Admin Dashboard
The Admin Dashboard is the administration interface built into the Griptape Nodes editor. Organization owners use it to issue and manage license keys, organize users into access groups, and control which libraries, nodes, models, and projects each user can access.
Who can use it
The Admin Dashboard manages organizations you own through Griptape Cloud. It is only available when you are signed in with a Griptape Cloud account.
In the desktop application this means the dashboard appears only for users who signed in through Login or Sign-Up, not for seats activated with a license key. License activation (see Using the Admin Server) creates a session with no cloud account behind it: those users are the seats being managed, and the Admin Dashboard menu entry never appears for them. The entry is also hidden when your active organization is one you do not own.
If you own more than one organization, an organization switcher in the dashboard's top bar lets you move between them; you can never switch into an organization you do not own.
Opening the Admin Dashboard
In the desktop application, open the profile menu in the top-right corner (the button showing your name) and choose Admin Dashboard.

The dashboard opens in its own window, separate from the editor, so you can administer licenses side by side with your work. Choosing Admin Dashboard again focuses the existing window. Closing it does not affect the editor.
Also available in the web editor
The same dashboard is available in the Griptape Nodes web editor: open the user menu in the bottom-left corner and choose Admin Dashboard. There it replaces the editor view, and the Back to Editor link in the top bar returns you to your workflow.
The dashboard has:
- A top bar with a Back to Editor link, the active organization (or an organization switcher), and the signed-in user.
- A sidebar with the three sections: License Keys, Access Groups, and Permission Editor.
- A Dashboard Settings menu pinned to the bottom of the sidebar, with links to the onboarding guide and this documentation.
The welcome dialog
On your first visit, a welcome dialog summarizes assigned licenses, permission templates, and active sessions. It also offers three "Get Started" shortcuts:
- Create a license key for each user. Generate a unique key per seat and send it to the user; they paste it into Griptape to activate their access.
- Create sets of license keys as access groups. Group keys by department or project, then assign permission templates to the whole group.
- Customise permissions per project. Build permission templates that control access studio-wide or per project.
Check Don't show this again to dismiss it permanently; you can bring it back at any time via Dashboard Settings → Onboarding Guide.
License Keys
The License Keys section is the home page of the dashboard. It is where you issue seats: one license key per user, delivered to them as a token they paste into the desktop application (see Using the Admin Server for the user-side activation flow).

The stats bar
Four tiles across the top summarize the organization:
| Tile | Shows | Click action |
|---|---|---|
| Assigned Licenses | Total license keys, plus how many are revoked. | None |
| Permission Templates | Total templates, plus how many are assigned. | None |
| Sessions | Active sessions, plus how many are available. | Opens the Sessions modal. |
| API Keys | Total API keys, plus how many are active. | Opens the API Keys modal. |
The license table
Each row is one license key with:
- Name: usually the user or seat it belongs to.
- License Type:
Interactive(a person using the editor) orHeadless(automated or unattended use). - Status:
Active,Revoked, orExpired. - Access Groups: an inline multi-select for the groups this key belongs to. With multiple rows selected, changing the value applies to every selected row.
- Permissions: a popover listing every permission template that applies to the key, both directly assigned and inherited through access groups. Inherited entries show the source group. Templates can be removed from here.
- Actions: Edit, Reissue token, Revoke, and Delete.
The toolbar above the table provides search, a status filter, and the + Create License Key button. Column headers sort; columns are resizable.
Creating license keys
Click + Create License Key. The dialog accepts:
- License Name(s): one or more names. Adding several names creates a batch of keys in one step, one per name.
- License Type:
InteractiveorHeadless. This cannot be changed after creation. - Expiration Date: required; must be between 1 and 730 days from now.
- Access Groups: optionally add the new key(s) to existing groups.

When creation succeeds, a dialog reveals each license token exactly once. Copy the tokens and deliver them to the users. They cannot be retrieved later. If you lose one, use Reissue to generate a replacement.

Managing license keys
- Edit: rename the key and change its access group membership.
- Reissue token: generate a replacement token for the same license. It is shown once.
- Revoke: release the key's existing sessions and prevent the token from allocating new sessions. Only active keys can be revoked or reissued.
- Delete: permanently remove the key. This cannot be undone.
Sessions
Click the Sessions tile to open the Sessions modal. It lists your organization's sessions with the session ID, the license key that holds it, status, expiry, and creation time, filterable by status. From here you can:
- Release a session, with a configurable grace period, freeing the seat for another user.
- Delete a session record.

API Keys
Click the API Keys tile to open the API Keys modal, which manages your organization's Griptape Cloud API keys. For example, an Admin Server uses one. A key's value is revealed once, so copy it immediately. You can also delete keys that are no longer needed.

Access Groups
Access groups collect license keys by department, team, or show so permissions can be managed for the whole set. A permission template assigned to a group applies to every license key in it.

