---
slug: teams
title: "Creating and managing teams (including sub-parts)"
description: "Invitations and roles, the sub-part tree, reading flows down but writing does not, the ‘Apply’ gate, and retire vs delete."
lang: en
---


# Creating and managing teams (including sub-parts)

Memory is **owned by a team** ([Teams and
projects](teams-and-projects)). So "who do we share what with" ends up
being a question of **how you shape the team**. This page covers what you
actually click in the **Teams** and **Team structure** menus of the console
([app.aiakiv.com](https://app.aiakiv.com)), along with the concept behind each.

> **In one line.** A team is the **owner** of memory; sub-parts are the
> **skeleton that decides who reads what** inside it. And team structure only
> takes effect **when you press Apply.**

## Team: the owner of the memory

- **Signing up creates a personal team automatically.** That alone is enough to
  save and search.
- You can make as many more as you like and invite people to turn one into
  **memory you build together**.
- **Sharing, isolation, and billing all draw their boundary at the team.** One
  team's memory doesn't leak outside it.

### Creating a team

**Console → Teams → 'New team'**, enter a name, and **create**. Whoever creates
it becomes the **owner**.

- The personal team is marked **'personal'** and **cannot be deleted.**
- Shared teams you created yourself can be removed later (see [Cleaning
  up](#cleaning-up)).

### Inviting members

Open **'Manage'** on the team card for the member list and the invite form.
Invite by email, choosing a **role**.

| Role | What they can do |
|---|---|
| **owner** | Everything, including deleting and renaming. The person who created the team |
| **admin** | Manage members and structure (including the right to **Apply** structure changes) |
| **member** | Normal use: read and write |
| **viewer** | Mostly read |

> **No invitation email goes out.** The other person joins by **signing in to the
> console and accepting**. It appears on their screen as "My invitations". Invite
> them, then tell them separately.

**If there are a lot of people**, go into **'Detailed management'** in the member
list. It supports search, multi-select, and bulk invite/remove, and you can
**paste emails as CSV or plain text for a mass invitation**.

### Setting an alias (your `@` search name)

Memory is **attributed by the author's email**. Set an **alias** per team and
that name shows instead of the email, and `@alias` finds it ([Team
sharing](sharing) · [Searching](searching)). **Console → Teams →
Manage → Set alias.** You set your own.

---

## Sub-parts: the skeleton that divides a team

Once a team grows, a question appears: "**does every member need to see every
memory in the team?**" So you divide the team into **parts and sub-parts**, in
**Console → Team structure**.

```
Team (root)
 ├─ Engineering part      ← handle · assigned members
 │   └─ Backend sub-part
 └─ Product part
     └─ Design sub-part
```

**There is exactly one root, and it is the team itself.** You don't put a second
root next to it. The root decides the **storage partition** for everything under
it, so two roots would split one team's memory into two piles that never connect
to each other. Every division happens below the root, in **parts and sub-parts**.
If you genuinely need memory that stays apart, **create another team** instead.

The tree can go as deep as you like. Each node takes two things.

- **A handle**: an `@` **search tag**. `@handle` narrows search to that part of
  the org.
- **Member assignment**: who works at that node. You set a **role** when you
  assign.

| Node role | At that node |
|---|---|
| **reader** | Read only |
| **writer** | Read and **write** (saving lands at this node) |

> **⚠ This is a different axis from the team invitation role.** The
> `owner`/`admin`/`member`/`viewer` above are roles **on the team**; `reader` and
> `writer` here are roles **on that node**. You invite someone into the team,
> then give them a node role in team structure.

> **You can only assign people already in the team.** Invite a new person to the
> team **first**, then assign them to a node.

### Reading flows from the top down

**Someone at a higher node reads the memories of the sub-parts beneath it.** The
reverse doesn't hold. Someone lower can't see above.

So **the shape of the org chart is the reading scope.** When you draw the tree,
place people by asking "is it fine for this person to see everything below?"

### ⚠ Writing does not flow down

This is the **opposite** of reading, and it's where the misunderstanding usually
happens.

**Being a `writer` at a higher node does not let you write into the sub-parts
beneath it.** The same is true if your team role is `admin`: the right to
**manage** the structure and the right to **save** at a node are separate things.

Saving lands at a node **only when you have a seat at that node directly.** A
seat at an ancestor doesn't count.

```
Product part  ← even assigned as writer here
   └─ Design sub-part  ← you cannot write here
```

**To write into a lower part, add a `writer` at that part directly.** Assign them
to that node in team structure, give the role `writer`, and press **'Apply'**.

> **Reading wide, writing narrow**: the asymmetry is deliberate. Looking down
> from above is necessary for managing, but if anyone could leave memories
> anywhere, which part a memory belongs to would blur.

If saving goes to the wrong place or doesn't land at all, start by checking
**whether you have a seat at that node.**

### ⚠ Nothing takes effect until you press 'Apply': the most-missed step

Creating and editing nodes on the team-structure screen is a **draft**. **Until
you press 'Apply' the effect is zero**: not in search, not in node assignment.

- Unapplied changes are shown with a **badge** ("N unapplied changes. Apply
  needed").
- **Only owner and admin can apply.**
- If you move to another team without applying, the changes **stay** (with a
  warning).

If you changed the structure and search results or permissions look unchanged,
**nine times out of ten you didn't press Apply.**

---

## Cleaning up

### Sub-parts: retire before you delete

| | Retire (deprecate) | Delete |
|---|---|---|
| New saves | Blocked | - |
| Past memories | **Still readable** | Remain as tags and keep coming up |
| Undo | **Can be reactivated** | Not possible |

**For a sub-part that's been in use, retiring is the safe move.** An **empty
sub-part** (no projects, no saved events at all) is fully deleted when retired.

- **You can't delete a node that has sub-parts**: move or remove them first.
- If members are assigned to the node, a warning tells you **their membership
  (access) will be revoked.**

### Members: remove them and the memories stay

Removing a member from a team **only revokes access.** **The memories they left
and their attribution are preserved**: a team's accumulated record shouldn't
vanish because a person left.

### Deleting a team

Done in the **Console → Teams → Manage → Danger zone** tab. You must **type the
team name** to confirm. **All the team's data is permanently deleted** and other
members lose access. This is not reversible ([Console](console)).

## Related

- What teams and projects are, and why you split → [Teams and projects](teams-and-projects)
- Building together and `@` attribution → [Team sharing](sharing)
- The full console menu map → [Console](console)
- Pinning a save target per folder → [Folder binding](folder-binding)