Permissions and sessions
An agent acts for one person. It reaches what that person can reach, and nothing more.
When you connect an agent, you allow it to act for you in one team. The agent has no access of its own, and ByteRover checks your access again on every call.
The rules
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| The agent searches what you can use | A search covers every drive you can use in the team. The agent doesn't choose drives and can't name one you can't use. |
| The agent writes where you can write | The upload tool works only in drives where you're an Editor or an Admin. |
| A change to your access changes the agent | When someone gives you a drive, your agent can search it on its next call. When someone removes you from a drive, your agent loses it at the same moment. |
| One connection, one team | A connection belongs to the team you chose when you allowed it. If you're in several teams, the page asks which. To use another team, disconnect the agent under AI tools and connect again. |
| A drive you can't see stays hidden | When the agent names a drive you can't use, the error is not_found, the same as for a drive that doesn't exist. |
The two permissions
When you allow an agent, the page lists what it's asking for under It will be able to. It lists only the permissions the agent asked for, so an agent that asked only to search shows one line, and it can't write until you connect it again with both.
| On the page | Name | The agent can | Tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search and read documents | search:read | Search the drives you can use, list their folders and files, read their text, and download files. | search, list, read, download |
| Add and update documents | content:write | Save a whole file as a new file or a new revision, where you're an Editor or an Admin. | write, upload |
The page also shows Stay connected, meaning the agent stays connected until you revoke it. If you allow an agent that's already connected, the new permissions replace the old ones.
Each search is paid from the team's balance. When the balance is empty, the page warns that the agent can connect but can't search yet. A team owner or admin sees a link to add to the balance.
What an agent cannot do
With only six tools, search, list, read, write, upload and download, an agent:
- can't delete a file, folder or drive.
- can't edit part of a file. It saves whole files only, and the earlier revision is kept.
- can't see or change members, roles, API keys or billing.
- can't give itself more access. Access comes from your roles, and only a person can change a role.
Before you let an agent write
A file an agent saves is like any other file: anyone who can use the drive can find it in a search.
- Ask for a save explicitly. Say which file to save and in which drive.
- Give the agent its own drive for notes. If you want an agent to keep what it learns, make a drive for it. That keeps the files people rely on apart from the files an agent wrote.
- Use the Viewer role to block writes. Your agents can't write in a drive where you're a Viewer.
- Check the revisions. Saving to a path that already has a file adds a revision. Open the file in the app to see every revision under Version history.
See and revoke sessions
Select Connect your AI tools in the sidebar. Under Your sessions, each row is one agent on one machine, showing what the agent can do, when it connected and when it was last used. Last used shows Not used yet until the agent makes its first call, which often means it didn't finish setting up. Only you can see your sessions.
To stop an agent, select Revoke on its row and then Revoke again. It stops working with ByteRover immediately, and you can connect it again whenever you like.
Signing out of a device under Sessions in your account doesn't disconnect your agents. Revoke them under AI tools.
Agents and API keys are different
| An agent connection | An API key | |
|---|---|---|
| Acts for | One person | The team |
| Reaches | The drives that person can use | All of the team's drives, or the drives chosen for the key |
| Sign-in | In the browser, with Allow | A secret in a header |
| Use it for | Claude, Cursor and other agents a person uses | A product, script or server you build |