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

# Client store access

> Work in a client's store from your own LaunchMyStore account: how access is requested and approved, what a collaborator session can do, and what stays with the owner.

Agencies, freelancers and developers often build or run a store for someone
else. Instead of sharing a password, request access to the client's store from
your own LaunchMyStore account. Once the owner approves, you open their admin
from yours and work in it as a **collaborator**. The owner keeps billing,
payment details, payouts and staff, and can end your access at any time.

## How it works

<Steps>
  <Step title="Request access">
    In your admin, open **Affiliates → Client stores**, enter the email address
    the owner signs in with, add an optional note, and click **Request
    access**. You can't request your own store, and only one request per store
    can be open at a time.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The owner approves">
    The owner is notified in their admin and by email, and approves or declines
    the request under **Affiliates → Access to your store**. After a decline you
    can send a new request.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the store">
    Next to an active client, click **Open store**. The client's admin opens in
    a new tab with a banner — *Managing a client store* and the store's name —
    and runs on the client's plan. A session lasts up to 8 hours; open the store
    again from Client stores when it ends.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Exit or leave">
    **Exit** in the banner takes you back to your own account. **Leave** on the
    Client stores tab gives up your access to that store until the owner
    approves a new request.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  A browser holds one admin session at a time. While a client's store is open,
  every admin tab in that browser works in the client's store, including tabs you
  opened before. **Exit** switches the whole browser back to your own account.
</Note>

## What a collaborator can do

Everything the owner does day to day: products and collections, orders,
customers, discounts, pages, blogs and menus, themes and the theme editor,
shipping, taxes and checkout settings, store details, analytics, and installing
free apps.

## What stays with the owner

These areas are refused for every collaborator session by the platform itself,
not just hidden in the admin:

| Area | Owner only |
| - | - |
| Billing | Changing or cancelling the plan, payment cards, add-on purchases, paid app installs, app charges and usage caps |
| Payments | Payment gateway settings, including viewing them |
| Money out | Refunds, payouts, bank accounts, the store's own partner earnings |
| People | Staff accounts; approving or removing partners |
| Account security | Password, email verification, two-factor authentication |
| Store ownership | Adding, switching or deleting stores |
| Domains | Buying and renewing domains |
| Developer access | The Developer Console, approving an app's request for API permissions, AI Connector access tokens |

When a collaborator tries one of these, the admin shows *Not available while
managing a client store — only the store owner can do this.*

## For theme developers

* The theme editor and the code editor work on the client's themes the same way
  they do for the owner, within what the client's plan includes.
* Save as you go. When the 8-hour session ends you're returned to your own
  account, and you can open the store again.

## For app developers

* Build and test apps from your own account and store. The Developer Console
  isn't available inside a client session.
* Free apps can be installed from a client session. Paid apps, and any app that
  asks the store to grant it API permissions, have to be approved by the owner
  from their own login.

## When access ends

| What happens | Effect |
| - | - |
| The owner clicks **Revoke access** | Immediate: an open session ends on its next action and you're returned to your own account |
| You click **Leave** | Immediate |
| The session reaches 8 hours | You're returned to your own account; open the store again to continue |
| Your partner account is suspended | Your client sessions end |

## Related

* Help Center, for agencies:
  [Manage your clients' stores](https://launchmystore.help.center/article/1166-manage-client-stores)
* Help Center, for store owners:
  [Let a partner or agency help manage your store](https://launchmystore.help.center/article/1167-give-a-partner-access-to-your-store)
* [Partner program](/partners/program) — earning commission on stores you refer


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