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Managing Organizations and Teams

Organizations are the top-level entity in PostHog, containing projects, teams, and members. This guide covers organization setup, member management, and permission controls.

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Organization Structure

Each organization can have:
  • Multiple projects (teams) for different products or environments
  • Members with different permission levels
  • Shared billing and security settings
  • Custom branding (logo, domain configuration)

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Organization Membership Levels

PostHog supports four membership levels defined in posthog/models/organization.py:99-104:
  • Owner - Full administrative control, can delete organization
  • Admin - Can manage members, settings, and projects
  • Member - Can access projects and use features
  • Read-only - View-only access to data

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Creating an Organization

Organizations are created automatically during signup. To create additional organizations:
1

Navigate to Settings

Click your profile icon and select “Organization settings”
2

Create New Organization

Click “Create organization” and provide a name
3

Configure Settings

Set up your organization’s basic information and security settings
On self-hosted instances without a premium license, you’re limited to one organization. PostHog Cloud supports multiple organizations on paid plans.

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Member Management

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Inviting Members

Organization admins can invite new members:
  1. Go to Organization settings → Members
  2. Click Invite member
  3. Enter email address and select role
  4. Member receives an invitation email valid for 3 days
The members_can_invite setting (posthog/api/organization.py:113) controls whether regular members can send invites. This requires the ORGANIZATION_INVITE_SETTINGS feature.

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Changing Member Roles

To update a member’s role:
  1. Navigate to Organization settings → Members
  2. Find the member and click the role dropdown
  3. Select the new role
  4. Changes take effect immediately
Organizations must have at least one Owner. You cannot downgrade the last Owner without first promoting another member.

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Removing Members

Admins and Owners can remove members:
  1. Go to Organization settings → Members
  2. Click the menu next to the member
  3. Select Remove from organization
  4. Confirm the action
When a member is removed:
  • They lose access to all projects in the organization
  • Their personal API keys are invalidated for this organization
  • Activity logs record the removal (posthog/api/organization.py:490-510)

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Organization Settings

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General Settings

Available in posthog/api/organization.py:97-123:
  • Name - Organization display name
  • Slug - URL-friendly identifier (auto-generated)
  • Logo - Custom branding image
  • Default role - Automatically assigned to new members

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Security Settings

Configure organization-wide security policies:
Enforce 2FA (enforce_2fa field)Require all members to enable 2FA before accessing the organization.
# Validation at posthog/api/organization.py:198-205
if not organization.is_feature_available(AvailableFeature.TWO_FACTOR_ENFORCEMENT):
    raise ValidationError("You must upgrade your plan to enforce 2FA.")
Requires the TWO_FACTOR_ENFORCEMENT feature flag.
Members can use personal API keys (members_can_use_personal_api_keys)Control whether members can create and use personal API keys.
  • Set to true - Members can generate personal API keys
  • Set to false - Only admins can use API keys
This setting requires the ORGANIZATION_SECURITY_SETTINGS feature.
Allow publicly shared resources (allow_publicly_shared_resources)Enable or disable public sharing of insights and dashboards.When disabled:
  • Members cannot create public share links
  • Existing public links are deactivated
  • Validation enforced at posthog/api/organization.py:207-214

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Team and Project Access

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Viewing Teams

Organizations contain multiple teams (projects). Members see teams based on their access level: 
# From posthog/api/organization.py:167-178
visible_teams = user_access_control.filter_queryset_by_access_level(
    organization.teams.all(), 
    include_all_if_admin=True
)

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Team-Level Permissions

Individual projects can have restricted access:
  • Admins see all teams by default
  • Members see only teams they’re explicitly added to
  • Access control enforced via user_permissions.team_ids_visible_for_user

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Organization Deletion

Deleting an organization is permanent and cannot be undone. All projects, data, and team members are removed.
To delete an organization:
1

Cancel Active Subscriptions

On PostHog Cloud, cancel any active billing subscriptions first (enforced at posthog/api/organization.py:326-330)
2

Navigate to Settings

Go to Organization settings → Danger zone
3

Initiate Deletion

Click Delete organization and confirm
4

Background Processing

Organization data is queued for deletion via background task (delete_organization_data_and_notify_task)
What gets deleted:
  • All projects and teams
  • Event data from ClickHouse
  • PostgreSQL records
  • Batch exports
  • Members receive email notifications

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Advanced Configuration

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IP Anonymization

Set default IP anonymization for new projects: 
# Default behavior (posthog/models/organization.py:113-115)
default_anonymize_ips = True if settings.CLOUD_DEPLOYMENT == "EU" else False
EU cloud deployments enable IP anonymization by default for GDPR compliance. Customize session expiration: 
session_cookie_age = 86400  # 24 hours in seconds
If not set, uses the global SESSION_COOKIE_AGE setting.

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AI Data Processing

Control whether organization data can be used for AI features: 
is_ai_data_processing_approved = True  # or False
Members can opt-in/out for features like AI session summaries.

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Activity Logging

All organization changes are tracked in activity logs (posthog/api/organization.py:428-444):
  • Organization created/updated/deleted
  • Member added/removed/role changed
  • Invitations sent/accepted/cancelled
  • Settings modified
Access logs via Organization settings → Activity.

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