Every team member in a project has a role that determines what they can do. Roles are assigned when a team member is invited and can be changed at any time by an Admin.
There are four roles in FastKnowledge:
Roles
| Capability | Author | Editor | Admin |
| View all articles and categories | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Create articles | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Edit own articles | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Edit any article | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Submit article version for approval | ✅ (own articles) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Publish article versions directly | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Reject article versions | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Archive / unarchive articles | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Create and edit categories | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Archive / reorder categories | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Invite and manage team members | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| View billing and subscription | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Manage authorized viewers | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Change project settings (access, colors, logo) | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| View audit trail | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Role descriptions
Author: Authors are content creators. They can write and edit their own articles and submit versions for approval, but they cannot publish directly — a reviewer (Editor or Admin) must approve the content first.
Best for: writers, contributors, or anyone who creates content but should not have publish access.
Editor: Editors have full control over content: categories, articles, and versions. They can publish content directly without needing approval. However, they cannot manage team members, billing, or project settings.
Best for: content leads, documentation managers, or team members who review and publish content.
Admin: Admins have all the capabilities of Editors, plus team management, billing access, project settings, and authorized viewer management. A project must always have at least one Admin.
Best for: project owners, managers, or anyone responsible for running the knowledge base.
Pending approval notifications
- Authors receive a notification in the navigation header when their submitted article versions are awaiting review: "You have ... articles awaiting approval."
- Admins and Editors receive a notification when any article in the project is pending review: "There are N articles awaiting approval."
- Admins also receive a notification when viewers have requested access to a private portal: "... access requests pending approval."
Constraints
Every project must have at least one Admin at all times. Attempting to remove or deactivate the last Admin shows: "Cannot remove this user: they are the last administrator of the project."
A user can have different roles in different projects.
Only Admins can change other team members' roles.