Each row is one group with:
- Access Group Name
- License Keys: an inline multi-select of the keys in the group.
- Permissions: an inline multi-select of your templates and Griptape-managed templates assigned to the group. Griptape-managed templates have a Managed badge.
Create a group with + Add New Access Group, giving it a name and optionally its initial license keys and permission templates. Groups can be edited or deleted from their row; deleting a group does not delete its license keys.
Permission Editor
The Permission Editor is where you author permission templates: named policies that decide what a license key is allowed to do. Templates are assigned to access groups or directly to individual license keys; a key's effective permissions are the combination of everything assigned to it, and an explicit deny always wins over an allow.

Template list
The left panel lists templates in two tabs:
- Admin: templates authored by your organization's admins. Fully editable.
- Griptape (read-only): templates authored and maintained by Griptape. You can attach them to access groups or license keys and audit their contents, but not modify them.
Search filters both tabs. + Create Template opens the creation dialog.
Creating a template
The creation dialog asks for:
- Template Name
- Authoring mode:
- Permission Builder: configure permissions with the visual builder described below. This is the recommended mode.
- Raw Cedar: write the policy by hand in a Cedar editor after creation. The builder is not available for raw Cedar templates.
- Scope (builder mode only): Studio-wide or Project-scoped (see below).

The permission builder
Selecting a builder template opens its detail panel, which is organized top to bottom:
Scope
A template is either:
- Studio-wide: applies across the entire studio, everywhere the license is used.
- Project-scoped: linked to a specific project template on an engine. Its statements apply only while the engine works in that project or its project ancestry.
The scope row also selects an Engine. Connecting an engine loads a manifest containing its installed libraries, project templates, models, and model providers. The manifest populates the builder's pickers, so you can select resources by name. Project-scoped templates also require a Linked project from the engine's project templates.
Default access
The template's base posture, which decides what happens to anything you do not explicitly configure:
- Exploration (Allow all): everything is allowed by default; you deny specific things. Suited to look-development and R&D.
- Production (Deny All): everything is denied by default; you allow specific things. A lockdown posture for shows in production.
Explicit per-permission choices keep their meaning if you later switch the posture.
Assign to
Attach the template to access groups and/or directly to individual license keys. Assignments through a group reach every key in the group.
Permissions
The permission list is a catalog of capabilities grouped by category. Each row can be set to Allow or Deny, or left on Default to follow the posture, and most rows can be scoped to specific resources (for example, deny only certain libraries rather than all of them):
| Category | Capability | What it controls | Scopeable to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libraries | Use libraries | Loading node libraries. | Specific libraries |
| Libraries | Use libraries by lifecycle stage | Loading libraries at specific lifecycle stages (STABLE, BETA, ALPHA, LABS, DEPRECATED). |
Lifecycle stages |
| Nodes | Use nodes by lifecycle stage | Using nodes at specific lifecycle stages. | Lifecycle stages |
| Nodes | Use nodes that run arbitrary code | Nodes whose library declarations mark them as executing arbitrary Python. | Not scopeable |
| Projects | Use projects | Loading and activating projects. | Specific projects |
| Models | Use model providers | Every model under a provider. Denied models are filtered out of model pickers and blocked from invocation; nodes stay creatable. | Specific providers |
| Models | Use model families | Models in specific families (e.g. Claude 4, GPT-4). Same picker filtering and invocation blocking as providers. | Specific families |
| Models | Use specific models | Individual models by id. Same picker filtering and invocation blocking. | Specific models |
| Video | Use video codecs | Reading and writing video by codec (for example h264, hevc, prores). |
Specific codecs |
When a template conflicts with another template or access group for the same license keys, affected rows show a warning naming the conflicting templates and keys. For example, one template may allow a capability that an assigned group's template denies. A deny always wins.

Compiled Cedar
The builder compiles your choices into Cedar policy statements. Griptape Nodes evaluates those statements at authorization checkpoints. The Compiled Cedar Policy section is collapsed by default and shows the Cedar from the last save. See Cedar Policies for details.
Raw Cedar templates
Templates created in Raw Cedar mode skip the builder and expose a Cedar editor with syntax validation. A template with syntax errors cannot be saved. Validation does not check action or attribute names against the engine's Cedar schema, so review them carefully. A read-only statement summary above the editor breaks the policy down per statement, and the same Assign to controls apply. New raw templates start with permit(principal, action, resource); (allow everything), mirroring the builder's exploration default.
Write raw templates when the capability catalog does not cover the rule you need. Cedar Policies documents the checkpoints, resource attributes, and context facts a statement can match on, with worked examples.
Griptape-managed templates
Selecting a template on the Griptape (read-only) tab shows its description, a per-statement breakdown of its permissions, and its full Cedar source. Managed templates cannot be edited or deleted. You can only attach them to or detach them from access groups and license keys.
How it fits together
A typical rollout looks like:
- Create permission templates in the Permission Editor. For example, create an "Exploration" template for R&D and a locked-down "Production" template that only allows approved libraries and model providers.
- Create access groups for each team or show, and assign each group the appropriate templates.
- Create a license key per user, adding each key to the right access groups, and send each user their token.
- Users activate their seats by pasting the token into the desktop application. On-premises deployments use an Admin Server. License-activated users get the editor only; the Admin Dashboard never appears for them.
- Monitor and manage seats from the License Keys section. Watch active sessions, release stuck ones, reissue lost tokens, and revoke keys when someone leaves.