Create or join an organisation
An organisation in CellRepo represents a group of people working together, such as a lab, institution, or company.
If you are working entirely on your own, you do not need to create or join an organisation.
You can use CellRepo as an individual without setting one up.
This page explains: - when an organisation is useful, - how to create one, - and how joining an existing organisation works.
Optional demonstration
Watch a short video showing how organisations, labs, and visibility work in CellRepo.
When organisations are useful
Organisations are helpful when:
- you are working with other people,
- your work belongs to a lab, institution, or company,
- projects need to be shared within a group,
- ownership should belong to a team rather than an individual.
If you are just getting started or working independently, you can skip this and continue without an organisation.
Creating an organisation
To create an organisation:
- Open Organisations from the navigation
- Select Create organisation
- Enter the organisation name
- Confirm
That’s all that’s required to get started.
After creation:
- you become the organisation owner,
- the organisation appears in your workspace,
- you can create projects under it when ready.
You do not need to add members immediately.
Joining an existing organisation
If an organisation already exists:
- you will receive an invitation from someone in that organisation,
- once accepted, the organisation will appear in your workspace,
- you’ll see projects you have access to.
Joining an organisation always happens through an invitation.
Labs (optional)
Within an organisation, you may see labs.
Labs are an optional way to organise work inside an organisation.
They are particularly useful when different teams or groups are working on different parts of the work.
If you are a small team or just getting started:
- you do not need to create labs,
- you can work directly with projects.
Labs are mainly for grouping and structure.
They do not control access to data.
Optional demonstration
Watch a short video showing how labs are created and how visibility works at a high level.
Creating a lab
To create a lab:
- Open your organisation
- Go to Labs
- Select Create lab
- Enter a lab name
- Confirm
That is all that is required.
Adding members during creation is optional.
You can manage lab members later from settings.
Lab roles and visibility
Inside a lab, you may see two roles:
- Managers, who can manage labs and memberships
- Members, who belong to the lab
Labs themselves do not define permissions.
Access to:
- projects,
- repositories,
- commit templates
is always managed at the project or repository level, not at the lab level.
By default, new work is private within the organisation.
Visibility options appear when creating projects or repositories.
Where labs are explained in more detail
This page provides a quick introduction to labs so you understand where they fit.
Labs are explained in more detail in:
- CellRepo vocabulary (concepts and definitions)
- Workflow sections (how labs are used in practice)
You do not need to understand labs fully to continue using CellRepo.
What to do next
Once you have created or joined an organisation, most users continue by creating a project.
If you are unsure whether to create an organisation or wait to join one, you can always ask.