Everyone else in a space holds a role. Roles come in three tiers below admin: maintainer, member and observer. The tiers form a ladder — each may grant roles below its own. An admin may grant any role, a maintainer may grant member and observer roles, a member may grant observer roles. Observer is the one role people may take for themselves, by declaring their interest in a space.

Which roles exist in a space is up to its admins, who attach role definitions such as \"team member\" or \"helper\" to it. A role definition says which tier it belongs to and which statement expresses the grant. Granting is then a single nanopublication: this space has this person in this role.