An Organization is the main ownership and security boundary in Agent Barn. It owns your Agents, memberships, Templates, custom Skills, Shared Credentials, activity, and costs.
A fresh Agent Barn installation does not include a default Organization. You must create one before you can hire and run an Agent.
What you will accomplish
By the end of this guide, you will have:
- Created an Organization
- Become its Organization Owner
- Switched from Platform View into Organization View
- Confirmed the Organization's initial model configuration
- Prepared the Organization for members, credentials, and Agents
Creating an Organization does not start any Kubernetes Agent workloads and does not require chat-platform credentials.
Before you begin
You need:
- A running Agent Barn installation
- An Agent Barn user account
- The URL of the Agent Barn web application
- Permission to sign in to that installation
For a new self-hosted installation, sign in with the account configured through PLATFORM_ADMIN_CREDENTIALS.
For example:
https://agentbarn.example.comSign in
Open your Agent Barn web application and sign in.
For a local installation, this is normally:
http://localhost:3000For a Kubernetes installation, use the configured WEB_APP_URL:
https://agentbarn.example.comAfter signing in, a Platform Administrator without an Organization normally lands in Platform View.
Open the Organization switcher
In the top navigation, find the selector immediately after the Agent Barn logo and / separator.
The selector may currently display:
- Platform
- Organizations
- The name of an Organization you already use
Open the selector and choose Create organization.
Enter the Organization details
Complete the Create organization dialog:
| Field | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Name | Required; between 3 and 255 characters |
| Description | Optional; briefly explain what the Organization is for |
- Name
Acme Engineering- Description
- AI coworkers supporting the engineering and product teams
Choose a name that people will recognize in the Organization switcher, invitations, Agent configuration, and operational views.
Do not place passwords, API keys, customer data, or other secrets in the description.
Select Create.
When creation succeeds, Agent Barn displays a confirmation similar to:
Acme Engineering created. You are its owner.Switch to the Organization
Creating an Organization does not always move the browser out of Platform View automatically.
Open the Organization switcher again and select the Organization you just created.
You should enter Organization View at a URL shaped like:
/dashboard/ORGANIZATION_IDThe top navigation should now show:
- The Organization's name
- Home
- Costs
- Settings
- A Hire agent button
What Agent Barn creates
Organization creation is one transaction. Agent Barn creates the Organization and its initial Owner Membership together.
| Result | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Organization Creator | Your user account is recorded as the immutable creator |
| Organization Owner | Your user receives the initial Organization Owner Membership |
| Allowed models | The platform's configured default model is selected |
| Organization data boundary | Agents, members, credentials, Templates, Skills, activity, and costs are scoped to the Organization |
| Kubernetes workloads | None are created until an Agent is started |
Organization Creator and Organization Owner
These terms describe different things:
- The Organization Creator records who originally created the Organization.
- The Organization Owner is the current Membership with the Owner role.
- Ownership can be transferred later.
- Transferring ownership does not change the recorded Organization Creator.
An Organization normally has exactly one Organization Owner.
Organization creation limit
Each user can create up to the deployment-configured number of non-deleted Organizations. The current default is five.
Active and Suspended Organizations both count toward this limit. Platform Administrator status does not bypass it.
Membership in an Organization created by someone else does not count as creating that Organization.
Configure the Organization
Before hiring the first Agent, review these Organization settings.
Review members and allowed models
Open your user menu in the upper-right corner and select Manage organization.
From the Organization page, you can:
- Review the Organization Owner
- Review current and pending members
- Invite a member
- Assign the Admin or Member role
- Transfer ownership
- Select the models Agents in this Organization may use
New Organizations begin with the platform's default model selected. The default model is required and cannot be removed from the allowed-model selection.
Configure reusable resources
Open Settings in the top navigation.
The currently implemented Organization settings include:
- Shared Credentials — reusable integration credentials
- Templates — reusable Agent definitions
- Skills — instruction and reference packages assigned to Agents
Shared Credentials are useful when multiple Agents need the same integration without entering the credential separately for every Agent.
Invite teammates
From Manage organization, select Add member and provide:
- Email address
- Optional full name
- Organization role
You can invite someone as an Admin or Member. The Organization Owner role is transferred through a separate ownership-transfer action.
If the person does not have an accepted Agent Barn account, Agent Barn creates a pending membership and provides an invitation link. When transactional email is configured, the invitation is also delivered through the configured email provider.
Organization roles
Organization roles govern Organization-level administration.
| Role | Summary |
|---|---|
| Organization Owner | Full Organization governance, including ownership transfer and Organization deletion |
| Organization Admin | Organization administration and implicit full authority over the Organization's Agents |
| Organization Member | Basic Organization access; Agent authority must come from explicit Agent Access or Agent General Access |
Organization Owner and Organization Admin authority over Agents is implicit. An Organization Member does not automatically receive access to every Agent.
Agent-specific access is managed separately through:
- Agent Viewer
- Agent Editor
- Agent Owner
- Custom Agent Access Roles
- Agent General Access
See Roles, permissions, and Agent access for the full access model.
Troubleshooting
I cannot find Create organization
Check the Organization switcher
Open the Organization selector in the top navigation. Create organization appears at the bottom of that menu.
Do not look for the action on the Platform View's Organization oversight page.
The Organization name is rejected
Use 3–255 characters
The name must contain at least 3 characters and no more than 255 characters.
Use a recognizable display name such as:
Acme Engineering I reached the Organization creation limit
Check the deployment-configured creator limit
Agent Barn returns a message similar to:
You can create up to 5 organizationsThe exact limit is deployment-configured. Active and Suspended Organizations created by your account count toward it.
Deleting an Organization releases its creator-quota slot, but Organization deletion permanently removes the Organization and its associated resources. Do not delete an Organization solely to work around the limit without confirming that its data is no longer required.
The Organization was created, but I still see Platform View
Select the Organization in the switcher
Creation does not necessarily navigate away from Platform View.
Open the Organization switcher and select the newly created Organization.
The Organization does not appear in the switcher
Refresh, verify the user, then inspect API logs
Refresh the page and reopen the Organization switcher.
If it still does not appear:
- Confirm that the creation success message was displayed.
- Confirm that you are signed in with the same user who created it.
- Check the Agent Barn API logs for a failed
POST /api/v1/organizationsrequest. - Confirm that the application database is reachable.
For Docker:
docker compose logs apiFor Kubernetes:
kubectl logs deployment/agentbarn-api \
--namespace agent-farm \
--container api I can enter the Organization but cannot create an Agent
Confirm that an allowed model is selected
Confirm that the Organization has at least one allowed model.
Open:
User menu → Manage organization → Allowed ModelsThe platform default model should have been selected automatically during Organization creation.
Next steps
Continue with:
Before starting an Agent that uses external services, configure the required Shared Credentials and chat-platform credentials.