What are Guest Users in Rhythms?
Users with Guest permissions can view everything in Rhythms — but can’t create, edit, or delete any records. This role is ideal for stakeholders who need visibility without the ability to make changes.
Guest Users represent the 70-80% of employees at most companies who consume OKRs but don't create them, making this feature essential for wall-to-wall adoption and visibility.
Example user cases:
Managers and individual contributors who need visibility into department or team priorities
Employees participating in quarterly business reviews
Team members who consume OKRs but don't own or track them in Rhythms
External stakeholders or contractors who need temporary visibility
How to Identify Your Guest Status
When logged in with Guest access, you'll notice:
Disabled buttons for creating and editing objectives.
Greyed-out fields on record detail pages
No edit icons, and any “edit” or “delete” actions return a notice of insufficient permissions
What Guest Users Can and Cannot Do
Guest Users have comprehensive read-only access, including:
Action | ✅ Allowed | ❌ Not Allowed |
View all OKRs, dashboards, and views (subject to access and visibility) | ✅ |
|
Filter, sort, and search within views | ✅ |
|
See progress updates, check-in history, and OKR alignment | ✅ |
|
Access team-specific content based on their team memberships | ✅ |
|
Update their own profile information | ✅ |
|
Use AI-powered Chat, with read-only policy | ✅ |
|
Create new Objectives, Records, Tasks |
| ❌ |
Perform check-ins or upgrade progress |
| ❌ |
Own objectives or serve as team managers |
| ❌ |
Invite new users |
| ❌ |
Setting Up Guest User Access
There are 2 ways to assign Guest User access to your company.
Option 1: Manual Guest User Assignment
Navigate to Settings > Users in the Admin Console
Select "Add User" or click on an existing user to edit
In the Role dropdown, select "Guest"
Save the user settings
Note: The system will prevent converting a user to Guest if they currently own any OKRs. You must first reassign those objectives to another user.
Option 2: Configure Automated Provisioning (Optional)
For organizations using SCIM:
The user (or IT admin) must first create a group in their IdP that is synced to our application.
The group name must be “Rhythms Guests” (case-sensitive).
(Alternatively, they may choose a different name by coordinating with our administrator.)All intended guest users in their IdP should be added to this group.
These users will then be synced and assigned a Guest license automatically.
Managing Role Changes after Initial Setup
When a Guest User's responsibilities change:
Navigate to Settings > Users
Find the Guest User in the list
Click on their profile to edit
Change their role from "Guest" to "Regular User" or appropriate role
Save the changes
The user will immediately gain full access based on their new role.
Benefits of Guest User Access
Cost-Effective Scaling: Support organizations where only 20-30% of employees actively manage OKRs while the remaining 70-80% need visibility for alignment and context.
Wall-to-Wall Adoption: Enable every employee to access OKRs without the barrier of full licensing costs, supporting company-wide quarterly business reviews.
Clear Role Boundaries: Maintain distinct separation between OKR creators/managers and those who need view-only access for their work.
Automated Management: Configure SCIM integration to automatically provision Guest Users based on Identity Provider groups, reducing manual administration.
Tips & Best Practices for Managing Guest Users
Automate Where Possible: Leverage SCIM group mappings to automatically provision Guest Users, reducing manual administration overhead.
Review Roles Quarterly: Align role reviews with your OKR planning cycles to ensure users have appropriate access as responsibilities evolve.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Can I convert an existing user with OKRs to a Guest User?
A: When a user’s role is changed to guest, they remain the owner of any existing OKRs, but guests can’t be assigned as owners of new OKRs. To avoid gaps in ownership, reassign all of the user’s current OKRs before switching their role to guest.
Q: Do Guest Users count against our Regular User license limit?
A: No, Guest Users have a separate license type and don't count against your Regular User licenses. Contact your Rhythms account team for Guest User pricing.
Q: Can Guest Users comment on OKRs?
A: Not in the initial release. This capability is being considered for future enhancements based on customer feedback.
Q: How do Guest Users know they have read-only access?
A: Guest users do not see any buttons or options to create or edit OKRs.
Q: Can Guest Users export OKR data?
A: No, all export functionality is disabled for Guest Users to maintain data security.
Q: What happens if a Guest User tries to create an OKR?
A: Guest users do not have access to any button or interface that allows OKR creation.”
Q: Can Guest Users be Team Managers?
A: No, Guest Users cannot hold any management roles as these imply editing responsibilities.