---
title: "Projects"
description: "Create, switch between, and archive projects, manage project members, and use the Project Dashboard."
source: "Guardian Platform"
---
## About projects

Projects represent a distinct scope of work — a product, initiative, system, or agent — that your team wants to bring into compliance.

A single project can have multiple policies applied to it, each tailored to a unique compliance objective.

Key actions associated with projects include:

- [Creating a project](#creating-a-project)
- [Using the Project Dashboard](#using-the-project-dashboard)
- [Switching between projects](#switching-between-projects)
- [Accessing project settings](#accessing-project-settings)
- [Archiving a project](#archiving-a-project)

![The Projects page, listing three projects with their names, project UUIDs, and creation times, beside a search box, an Active filter, and the Create Project button.](../../../assets/projects/projects-list.png)

## Creating a project

Creating a project is one of the first actions you take in Guardian. By creating a project, you define your scope of work and establish a workspace to add team members and apply policies.

Note: project names and descriptions cannot be edited after creation.

Only Organization Owners can create and archive projects.

To create a project from the Projects page:

1. Navigate to **Projects** in the sidebar
2. Select **Create Project**
3. Enter a **Project Name** and **Project Description**
4. Select **Create Project**

To create a project from within a project:

1. Select the current project name at the top of the project sidebar
2. Select **Create Project** at the bottom of the list
3. Enter a **Project Name** and **Project Description**
4. Select **Create Project**

![The Create New Project dialog, noting that the name and description cannot be changed after creation, with Fraud Detection Model as the Project Name, a description of the model's governance from training through release, and the Create Project button.](../../../assets/projects/create-project.png)

Project names can be up to 80 characters of letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens, and underscores, and must be unique in your organization, including archived projects.

## Using the Project Dashboard

Once you've created a project, you can access its Project Dashboard to view helpful information and take key actions. The Dashboard is headed by the project's name, with the project's UUID under it; select the copy button beside the UUID to copy it for the SDK or the API.

A project's sidebar links to its pages:

- **Dashboard**: See helpful information across controls, indicators, and general activity
- **Applied Policies**: See what policies have been applied
- **Indicators**: See indicators that have been created for the project
- **Lineage Graphs**: See what lineage graphs have been associated with the project
- **Project Settings**: Manage project members and archive the project, if you have the **Edit Project Settings** permission

Below these, the **Applied Policies** section lists each policy applied to the project. Select one to open its own sidebar, headed by the policy's name: **Overview**, **Controls**, **Monitoring**, **Evaluation Logs**, and **Certification**. An indicator, selected from **Indicators**, opens a sidebar of its own too: **Configuration**, **Monitored Controls**, and **Evaluation Logs**.

Deployments that run the Agent Gateway have two more:

- **[Associated Agents](./associated-agents.mdx)**: See the agents linked to the project, their traffic, and their membership state
- **[Plugin Configurations](./plugin-configurations.mdx)**: See the gateway plugins in effect for the project and their activation history

![The Dashboard of the Verifiable Compute project, headed by the project's name with the project UUID and its copy button under it: a sidebar with Dashboard, Applied Policies, Indicators, Lineage Graphs, Associated Agents, Plugin Configurations, and Project Settings, then an Applied Policies section listing the project's policies, beside a Project Compliance summary, a Failed Evaluation Trend chart, recent Activity Logs, and Latest Evaluations.](../../../assets/projects/project-dashboard.png)

## Switching between projects

If you establish multiple projects, you can select or switch between projects in Guardian in several ways.

To select a project or switch to a new project from the Projects page:

1. Navigate to **Projects** in the sidebar
2. Select a project from the Projects table

To switch to another project from within a project:

1. Select the current project name at the top of the project sidebar
2. Select a project from the list; you can type to search

On an indicator's page, the top of the sidebar switches indicators instead. Select **‹ Indicators** first to return to the project sidebar.

## Accessing project settings

Project settings are a space for:

- Viewing existing project members and their roles
- Adding or removing project members
- Archiving a project

To open project settings, select **Project Settings** in the project sidebar or in the top right corner of the project's **Dashboard**. Both appear only with the **Edit Project Settings** permission.

## Archiving a project

Archiving a project prevents any further activity from being recorded in that project — users will not be able to take any actions. This can be used when a project no longer requires compliance tracking.

Before archiving a project, all applied policies within the project must first be archived. Once archived, the project's contents are inaccessible until it is reapplied; only high-level project details remain accessible in the archived state.

Reapplying a project returns it to its original, active state.

To archive a project:

1. Ensure all applied policies within the project are archived (see [Archiving Applied Policies](./policies.mdx#archiving-a-policy))
2. In the project sidebar, select **Project Settings**
3. Select **Archive Project**
4. Type the project name to confirm
5. Select **Archive**

To reapply a project:

1. Navigate to **Projects** in the sidebar
2. Select the **Status** filter dropdown and choose **Archived**
3. Select the archived project
4. Select **Reapply Project**
5. Type the project name to confirm
6. Select **Reapply**

## Related

- [Policies](./policies.mdx) — apply, archive, and reapply the policies in a project
- [Member Management](./member-management.mdx) — add project members and change their roles
- [Indicators](./indicators.mdx) — create the indicators on the project's Indicators page
- [Lineage Graphs](./lineage-graphs.mdx) — view the graphs on the project's Lineage Graphs page
- [Associated Agents](./associated-agents.mdx) — link registered gateway agents to the project
- [Integrity Actions](./integrity-actions.mdx) — why a project's name and description are permanent