage pull requests
- **Clear findings**

Only an owner, or a maintainer who has those permissions, can change them. See [Merge gates](https://kelrova.com/docs/findings/merge-gates) for what overriding a gate means.

## Give someone access

1. **Open Manage access**

   On the Projects page, open the **…** menu on the project and choose **Manage access**. A new project has to be created first.

2. **Choose a member**

   Pick an organization member from the list, or choose **Edit** on a person who already has access.

3. **Set the role and permissions**

   Choose a project role and tick any sensitive permissions, then choose **Save access**.

![The access settings of a restricted project: three members, each with a role and the extra permissions they hold.](https://kelrova.com/docs/img/organization/project-access.png)

*Manage access on a restricted project, with members, project roles and sensitive permissions.*

## Take access away

Choose **Remove explicit access** on a person's assignment. This also clears their sensitive permissions. Owners and admins keep their organization access, and in an organization-visible project members keep Viewer access.

To change who is an owner or admin, see [Members and roles](https://kelrova.com/docs/organization/members).

## Related

- [Members and roles](https://kelrova.com/docs/organization/members)
- [Create a project](https://kelrova.com/docs/getting-started/projects)
- [Merge gates](https://kelrova.com/docs/findings/merge-gates)
- [Onboard a team](https://kelrova.com/docs/guides/onboard-team)