> This page location: Manage & operate > Access & collaboration > User permissions
> Full Neon documentation index: https://neon.com/docs/llms.txt

> Summary: Neon access has two layers. Organization roles (Admin, Editor, Viewer, Collaborator) set a baseline across every project, and per-project permissions (Viewer, Editor, Admin) grant extra access on individual projects. The two layers are additive, so a permission can only raise a user's access on a project, never lower it.

# User permissions

How organization roles and per-project permissions work in Neon

In Neon, access works in two layers. Your **organization role** sets a baseline level of access across every project in the org, and **per-project permissions** grant additional access on individual projects. This page explains how the two layers combine and what each role and permission lets you do.

This page is mainly for organization Admins, who decide who can see and change projects.

For an overview of organizations, see the [Organizations](https://neon.com/docs/manage/organizations) page.

**Note: Availability**

New organizations use the permissions model described here. Existing organizations continue to use the [legacy permissions](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions#legacy-permissions) model until they're migrated, and their access is preserved when that happens. Organizations managed through the [Vercel-managed integration](https://neon.com/docs/guides/vercel-managed-integration) also continue to use the legacy model.

## How permissions work

Your organization role and any per-project permissions combine, and they're **additive**: your effective access on a project is the higher of the two. A per-project permission can only raise your access, never lower it. (Restricting access on a single project isn't supported yet. See [Notes and limitations](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions#notes-and-limitations).)

Access is **closed by default** for Collaborators. Without an explicit per-project grant, a project doesn't appear in a Collaborator's list at all, and Neon responds as though it doesn't exist.

### Common setups

These examples show how an organization role and per-project grants combine:

| Person         | Organization role | Per-project grant        | Effective access                                          |
| -------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| Team lead      | Admin             | None                     | Full control of the organization and every project        |
| Staff engineer | Editor            | None                     | Edit every project, but can't delete or transfer them out |
| Designer       | Viewer            | Editor on one project    | Read-only across the org, plus full edit on that project  |
| Contractor     | Collaborator      | Editor on their projects | Access to only the granted projects, nothing else         |
| Support        | Collaborator      | Viewer (temporary)       | Read-only on a single project, removed when done          |

A couple of behaviors are worth calling out:

- **Viewers can still create their own projects.** The read-only limit applies to projects a Viewer didn't create. Any organization member except a Collaborator can create a project, and whoever creates a project becomes **Admin** on it. They keep that access if their organization role changes later, so to reduce it, grant them a lower permission on the project explicitly.
- **Deleting a project takes Admin access on that project**, not the Admin organization role. Anyone granted **Admin** on a project, along with any organization Admin, can delete it after typing the project name to confirm.

## Assign project access

Access comes down to two things: a person's organization role sets their baseline everywhere, and per-project permissions add to it where they need more.

## Set the organization role

Start with the organization role, which sets a person's baseline access across every project. On the organization's **People** page, select **Invite member** to add someone with a role, or open the more options menu (⋮) next to an existing member and choose **Edit member** to change it. Match the role to how much of the organization they should see; for what each role grants, see [Organization roles](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions#organization-roles).

## Grant per-project permissions

To give someone more than their baseline on a specific project, open that project's **Settings** → **Project permissions**, select **Grant permission**, choose a level (**Viewer**, **Editor**, or **Admin**), and pick one or more members. A grant only ever raises access: a person's effective permission is the higher of their organization role and the grant. For what each level allows, see [Per-project permissions](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions#per-project-permissions).

![Granting a per-project permission in the Neon Console](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions/grant-permission.png)

## Review who has access

The same **Project permissions** page lists everyone who can reach the project, with an [Inherited or explicit](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions#inherited-and-explicit-access) tag on each. Change or revoke an explicit grant from the more options menu (⋮) next to a person's name.

