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Workspace roles

Pike separates what you can do from what you can see. Workspace roles control capabilities. For private projects, membership controls who can see the project and its contents - see Private projects.
These are two independent systems. A Manager can create and edit projects - but only if they can see them. An Admin can always see everything.

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Workspace roles

Every workspace member is assigned one or more roles. Roles determine what actions a user can perform across the workspace, regardless of which projects they belong to.

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Role overview

RolePurpose
AdminFull control over the workspace. Can see all projects, manage members, and configure settings.
ManagerCan create and manage projects, tasks, and teams - scoped to what they can access.
BasicDay-to-day contributor. Can view projects and work on tasks they are assigned to.
FinanceAccess to invoices, expenses, profitability reports, and workspace billing settings.
HRAccess to people management, time off, contracts, and workforce data.
GuestLimited, read-mostly access. Can only use endpoints explicitly marked as guest-accessible.
A user can hold multiple roles. For example, someone might be both a Manager and Finance member if they run projects and handle billing.

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What each role can do

Admins have unrestricted access to the workspace.
  • See all projects, including private projects they are not a member of
  • Create, edit, and delete projects and tasks
  • Manage workspace settings, billing, and integrations
  • Invite and remove workspace members
  • Assign and change roles
  • Access all financial and HR data
Admins are the only role that bypasses private project visibility. Use this role sparingly.
Managers can create and organize work - within the projects they can access.
  • Create new projects (public or private)
  • Edit and delete projects they have access to
  • Create and assign tasks in accessible projects
  • View all public projects
  • Cannot see or modify private projects unless explicitly added as a member
Being a Manager does not grant access to all projects. If a project is private and the Manager is not a member, it is completely invisible to them - including its tasks, comments, and attachments.
The default contributor role for team members doing day-to-day work.
  • View all public projects
  • View private projects they are a member of
  • Work on tasks they are assigned to
  • Add comments and attachments to accessible tasks and projects
  • Cannot create or delete projects
  • Cannot manage workspace settings or members
Focused on financial operations.
  • Access invoices, expenses, and retainers
  • View profitability reports
  • Manage workspace billing and tax settings
  • Subject to the same private project visibility rules as other non-admin roles
Focused on people and workforce management.
  • Manage time off requests and balances
  • Access contracts and employee data
  • Manage workspace member settings
  • Subject to the same private project visibility rules as other non-admin roles
For external collaborators who need limited access.
  • Can only access features explicitly marked as guest-accessible (e.g. viewing assigned tasks, viewing assigned projects)
  • Cannot access any features that require a specific role
  • Subject to private project visibility rules - can only see private projects they are a member of
If a user’s only role is Guest, they are restricted to guest-accessible endpoints. Combining Guest with another role (e.g. Guest + Basic) gives them the capabilities of both.

Private projects

Full guide to public vs. private projects, visibility tables, and settings.

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Roles vs. project membership

These two systems work together but serve different purposes. Here is how to think about them:

Roles

What you can do.Determined by your workspace role. Controls whether you can create projects, manage members, access financial data, and so on. Applies across the entire workspace.

Project membership

What you can see.Determined by which projects you are added to. Controls whether a private project and its contents are visible to you. Has no effect on public projects.
A few examples to make this concrete:
ScenarioOutcome
Manager, not a member of private project “Alpha”Cannot see Alpha. Cannot see Alpha’s tasks. Cannot edit Alpha. It is as if Alpha does not exist.
Basic member, added to private project “Alpha”Can see Alpha and its tasks. Can work on assigned tasks. Cannot create new projects or manage Alpha’s settings.
Admin, not a member of private project “Alpha”Can see Alpha and everything inside it. Can manage it. Admin access overrides membership requirements.
Finance member, added to private project “Alpha”Can see Alpha. Can also access invoices and expenses tied to Alpha.

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FAQ

No. Managers can access all public projects and any private projects they have been explicitly added to. Only Admins can see all projects regardless of membership.