# A room of your own. Inside your site.

> A circle is a group of members with no price, and posts only they read. Make one, put people in it, lock posts for it. By hand or with your agent.

A circle is a named group of members with no price and no end date. **Lock a post for a circle, and only the people in it read past the excerpt.** You, your agent or your own app decide who is in.

**Early access.** This guide uses a feature in early access. PixelGlass turns it on for a publication on request while it is new.

## By hand, in the admin

1. Open **Audience**, press **Circles**, then **New circle**.
2. Give it a **Name** and a **Description**. Under **Join page**, put the address where a reader learns how to get in. Save.
3. Open a member's page. Under **Circles**, choose the circle and press **Add**. For many people, tick them on Audience and use **Circle** in the bar.
4. Open a post's settings drawer. Under **Who can read**, choose **Circles** and tick the circle.
5. A reader outside sees the title, the cover and the excerpt, then **Learn how to join**, which opens the join page.

## With your agent

> Make a circle called Founding members, with our lifetime offer page as its join page.

> Put ana@example.com and leo@example.com in Founding members.

> Make “Studio notes, March” readable by the Founding members circle only.

> Take sam@example.com out of the Cohort 3 circle.

The tools it calls: `list_circles`, `create_circle`, `update_circle`, `add_to_circle`, `remove_from_circle`, `list_posts`, `update_post_settings`.

## Examples

- **A course, cohort by cohort.** A writing teacher makes a circle for each cohort. **The lesson posts for Cohort 3 open only to Cohort 3**, and the circle stays after the course ends.
- **Notes for clients.** A consultant keeps a Clients circle. Briefings are for that circle, and the join page is her contact page.
- **Founders, kept in step by an app.** A fitness app sells lifetime plans in its own checkout. Each night its code puts new lifetime buyers in the Founders circle on the PixelGlass site.

## Questions

### What is a circle on PixelGlass?

A named group of members with no price. A post can be for one or more circles, and a member in any of them reads it whole.

### How is a circle different from a tier?

A tier is what a member pays for through PixelGlass. A circle is a group a member belongs to, with no price. A member can be on a tier and in many circles at once.

### What does a reader outside the circle see?

The title, the cover and the excerpt, then a Learn how to join link when the circle has a join page. A circle is never sold on the site.

### Can my own app decide who is in a circle?

Yes. With a staff key, your app finds the circle by its slug and puts members in or takes them out through the admin's JSON, one at a time or many at once.

### Can I delete a circle that posts are for?

No. PixelGlass names the posts that are for it, so you change who can read them first.

### Who can manage circles?

Admins and the owner, on the screen or through an agent they connect.

## See also

- [Put a post behind a paywall](https://pixelglass.co/guides/put-a-post-behind-a-paywall): Lock any post for members, for paying members or for chosen tiers. Readers outside see the title and the excerpt. Do it in the editor or ask your agent.
- [Sync members from your app](https://pixelglass.co/guides/sync-members-from-your-app): Keep your app's users and your PixelGlass members in step over the admin's JSON: find by address, add, change, label, and change many at once.
- [Manage your member list](https://pixelglass.co/guides/manage-your-member-list): Find any reader by name or address, filter by status, plan, newsletter and label, add a person by hand, and change many members at once.
- [Circles](https://pixelglass.co/features/circles): Circles are private groups of members with posts only they can read: founding members, cohorts, clients. Add people by hand or sync them from your app.
- [Members and comments](https://pixelglass.co/features/community): Give readers a member account with no password, a conversation under every post, and badges that honour your supporters. Moderated by your team.
- [Every guide](https://pixelglass.co/guides)
- [Pricing](https://pixelglass.co/pricing): every feature on every plan, 14 days free
- [Create your site](https://pixelglass.co/signup)