Connect settings

Connect settings hold the lists of values that Connect uses in its dropdowns, filters and reports. When someone adds an organization and picks its relationship type, organization type and industry, the choices come from these lists. Admins and office managers maintain them so that everyone classifies companies, people and skills the same way.

Each list works the same way: a table you can search, an add form, an edit form, a details window, and delete.

Key conceptsCopy Anchor Link

Open Connect settingsCopy Anchor Link

1. In the sidebar, open Settings.
2. Open Connect Setting.
3. Click the list you want: Organization Types, Relationship Types, Relationship Categories, Industries, Industry Subcategories or Skill Categories.

Each list needs its own permission. See Permissions.

Search a listCopy Anchor Link

Type in the search box at the top of the list. The list shows entries whose name contains your text. The footer shows how many entries are showing out of the total, and more load as you scroll.

Relationship Categories and Industry Subcategories are grouped. Each relationship type or industry appears as a highlighted parent row, with its categories or subcategories underneath. Click the arrow on a parent row to collapse or expand it.

Add organization typesCopy Anchor Link

Add relationship typesCopy Anchor Link

1. On Relationship Types, click Add Types. The Add Relationship Types panel opens.
2. Enter a Relationship Name (required), for example "Subcontractor".
3. Click + Add New Relationship Type to add more rows.
4. Click Submit.

Every workspace has a built-in relationship type named Internal Team Member. You cannot edit or delete it.

Add relationship categoriesCopy Anchor Link

Add industriesCopy Anchor Link

1. On Industries, click Add Industry. The Add Industry panel opens.
2. Enter the Industry Name (required), for example "Technology", and an optional Description.
3. Click + Add New Industry to add more rows.
4. Click Submit.

Add industry subcategoriesCopy Anchor Link

Add skill categoriesCopy Anchor Link

1. On Skill Categories, click Add Category. The Add Skill Categories window opens.
2. Enter a Name (required), for example "Research & Analysis", and an optional Description.
3. Click + Add New to add more rows.
4. Click Submit.

Categories marked System come with Cooper and are shared by every workspace. Only Cooper super admins can edit or delete them. A skill category name must be unique in your workspace. A duplicate fails with "A skill category named "…" already exists in this organisation."

Add machinesCopy Anchor Link

The Machines list is not in the sidebar. Open it at /connect/setting/machines.

1. Click Add Machines. The Add Machines window opens.
2. Enter the Machine Name (required), for example "Survey Drone A".
3. Optionally choose Projects (Select Project).
4. Choose the Machine Type (required): Drone, AI, Crawler, Robot, Automation or Other.
5. Enter a Description (required, at least 3 characters).
6. Choose at least one role under Roles. Click + Add Role for more.
7. Click + Add New Machine to add another machine, then click Submit.

The table shows Machine Name, Project, Machine Type, Role and Description.

Edit list entriesCopy Anchor Link

You can also click View in the row menu. The details window shows the name, description, who added and last changed the entry, and when. Click the name or description to edit it in place.

In Relationship Categories and Industry Subcategories, the Edit, View and Delete actions work on the category rows, not on the parent rows.

Delete list entriesCopy Anchor Link

1. Click the row's ... menu and choose Delete. To delete several, tick their checkboxes and click Delete in the footer.
2. In the Are You Sure? window, click Delete.

Deleting archives the entry. It no longer appears in this list or in dropdowns. Records that already use it are not changed.

Full-page add formsCopy Anchor Link

Each list also has a full-page add form, for example /connect/add-organizationtype?newPage=true. The full-page form has Save as Draft and Submit buttons. Entries saved as drafts show a Draft badge in the grouped lists.

Fields referenceCopy Anchor Link

PermissionsCopy Anchor Link

Each list has its own permission in the Settings module of a role: Organization Types, Relationship Types, Relationship Categories, Industries, Industry Subcategories and Skill Categories. Each offers Read, Write and Delete. An admin sets them in Settings → Roles.

The Machines page has no separate permission.

Workspace owners can do everything. System skill categories and the Internal Team Member relationship type are protected for everyone except Cooper super admins.

Tips and best practicesCopy Anchor Link

• Agree on the lists before your team adds many organizations. Renaming later is easy; reclassifying hundreds of records is not.
• Keep lists short and distinct. Two near-identical values, such as "Sub" and "Subcontractor", split your filters and reports.
• Add subcategories only where you filter or report on them.
• Use relationship types, organization types and industries to limit roles. An admin can restrict a role to selected values in Settings → Roles, so for example a buyer sees only vendors.
• Delete values you no longer use. Existing records keep their value, but nobody can pick it again.

TroubleshootingCopy Anchor Link

For AI agentsCopy Anchor Link

There is no dedicated MCP tool for these workspace lists. Agents read them with db_find and change them with db_create and db_update. Every signed-in user can read them. Writes need the matching Settings permission.

Rules and common errors:

• ref_data_browse and ref_data_manage are not for these lists. They manage platform-level templates for new workspaces and need a Cooper super admin. To read the current workspace's values, use db_find.
• Organization and human records store the ID of the chosen value. Look up the ID with db_find before you create or update an organization.
• Deleting archives the entry (status: "Archived"). Filter on active entries when you list them.
• "System-defined relationship types cannot be modified." / "Cannot delete system-defined relationship types: …": the record has isSystem: true. Leave it alone.
• "System-level skill categories can only be deleted by super admins.": the record has isSystemLevel: true.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Organizations: where relationship types, organization types, industries and subcategories are used.
• Humans: uses relationship types.
• Teams: groups of people and organizations.