---
title: "Profiles & Access"
description: "Multiple readers per install, admin and reader roles, and optional per-profile passwords."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bookhoarder.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Profiles & Access

1. **The first profile is always admin**

   There's no separate setup account — whoever creates the install's
   first profile can manage everything.
2. **Add more profiles as needed**

   From Settings → Manage Profiles (admin only), picking a role for
   each.
3. **Lock a profile, optionally**

   Add a password from Settings → Profile — switching to that profile
   then asks for it.

## Roles

Every profile is either an **admin** or a **reader**:

- **Admins** can create and delete profiles, assign roles, delete books,
  and edit server-wide settings — SMTP, trending, and metadata lookup
- **Readers** can only edit their own profile (name, color, password,
  e-reader email)

Bookhoarder won't let you delete the only profile on an install, or the
only remaining admin — there's always at least one profile, and it's
always able to manage the place.

## What's per-profile

Each profile keeps its own:

- Name and color
- Shelves (see [Shelves](/features/shelves))
- Ratings, read/unread status, and reading progress for every book
- Password lock
- E-reader destination email (see [Send to E-Reader](/features/send-to-ereader))

The book library itself is shared — every profile sees the same books,
just with its own shelves and reading state layered on top.

## Password protection

A profile's password is optional and locks *switching into* that
profile, not the whole install. Passwords are hashed with salted scrypt
on the server; the hash never reaches the client, and a profile with no
password set is never locked.

Source: https://docs.bookhoarder.dev/features/profiles/index.mdx