A project is the collaboration boundary in SAQ: it decides who sees the tickets inside it and which client those tickets are billed to by default. Owners and Admins create projects from the Projects page. Every ticket that is not waiting in the Inbox belongs to exactly one project, and time can only be logged on tickets in a project.
Before you start
- You need the Owner or Admin role to create a project.
- If the project bills a customer, create the client first so you can pick it as the billing client.
- Projects are created in the browser. API tokens can read projects but cannot create or change them.
Create the project
- Open Projects in the sidebar and select New project.
- Fill in Key, Name, and Billing client.
- Select Create project. The project opens in the list with its own page at
/w/{workspace}/projects/{key}. - Open the project's Settings tab to add a Description, choose the Billing mode, and tick any Collaborating clients. Select Save.
Fields
| Field | Meaning and rules |
|---|---|
| Key | The project's short address, shown in the UI hint as "Lowercase letters, digits, hyphens. Part of the project's address." 1–32 characters, must start and end with a letter or digit, unique in the workspace, and fixed after creation. |
| Name | 1–120 characters. Shown in lists, pickers, and notifications. |
| Billing client | "Default for new tickets. Leave empty for internal work." Choose a client, or Internal work (no client). |
| Billing mode | On the Settings tab. Per period (time and materials: entries bill in the period they were logged) or When the ticket closes (deliverables: entries bill once the ticket closes). Default is Per period. A ticket can override the mode with its own Mode field. See Billing mode. |
| Description | On the Settings tab. Free text, up to 2 000 characters. Shown on the project card. |
| Collaborating clients | On the Settings tab. Other clients whose users can be elevated on this project and to whom tickets can be billed. See Collaborating clients. |
What a project decides
- Who sees the tickets. Owners and Admins see everything. A workspace Member sees the tickets of projects they are a member of. An elevated client user sees the tickets in that project that are billed to their own client. A ticket's reporter and viewers see it regardless of project.
- The default billing client. A new ticket in the project is billed to the project's billing client unless a workspace user changes the ticket's Billing client field. When a client user starts a ticket on a project where their client is the billing or a collaborating client, the ticket is billed to their client.
- Which billing clients are valid. A ticket in the project can be billed to the project's billing client, one of its collaborating clients, or Internal work (no client). Nothing else.
- The billing mode inherited by tickets that do not set their own.
The project list shows each project's billing client (or Internal work (no client)), its collaborating clients ("with …"), the number of open tickets you can see, the number of members, and your own project role.
Who may edit what
| Setting | Owner or Admin | Workspace-user Project manager | Client Project manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name, Description | Yes | Yes | No |
| Billing client, Billing mode | Yes | No | No |
| Collaborating clients | Yes | Yes | No |
| Members (workspace users) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Elevate client users | Yes | Yes | Own client's users only |
The Settings tab is only shown to people who may edit the project. A Project manager who saves the form without the billing fields keeps the current billing client and mode.
Rules
- Agent accounts join every project automatically, including projects created later, so a token-only integration can work across the workspace without being added by hand. See API tokens and agents.
- Projects are archived, never deleted. An Owner or Admin can archive a project; it leaves the Projects list, while its tickets, time entries, and billing history stay intact.
- Changing the billing client of a project does not re-bill existing tickets; each ticket keeps the billing client it already has. Use the ticket's Billing client field to change individual tickets.
- Time is logged on tickets, not on projects. Internal work is logged on a project with no billing client; the Time page reminds you to "Log internal work on the Internal project."
Common problems
"A project with this key exists." Keys are unique in the workspace. Pick another key; the name may still be the same.
"Key must be 1–32 lowercase letters, digits, or hyphens." The key cannot contain spaces, uppercase letters, or other punctuation, and it cannot start or end with a hyphen.
"Only owners and admins create projects." Ask an Owner or Admin. Project managers manage members and settings of existing projects but do not create new ones.
"Only owners and admins set the billing client." A Project manager saved the form with a changed billing client or billing mode. Those two fields are reserved for Owners and Admins.
I cannot find the Settings tab. It is shown only to Owners, Admins, and workspace-user Project managers of that project.