> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.peakcommerce.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.peakcommerce.com/product/using-peakcommerce/profiles-and-permissions/user-profile-overview.md).

# Profiles Overview

A **profile** defines the detailed permissions a user has — which parts of the platform they can see, which records they can view or edit, and the scope of records they can act on. Every user is assigned one profile in addition to their [role](/product/using-peakcommerce/users-and-user-roles/user-roles.md): the role sets the broad experience, and the profile fine-tunes it.

## Why profiles

Profiles let you express permission tiers without code. Common patterns:

* **Tiered staff** — CSR Junior (view + limited actions), CSR Senior, and CSR Supervisor (full subscription management).
* **Scoped admins** — a Default Admin with minimal permissions versus a full Administrator with access to everything.
* **Customer tiers** — a standard customer profile versus a read-only "managed customer" who can view subscriptions and pay invoices but not change or cancel plans. Because **Change Plan** and **Cancel Plan** are [separate permissions](/product/using-peakcommerce/profiles-and-permissions/portal-action-permissions.md), you can also grant one without the other.
* **Partner access** — partner profiles scoped to their assigned accounts.

## How profiles work

Each profile is tied to a **role type** (Admin, CSR, Partner, or Customer) and carries permissions across the platform's navigation groups (CRM, Commerce, Content, and so on). For each area you control:

* **Navigation visibility** — whether the group appears in that user's sidebar.
* **Resource access level** — View or Edit for each resource (Organizations, Orders, Subscriptions, Invoices, and so on).
* **Record access scope** — all records, only records they created, or records created by or assigned to them.

See [Permission Levels & Record Access](/product/using-peakcommerce/profiles-and-permissions/access-levels-for-permissions.md) for the full model, and [Creating a Profile](/product/using-peakcommerce/profiles-and-permissions/creating-a-profile.md) to build one.

## System and default profiles

PeakCommerce seeds a baseline set of profiles for every tenant, so each role works out of the box and newly created (or auto-provisioned) users always have a profile to land on:

* **Administrator** — full access to every resource. This is a **locked** system profile: it can't be edited, renamed, or deleted, and the name "Administrator" is reserved. Assign it to the people who should hold unrestricted admin access.
* **Default Admin** — a minimal-permission admin baseline, for administrators who shouldn't have access to everything.
* **CSR Default**, **Partner Default**, and **Customer Default** — the starting profile for each non-admin role, scoped to a sensible baseline (CSR account management, partner access tied to assigned accounts, and customer transaction visibility, respectively).

The Default profiles are **yours to tune** — edit any of them to set the baseline you want new users of that role to inherit, or leave them as-is. Administrator is the only profile that's fully locked; everything else you can adjust or extend with your own [custom profiles](/product/using-peakcommerce/profiles-and-permissions/creating-a-profile.md).

Manage profiles from the **user menu** (your name, bottom-left) → **Settings → Profiles**, where each profile shows its role, how many users are assigned, and a summary of its permissions.


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