## Organization roles

Every member of an organization has one of four roles. Each role sets a baseline level of access on every project in the organization:

| Role         | What it can do                                                                                 | Default project access |
| ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| Admin        | Full control of the organization and all projects, including billing, members, and settings    | Admin                  |
| Editor       | Everything except deleting projects or transferring them out of the organization               | Editor                 |
| Viewer       | Read-only access to organization and project metadata. Can't see connection strings or run SQL | Viewer                 |
| Collaborator | No default access. Sees only projects they're explicitly granted                               | None                   |

The following table shows what each role can do at the organization level:

| Action                                         | Admin | Editor | Viewer | Collaborator |
| ---------------------------------------------- | :---: | :----: | :----: | :----------: |
| Manage organization members and roles          |   ✅   |    ❌   |    ❌   |       ❌      |
| Manage organization billing                    |   ✅   |    ❌   |    ❌   |       ❌      |
| Rename or delete the organization              |   ✅   |    ❌   |    ❌   |       ❌      |
| Transfer a project into the org                |   ✅   |    ✅   |    ✅   |       ❌      |
| Transfer a project out of the org              |   ✅   |    ❌   |    ❌   |       ❌      |
| Create organization or project-scoped API keys |   ✅   |    ❌   |    ❌   |       ❌      |
| See all organization projects                  |   ✅   |    ✅   |    ✅   |       ❌      |
| Create projects                                |   ✅   |    ✅   |    ✅   |       ❌      |

Personal API keys are available to any member and are scoped to that member's own access. Only Admins can create organization or project-scoped API keys. See [Manage API keys](https://neon.com/docs/manage/api-keys).

## Per-project permissions

A per-project permission grants access on a single project, on top of a person's organization role. There are three levels, the same **Viewer**, **Editor**, and **Admin** levels an organization role grants by default:

- **Viewer**: Read-only project access.
- **Editor**: Connect, query, and edit project resources.
- **Admin**: Manage access, settings, and the project lifecycle.

To grant one, see [Assign project access](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions#assign-project-access). The following table shows what each level allows:

| Action                                                                                    | Viewer | Editor | Admin |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :----: | :----: | :---: |
| See the project and read its metadata, branches, endpoints, databases, and Postgres roles |    ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |
| List snapshots and view the snapshot schedule                                             |    ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |
| Get connection strings and run SQL in the SQL Editor                                      |    ❌   |    ✅   |   ✅   |
| Create, edit, or delete branches, endpoints, databases, and Postgres roles                |    ❌   |    ✅   |   ✅   |
| Create, restore, delete, or reschedule snapshots                                          |    ❌   |    ✅   |   ✅   |
| Configure integrations (GitHub, Vercel)                                                   |    ❌   |    ✅   |   ✅   |
| Change project settings                                                                   |    ❌   |    ✅   |   ✅   |
| Manage who can access the project                                                         |    ❌   |    ❌   |   ✅   |
| Delete the project                                                                        |    ❌   |    ❌   |   ✅   |

As a rule, Viewers can see a project's resources, Editors can change them, and Admins manage access and the project itself.

Newer Neon products, including Managed Better Auth, Storage, Functions, and the AI Gateway, don't fully enforce per-project permissions yet. Per-project permission support for these products is being added over time.

### Inherited and explicit access

On a project's **Project permissions** page, access shows up in one of two ways:

- **Inherited**: Access comes from the user's organization role, not from a grant on this project. Organization Admins always appear as **Admin** with an **Inherited** tag, because they can manage every project.
- **Explicit**: The user was granted a permission directly on this project.

When a user has both an organization-role default and an explicit grant, the higher of the two applies.

## Manage project access with the API

You can manage project access programmatically with the [Neon API](https://neon.com/docs/reference/api). These calls require an [organization API key](https://neon.com/docs/manage/api-keys) with the Admin role. Roles are sent in the request as lowercase values (`viewer`, `editor`, `admin`) and returned in responses as uppercase permission levels (`VIEWER`, `EDITOR`, `ADMIN`). Response fields vary by endpoint; get a member's `member_id` from the [List project members](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions#list-project-members) response.

The Neon CLI doesn't have a dedicated command for these operations yet. You can call the same routes with the [`neon api`](https://neon.com/docs/cli/api) passthrough command, for example `neon api /projects/{project_id}/members/{member_id}/role -X PUT -F role=editor`.

