Roles control what actions a user can perform within a project. Each project member is assigned one or more roles, and the role determines the full set of allowed actions.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/redmine/redmine/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Built-in roles
Redmine includes two built-in system roles that cannot be deleted:Non member
Applied to authenticated users who are not members of a project. Relevant only for public projects. Controls read-only access such as viewing issues and wiki pages.
Anonymous
Applied to unauthenticated visitors. Relevant only for public projects. Should have minimal or no permissions.
| Default role | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Manager | Full control over a project — can create and edit issues, manage members, close versions, and configure project settings. |
| Developer | Can create and edit issues, log time, and manage their assigned work. Cannot change project settings. |
| Reporter | Can create issues and add notes. Cannot edit issues created by others or manage anything else. |
The Manager, Developer, and Reporter roles are only defaults. Your Redmine instance may have different roles if an administrator has changed them.
Creating a custom role
Configure visibility options
Set three visibility scopes for the role:
- Issues visibility —
all(all issues in the project),default(public issues and own private issues), orown(only issues created by or assigned to the user). - Time entries visibility —
allorown. - Users visibility —
all(all active users) ormembers_of_visible_projects(only users sharing a visible project).
Permission matrix
Permissions are grouped by functional area. The table below lists the key permission symbols used internally and what they control.Project management
| Permission | What it controls |
|---|---|
edit_project | Change project settings, name, description, and modules. |
select_project_modules | Enable or disable project modules (Issues, Wiki, Forums, etc.). |
manage_members | Add, remove, and change roles of project members. |
manage_versions | Create, edit, and delete project versions. |
manage_categories | Create, edit, and delete issue categories. |
close_project | Archive and close the project. |
delete_project | Permanently delete the project. |
Issue tracking
| Permission | What it controls |
|---|---|
view_issues | View issues in the project. |
add_issues | Create new issues. |
edit_issues | Edit any issue’s fields (subject, description, status, etc.). |
copy_issues | Copy existing issues to the same or another project. |
manage_issue_relations | Add and remove issue relations (blocks, duplicates, etc.). |
manage_subtasks | Create and manage parent/child issue relationships. |
set_issues_private | Mark issues as private (visible only to members with sufficient permissions). |
set_own_issues_private | Mark issues the user created as private. |
add_issue_notes | Add notes to existing issues without editing the issue itself. |
edit_issue_notes | Edit notes written by others. |
edit_own_issue_notes | Edit notes the user wrote. |
view_private_notes | See private notes on issues. |
set_notes_private | Mark a note as private when adding it. |
delete_issues | Permanently delete issues. |
import_issues | Import issues from a CSV file. |
Time tracking
| Permission | What it controls |
|---|---|
log_time | Add time entries to issues. |
view_time_entries | View time entries (subject to time entries visibility setting). |
edit_time_entries | Edit any time entry in the project. |
edit_own_time_entries | Edit only the user’s own time entries. |
manage_project_activities | Override the global time entry activities for this project. |
log_time_for_other_users | Submit time entries on behalf of another user. |
Wiki and documents
| Permission | What it controls |
|---|---|
view_wiki_pages | View wiki pages. |
export_wiki_pages | Export wiki pages to PDF, HTML, or plain text. |
edit_wiki_pages | Create and edit wiki pages. |
rename_wiki_pages | Rename wiki pages. |
delete_wiki_pages | Delete wiki pages. |
view_documents | View documents attached to the project. |
add_documents | Upload new documents. |
edit_documents | Edit document metadata. |
delete_documents | Delete documents. |
Repository and source code
| Permission | What it controls |
|---|---|
browse_repository | View source code in the repository browser. |
view_changesets | See commit history and changesets. |
commit_access | Grants write access to the repository when Redmine manages access control. |
Tracker-specific permissions
The permissionsview_issues, add_issues, and edit_issues can be restricted to specific trackers. For example, a role can be allowed to add issues only for the Bug tracker but not the Feature tracker.
This is configured on the role’s edit page under Permissions → Issues by unchecking “For all trackers” and selecting individual trackers.
Issues visibility
The Issues visibility setting on a role determines which issues the role can see:| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
all | Can see all issues in any project where the role is assigned. |
default | Can see public issues and any private issues they created or are assigned to. |
own | Can only see issues they created or are assigned to. |