Manage Site access, onboarding, and lifecycle

Choose how visitors discover your academy, how learners sign in, and who can maintain the Site. Keep those choices aligned with the audience for the selected courses and documentation.

Set visibility and sign-in

1. Open the Site's Settings.
2. Choose Visibility: Public, Unlisted, or Private.
3. Choose whether search engines may index the Site.
4. Choose Save changes.
5. Review the experience as the intended visitor.
6. Open a course and check that its start action continues through sign-in.

Visitors can browse public documentation and course descriptions without signing in. Courses require sign-in so learners can retain their progress. An unlisted address can still be shared with someone who has the link. Select Private when visitors must sign in before viewing the Site.

Require approval for a private Site

A private Site can require approval after a visitor signs in. The visitor cannot view its content while the request is pending.

1. Open Settings → Visibility.
2. Select Private.
3. Enable Require approval after sign-in.
4. Save the Site.
5. Publish the Site.
6. Open its published address with a test visitor account.
7. Complete sign-in.
8. Check the access-request page.
9. As a Site owner, open the workspace Sites page.
10. Find the visitor under Access requests.
11. Select Approve to grant access, or Deny to reject the request.
12. Ask the test visitor to return to the Site and check the result.

Use Remove access in recent decisions when an approved visitor should lose that grant. Check that the request names the intended person and Site before you approve it. Site visitor approval is separate from permission to edit or publish the Site.

Set up custom onboarding

Custom onboarding uses the Custom builder. The Default assistant cannot create or change its onboarding code.

1. Save the Site draft.
2. Select Custom and review the mode-switch confirmation.
3. In Settings, enable Custom onboarding.
4. Choose Save changes.
5. Open Onboarding from Pages.
6. Ask the Site assistant to build the questions and welcome flow.
7. Review the onboarding preview.
8. Choose whether Show onboarding data in People should expose answers to authorized Site managers.
9. Save the settings.
10. Publish when the welcome flow and access settings are ready.
11. Check sign-in and onboarding with a test learner.

Review the complete Custom Site before publication. Its presentation differs from the retained Default layout.

Onboarding helps a new learner enter the program with the right context. Signing in through the Site places new external learners in the Site's external learner group and gives them the learning access associated with that Site. Internal workspace members retain their existing workspace membership.

Review onboarding responses

1. Open the Site editor and select Onboarding.
2. Use Database and Table to browse collected responses when a database is available.
3. Use the read-only query editor for a focused view of the stored data.
4. Review the member information in People when enabled and permitted.

You can also ask the Workspace Assistant about saved onboarding responses:

Summarize onboarding responses for Northstar Product Academy this week. Group the answers by learner role.

Name the Site when your workspace has several Sites. The assistant can read responses; it cannot change them.

Keep response access with the people managing the program. Ask only the questions needed to support the learner's experience.

Share Site editing responsibilities

1. Open Share as a Site publisher or manager.
2. Search for a person already in the workspace.
3. Choose Can edit for drafting, or Can edit and publish for someone who should release changes.
4. Choose Share and review the editor list.
5. Remove a person's Site-specific grant when their responsibility ends.

People with workspace-wide Sites permissions retain that access. Sharing a Site's editor is separate from configuring its visitor audience.

Restricted assistant tools remain listed. If your role cannot perform an action, the tool explains that you need Publisher access on this Site. Custom code editing also requires Publisher access. Editors can continue using the Default Site assistant for draft changes.

Prepare search and social previews

1. In Settings, open the SEO and sharing controls.
2. Enter the Page title and Description. The editor allows up to 70 and 200 characters respectively.
3. Upload a social sharing image. Use the recommended 1200 × 630 format and keep the file within the displayed 5 MB limit.
4. Save, then review the Site's title, description, and sharing appearance at its published address.

Use a specific title and description that explain who the academy serves and what visitors can achieve.

Manage addresses and embedding

Use Settings → Address for the included Honen subdomain and custom hostnames. Follow Connect your custom domain for DNS provisioning, or Mount under an existing website for a path such as /docs.

Add intended website origins to Allowed embedding origins when mounting or embedding the Site. Review nested links, documentation images, sign-in, and assistant behavior from the final address.

Save, publish, and maintain the Site

1. Use Save to preserve the draft and Publish to release it.
2. Use Reset when you want to discard unsaved editor changes and return to the saved version.
3. In Settings → General, maintain the Site name and slug. A slug uses lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens; changing it also affects the included address and may require provisioning.
4. Use Archive site in the advanced settings when the Site should go offline.
5. Use Delete site only when you intend permanent removal; review the confirmation before completing it.

Review the public home page, a nested guide, search, course entry, and the expected authentication flow after each release. See Publish an academy for the full launch sequence.