Household roles and permissions

Everyone signs in with their own account. A household shares recipes, plans, shopping lists, and pantry data. Your role applies to that household; belonging to another household does not grant access to this one.

Before you begin

Sign in and switch to the household you intend to manage. Open Settings → Household. You need the Owner or Admin role to invite people or manage household settings. Server administration is a separate account role.

Choose a role

Capability	Member	Admin	Owner
Use and edit shared recipes, plans, lists, and pantry	Yes	Yes	Yes
Change household tastes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Change household details, theme nights, and administrator settings	No	Yes	Yes
Create or cancel invite links	No	Yes	Yes
Promote or demote members and admins	No	Yes	Yes
Make or unmake an owner, or remove another owner	No	No	Yes
Import/export household data and inspect household import jobs	No	Yes	Yes
Leave the household	Yes	Yes	Unless the last owner

There is no read-only household membership role. Member still permits everyday changes to shared kitchen data. Household AI credentials and settings are managed by owners/admins within the server’s AI policy; see AI setup.

Invite someone

1. In Settings → Household → Invite links, choose Make a link.
2. Choose Member or Admin, then Make link.
3. Copy the link immediately and send it privately to the intended person. The full link is shown only once.
4. Have them open the link and complete the join flow, then check Members for their account.

Each link works once and expires after seven days. Anyone holding it can use it. Use Cancel on an unused invite if it went to the wrong person, then make a new one. Owners are appointed after joining; an invite cannot directly grant ownership.

Expected result: the person appears in Members with the selected role and can access the shared household.

Change a role or remove someone

1. Open Members and find the person’s account.
2. Use the role selector beside their name to change their role. Only owners see Owner as an option or can change another owner’s role. The UI does not offer a role selector for your own account.
3. To remove a person, use their remove button and confirm Remove. To leave yourself, use Leave and confirm.

The household must always retain an owner. Before the final owner leaves, they must make another member an owner. Removing a membership leaves the person’s account and the household’s shared content in place; returning requires a new invitation.

Server administrators

Settings → This server is restricted to server administrators. They manage server configuration, optional modules, shared AI policy, and server-wide jobs. Starting another household or importing an export as a new household also requires this role. Live Mealie migration requires both server-administrator and household-administrator access.

A server administrator’s account does not automatically bypass household membership or owner checks. Household Admin does not grant access to This server. The person operating the server and its database still controls the underlying storage; household boundaries are application permissions, not protection from the server operator.

API keys have separate, route-specific permissions and cannot replace a browser session for administrator routes. Use the API quickstart when creating an integration; do not treat an API key as an administrator login.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
No role selector or invite controls	Confirm the active household and your role. Members cannot administer it; you cannot change your own role in this screen.
“Only an owner can make or unmake owners”	Ask a current owner to perform the change.
“Make someone else an owner first”	Appoint another owner before removing or demoting the last one.
Invite fails	It may be used, cancelled, or expired. Ask an admin for a new link.
Invite points at the wrong address	Have the server administrator check MERRAN_PUBLIC_URL, recreate the container, and create a new link.
“Only the household’s admins can do that”	Server-admin status alone is insufficient; check your household role.

Next steps

Review configuration and the generated settings reference. Before imports or server changes, make a backup. For operational problems, use troubleshooting.