# Hand a site over

Source: [Hand a site over](https://typeroll.com/docs/guides/handover/)

> Hand a finished site to the people who edit it, with a checklist, the page they start on and an optional lock so editors change text and images but not the structure.

When a site is built, the people who edit it every day are often not the people who built it: a client, a shop owner, a marketing team. A **handover** prepares the site for them:

* a **checklist** of what is left to do, such as replacing sample photos or connecting the domain,
* a **start page** that editors open first,
* an optional **structure lock**: editors change text and images, but the blocks, their order and the pages stay as you built them.

The handover belongs to the site. It works in Typeroll Cloud and on a self-hosted portal alike.

## Who can set it

Administrators and builders of the site’s Organization set the handover: they have **design rights**. Editors, and clients who reach the site through a [share](https://typeroll.com/docs/guides/agencies/#give-the-client-access) with write permission, do not. See [Teams and roles](https://typeroll.com/docs/guides/teams-and-roles/).

## Set it up in the portal

1. Open the site and go to **Settings → Access & AI**, then select **Manage handover**.
2. Add the checklist items. An item can link to a place in the portal, such as `/app/sites/<site id>/media` for the Media library. Reorder or remove items with the buttons beside them, and tick off what is done.
3. Choose the **start page**, usually the home page.
4. Turn on **Lock the structure for editors** if editors should keep the layout as it is.
5. Select **Save handover**. When the site is handed over, select **Mark as handed over**; the date is saved with it.

**Remove handover** deletes the checklist and unlocks the structure.

## What editors see

On the site’s overview page, people without design rights see a **start view** first: a welcome, a button to edit the start page, the checklist and how much of it is done (read-only for them), and the pages they edit. Administrators and builders see a small **Handover** card with the progress and a link to change it.

## What the structure lock allows

With the lock on, an editor can:

* change text, images, links, colours chosen from the palette and other block settings,
* edit page titles, SEO fields and custom fields,
* copy blocks to the clipboard,
* save drafts and publish them as usual.

An editor cannot:

* add a block, from the block library, a template, the collection or the clipboard,
* delete, duplicate or move a block, or drag it in the structure,
* make a block global or detach a global block,
* change a block’s type, or turn it into a block type,
* apply another page template or change the page’s content type or mode,
* create or delete pages, page templates or global blocks, or change the structure of the header, the footer or a global block,
* restore a revision that has other blocks.

The editor hides these actions and says: “The site’s structure is locked; you can edit text and images.” The server refuses them too, for the portal, the [REST API](https://typeroll.com/docs/guides/rest-api/) and [MCP](https://typeroll.com/docs/getting-started/agent-workspace/) alike, with `403` and `code: "structure_locked"`. Builders and administrators are never locked, so you can still change the site after the handover.

A draft with structural changes made before the lock was turned on cannot be saved by an editor; a builder saves or discards it.

## Before you hand it over

Run the [launch checklist](https://typeroll.com/docs/guides/launch-checklist/). Two items matter most for a handover:

* [Placeholders](https://typeroll.com/docs/guides/launch-checklist/#placeholders): bracketed sample text such as `[Feature name]` left on live pages.
* [Demo media](https://typeroll.com/docs/guides/launch-checklist/#demo-media): sample photos from a template package.

Each lists the pages with a link to edit them.

## Set it through the API or an agent

The handover is the `handover` object of the site settings. Send the whole object; it is replaced, not merged, and `null` removes it:

```http
PATCH /api/v1/sites/{siteId}/settings
Content-Type: application/json


{
  "handover": {
    "lock_structure": true,
    "start_page": "home",
    "checklist": [
      { "id": "photos", "label": "Replace the sample photos", "href": "/app/sites/bistro/media" },
      { "id": "domain", "label": "Connect the domain", "done": true }
    ],
    "handed_over_at": "2026-11-07T12:00:00Z"
  }
}
```

An agent does the same with `update_site_settings`. The fields are described in the [settings reference](https://typeroll.com/docs/tools/settings/#handover-object).

An app can offer handover too: with the `site:handover` scope in its [manifest](https://typeroll.com/docs/extensions/manifest/), its installation reads the site settings and writes the `handover` key, and nothing else in the settings.