Members and invites overview
Control who can join your community and how you manage them once they're in.
What are members?
Members are users who have joined your community. Each member has a profile, can be assigned roles, and participates in channels based on their permissions.
Members are organized by their online status and roles. You can view detailed member information in Community settings > Members, including their roles, join date, and profile details.
One member is designated as the community owner and has special privileges. For details about ownership, see Create a community.
How invitations work
Root provides two ways to bring new members into your community:
| Method | Best for | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Direct invitation | Inviting friends you already know on Root | Send an invite directly from your friends list—they receive a notification |
| Invite links | Sharing with groups or publicly | Generate a link that anyone can use to join |
Direct invitations notify the recipient immediately, making them ideal for reaching specific people. Invite links can be shared anywhere—in messages, on websites, or in other communities—and work for anyone who clicks them.
Invite link options
When creating an invite link, you can configure:
- Expiration: Set the link to expire after a specific time (1 hour to 30 days) or never
- Max uses: Limit how many times the link can be used, or allow unlimited uses
- Channel destination: Choose which channel new members land in when they join
You can manage active invite links at any time, viewing usage statistics and deleting links that are no longer needed.
When to use each method
Choose direct invitations when:
- You know the person and they're already on Root
- You want to personally invite friends to your community
- You prefer a private, one-to-one approach
Choose invite links when:
- You're promoting your community publicly
- You want to share on social media or websites
- You're inviting a group of people at once
- You don't know if recipients already use Root
Control who can join
Root offers settings to control who can join your community:
- Verified member access: Require members to have a verified email address before joining. This reduces spam accounts and ensures accountability. See Require email verification for details.
Manage your members
Once members join, you have several tools to manage them:
| Task | Description |
|---|---|
| View member list | See all members with their roles and status |
| Search members | Find specific members by name |
| Assign roles | Give members roles to grant permissions |
| Set primary role | Choose which role determines a member's name color |
| Kick members | Remove someone temporarily (they can rejoin) |
| Ban members | Remove someone permanently (blocks rejoining) |
For detailed moderation actions like kicking and banning, see the Moderation section.
Delegate invitation and management tasks
You don't have to handle invitations and member management alone. Root's permission system lets you delegate these responsibilities to trusted members through roles.
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Invite Users | Invite new users to the community |
| Manage Invites | View, create, and revoke community invitations |
| Remove Members | Remove members from the community (they can rejoin) |
| Create Bans | Ban members from the community |
| Manage Bans | Ban and unban members, view and edit current bans |
| Manage Roles | Create, update, delete, and assign roles |
For sensitive permissions like Remove Members and Manage Bans, consider creating a dedicated moderator role. See Roles and permissions overview for guidance on setting up your permission structure, or Permission reference for the complete list.