### List project members

Lists the organization members who have access to a project, with each member's organization role, their explicit project role (if any), and their effective permission.

```bash
curl --request GET \
     --url 'https://console.neon.tech/api/v2/projects/{project_id}/members' \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer $ORG_API_KEY' | jq
```

Example response:

```json
{
  "project_members": [
    {
      "member_id": "abc123de-4567-8fab-9012-3cdef4567890",
      "user_id": "def456gh-7890-1abc-2def-3ghi4567890j",
      "email": "alex@example.com",
      "org_role": "admin",
      "project_role": "admin",
      "org_default_project_permission": "ADMIN",
      "effective_project_permission": "ADMIN",
      "grant_source": "org_role_default"
    }
  ]
}
```

### Set a member's project role

Grants or updates an organization member's role on a project. Send `viewer`, `editor`, or `admin` in the request body.

```bash
curl --request PUT \
     --url 'https://console.neon.tech/api/v2/projects/{project_id}/members/{member_id}/role' \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer $ORG_API_KEY' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --data '{"role": "editor"}' | jq
```

Example response:

```json
{
  "project_id": "example-project-12345678",
  "member_id": "abc123de-4567-8fab-9012-3cdef4567890",
  "user_id": "def456gh-7890-1abc-2def-3ghi4567890j",
  "email": "sam@example.com",
  "org_role": "collaborator",
  "project_role": "editor",
  "explicit_project_permission": "EDITOR",
  "effective_project_permission": "EDITOR"
}
```

### Remove a member's project role

Removes a member's explicit role on a project. Their organization role's default access still applies. On success, returns the member's updated access.

```bash
curl --request DELETE \
     --url 'https://console.neon.tech/api/v2/projects/{project_id}/members/{member_id}/role' \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer $ORG_API_KEY'
```

## Legacy permissions

The model on this page is rolling out to organizations gradually. Until it reaches your organization, you'll see the legacy model: three roles (**Admin**, **Member**, and **Collaborator**), where Members share one access level across every project and access is granted per project through project sharing.

When the new model reaches your organization, everyone keeps the access they have today. No action is required. The legacy roles map as follows:

| Legacy                | New                                                                 |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Admin**             | **Admin** (unchanged)                                               |
| **Member**            | **Editor**, with the same access under a new name                   |
| Project creator       | **Admin** on the projects they created                              |
| Shared-project access | **Editor** on the projects they were shared, so access is preserved |

The new **Collaborator** organization role is not the same as the legacy project-sharing collaborator, even though they share a name:

|                  | Legacy model                                                            | New model                                                                              |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Collaborator** | An external user invited to individual projects through project sharing | An organization role that starts with no access, then receives per-project permissions |

Project sharing is being deprecated and will be removed in a future release. For new access, use the **Collaborator** role plus per-project permissions instead.

## Notes and limitations

- **Access can only be added, not restricted**: Per-project permissions raise a user's access above their organization-role baseline; they can't reduce it. There's currently no way to block an Editor from a single project; they keep their baseline access on all projects in the organization.
- **Feedback**: The permissions system may not meet every need for granular control. Share your feedback via the [Feedback](https://console.neon.tech/app/projects?modal=feedback) form or our [Discord feedback channel](https://discord.com/channels/1176467419317940276/1176788564890112042).
- **Email notifications**: For **organization-owned** projects, Neon sends **approaching maximum storage** notification emails to **organization Admins** only, not to other members. Admins are responsible for billing and plan limits at the organization level, which aligns with who can [manage organization billing](https://neon.com/docs/manage/user-permissions#organization-roles).

---

## Related docs (Access & collaboration)

- [Accounts](https://neon.com/docs/manage/accounts)
- [Permissions quickstart](https://neon.com/docs/manage/project-permissions-get-started)
- [Organizations](https://neon.com/docs/manage/organizations)
- [Project collaboration](https://neon.com/docs/guides/project-collaboration-guide)
- [Database access](https://neon.com/docs/manage/database-access)
- [API keys](https://neon.com/docs/manage/api-keys)
- [Account recovery](https://neon.com/docs/manage/account-recovery)

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