How do I add a new user to Span?

Last updated: November 12, 2026

To use Span, a person needs to be in your Span roster with their Access Type set to Account. This article covers adding people, sending and checking invites, linking their Git usernames, changing what they can see, and how someone asks for access.

Why it matters

  • For admins: most "I can't get in" and "I can't see my team" questions come down to Access Type, the email on file, or permission groups. Knowing where each lives saves a support round trip.

  • For new users: you don't need a password or an invite to sign in once your access is on.

How it works

  • Being in the roster isn't the same as having access. Your roster in Settings → People Management lists everyone Span measures. People with Access Type No account count in metrics but can't sign in. Setting it to Account lets them sign in.

  • Member type. A Team Member is part of your team and management hierarchies, and you choose their Access Type. An Observer can view Span but isn't part of your team and management hierarchies; observers always get account access and an invite.

  • What they can see comes from permission groups. Everyone is in Team Members. Anyone with direct reports joins Managers automatically. Other groups are assigned by an Owner.

  • Code metrics come from Git usernames. A person's GitHub and GitLab pull requests and commits count toward them only when Span knows their username on that host. Mark them as a Contributor and add the usernames they use.

  • The invite email. When you add a new person with account access, Span emails an invite with the subject "Join your organization on Span", sent as "your first name via Span". The Accept Invite button opens the Span sign-in page. When you turn on access for someone already in your roster, Span sends the invite only if they don't have a Span account yet. People who already have one, for example in another Span organization, just sign in.

  • SCIM organizations. If your organization uses SCIM, your identity provider sets Access Type and Span doesn't send an invite.

How to give someone access

You need the Member Management permission (Owners and Admins by default). Member Management covers your whole organization: it lets you edit every person in People Management and every team in Team Management, and it can't be limited to one team.

Option 1: The person is already in your roster

  1. Go to Settings → People Management and search by name or email.

  2. Open the row menu and click Edit.

  3. Change Access Type from No account to Account.

  4. Click Save Changes. Span sends the invite if the person doesn't have a Span account yet.

Option 2: Add a new person

  1. In Settings → People Management, click Add member → Add manually.

  2. Fill in Email Address, First Name, Last Name, and the other fields you use, such as Job Title, Manager, and Teams.

  3. Choose the Member type. For a Team Member, set Access Type to Account ("An invite will be sent to log in.").

  4. Click Send Invite. With No account, the button reads Add Person and no invite goes out.

Option 3: Add many people from a CSV

Click Add member → Sync from CSV. This option is greyed out when an HR system or directory sync manages your roster ("CSV upload is disabled while directory sync is enabled." or "CSV upload is disabled while HRIS sync is enabled.").

After adding someone

  • Teams: set them in the Teams field, or in Settings → Team Management. A person can be on more than one team.

  • Verify invite status by going to Settings > People and sorting by Access Type. Users with Account in the Access Type column have been successfully invited.

  • Git usernames: in Edit, set Code Contribution to Contributor. The GitHub Usernames and GitLab Usernames fields appear when your organization has that integration connected. Add every username the person uses. For Azure DevOps, Span matches the person's Email Address automatically, and Additional Azure DevOps accounts takes any other address they use there.

  • Unmatched contributors: when someone has recently contributed under a Git username that Span can't match to a person, People Management shows a Data Quality Issues badge listing the username as a New Contributor. Click Add person to add them, or Ignore for bots and outside contributors. To link the username to someone already in your roster, add it to that person in Edit instead. The same list shows people who aren't assigned to a team.

  • Permission groups (role): to change what someone can see or do, change their permission groups. Click their Permission groups cell in People Management, or use the Permission groups section in Edit. This needs Manage Permission Groups (Owners).

  • SSO: if your organization uses SSO, make sure your identity provider lets them sign in to the Span app. See the SSO checks below.

Troubleshooting invite emails

Span does not currently have a delivery status indicator or a resend invite button for user invitations. However, you can use these workarounds:

  • Share the login link directly: Send the user https://span.app/auth/login. The invite's Accept Invite button only goes to the normal Span login page and has no special token in it, so anyone who already has access can sign in without the email.

  • Force a new invite email: Go to Settings > People Management, open that person's profile, set Access Type to No Account and save, then set it back to Account and save. This sends a fresh invite.

Important: The Access Type toggle method only works one person at a time, not through Bulk edit. It's harmless for someone who has never logged in, but for someone who has already logged in, it resets their login.

SSO sign-in checks

  • Access Type: SSO doesn't create people. The person must be in People Management with Access Type Account.

  • Email: the email your identity provider sends must match the person's email in Span. Span ignores capitalization, but an alias or a different domain fails with "Account does not exist."

  • Identity provider assignment: the person must have the Span app in your identity provider.

  • Status: people marked terminated can't sign in.

Asking for access

  • To get access, ask a Span admin in your organization (someone with Member Management, usually an Owner or Admin) to set your Access Type to Account.

  • If you can sign in but can't see a report or a person, Span shows "You are seeing a limited set of data based on your permissions." Click Learn more to open My Permissions, then ask an Owner to add you to the right permission group.

  • If you don't know who your admin is, contact your Span account team.

Things to know

  • People Management and Team Management are organization-wide. Both pages need Member Management, which can't be scoped to a team. To let a lead manage only their own team's settings, such as sprint tracking, give them Manage Team Settings for that team instead. It doesn't let them add people or change team members.

  • "Email already exists for another user" Someone in your roster already has that email address, often added by your HR system or listed as No account. Span ignores capitalization when it checks. Search People Management by the email and edit that person instead of adding a new one.

  • Two people with the same name? Use the email column in People Management to tell them apart before you edit access or groups.

  • SCIM-managed people are locked. Their Access Type shows a SCIM badge, and Span shows "Cannot change access type for users managed by SCIM." Change their assignment in your identity provider.

  • Synced fields are locked. When an HR system or directory sync manages your roster, fields such as name, title, start date, and manager show "This field is synced with your directory and cannot be edited in Span." (or "your HRIS integration" in place of "your directory"). Change them in the source.

  • You can't remove your own access. Span blocks the change.

  • Removing someone. Set Access Type to No account to stop sign-in, use Mark Terminated for leavers, or Delete. Span won't delete someone who still has direct reports; reassign their reports first.

  • Changes take about 30 minutes to show across the product.

  • Worked example: you add Dana as a Team Member with Access Type Account, Lee as her manager, and her GitHub username dana-dev. Dana gets the invite and shows in grey until she signs in. She lands in Team Members, and about 30 minutes later Lee, who is in Managers, sees Dana in his reports. Her pull requests under dana-dev count toward her. Pull requests she opens under a second username, dana-work, don't count toward her until you add that username to her profile.

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Need help?

Contact your Span account team or reach out to support@span.app.