Workspace Overview

Published March 20, 2026 · Last updated March 23, 2026 · 3 min read

A workspace is where your team comes together in Obvious. Think of it like your company's office building — projects are the rooms inside it, and teams are the departments that organize who works on what.

When you're ready to collaborate, create a shared workspace and invite your team. Everything your organization builds — projects, documents, workbooks, automations — lives under that workspace.

Create a workspace

To create a new workspace:

Open the account menu in the top-left corner of the dashboard.

Click Create workspace.

Give your workspace a name — this is usually your company name.

Click Create. Your new workspace opens immediately and you're set as the Owner.

Once it's created, invite your team from Settings → Workspace → People → Members.

How workspaces organize your work

A workspace holds three things:

Members — the people who have access

Projects — the actual work

Teams — groups of members who share access to specific projects

Members join a workspace once and can access any project shared with them. No need to re-invite someone every time you start a new project — they're already in the building.

Workspace roles

Every workspace member has one of four roles:

Owner — Full control, including billing, settings, and the ability to transfer ownership. Every workspace has exactly one.

Admin — Nearly the same as an owner. Admins manage members, teams, billing, and settings. They can't delete the workspace or transfer ownership.

Member — The standard role. Members create projects and collaborate but don't manage workspace settings or invite new people.

Guest — Access to specific shared projects only. Guests can't create projects or see anything beyond what's been explicitly shared with them. The right role for contractors, clients, or anyone who needs one room without a key to the building.

Workspace access vs. project access

This is where people get tripped up.

Workspace access means someone is in the building. They can see the workspace name and its members, but being a workspace member doesn't automatically grant access to every project inside it.

Project access is room-by-room. Each project controls who can view or edit it independently. You share a project with specific people, a team, or the entire workspace.

The two layers work together. Workspace membership gets someone through the front door. Project sharing opens specific rooms.