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A domain is the top-level container for all work in OpenIndex. Everything you create — work items, workflows, categories, mailboxes — belongs to a domain. You organize your teams and operational areas by creating and managing domains.

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Personal domains and shared domains

OpenIndex distinguishes between two kinds of domains:
TypeDescription
Personal domainAutomatically created for each user. Identified by the special ME key in the CLI. Use it for personal tasks, drafts, and workflows that aren’t shared with a team.
Shared domainExplicitly created and shared with other users. This is the standard type for team operations.
When you run oi queue list or oi settings domain workflows list --domain ME, you’re targeting your personal domain.

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Domain keys

Each domain has a short alphanumeric key you choose at creation time. The key is used to prefix all work item identifiers in that domain: 
OPS-1, OPS-2, OPS-123
Sub-task keys extend the parent task key: 
OPS-123.1, OPS-123.2
Choose a key that is short and meaningful — it appears on every work item in the domain and cannot be changed after creation.

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Membership roles

Domains support four membership roles with different permission levels:
Full control over the domain, including deleting it. Each domain has exactly one owner. Owners can transfer ownership and manage all members.
Can manage domain settings, invite and remove members, configure workflows, and create or delete work items. Cannot delete the domain itself.
Can create and update work items, add comments, and manage their own assignments. Cannot change domain settings or manage other members.
Read-only access to the domain’s work items and workflows. Cannot create or modify any content.

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What you can do in a domain

Manage workflows

Assign workflows to the domain and define the statuses, stages, stage gates, and custom fields that govern work progression.

Create work items

Create projects, tasks, and sub-tasks. All work items are keyed with the domain prefix and tracked in a single canonical model.

Invite members

Add users to the domain with a specific role. Update or revoke membership at any time.

Configure categories

Define domain-scoped labels to organize and filter work items. Categories are applied to individual work items and can be used to group related work.

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Domain API

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Create a domain

POST /domains

{
  "key": "OPS",
  "name": "Operations"
}
Or with the CLI: 
oi settings domain create --key OPS --name "Operations"

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Read and update a domain

GET   /domains/:id
PATCH /domains/:id

oi settings domain list
oi settings domain get OPS

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Manage members

GET    /domains/:id/members
POST   /domains/:id/members
PATCH  /domains/:domainId/members/:memberId
DELETE /domains/:domainId/members/:memberId
When you invite a member via POST /domains/:id/members, provide the user ID and role. Use PATCH to change a member’s role later, and DELETE to remove them.

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Categories

Categories are managed on the domain work item: 
GET    /domains/:id/categories
GET    /browse/:key/categories
POST   /browse/:key/categories
DELETE /browse/:key/categories/:categoryId

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Deletion safety

Domain deletion is a two-step process to prevent accidental data loss:
1

Preview the delete

Call GET /domains/:id/delete-preview to see what will be removed. The response lists all dependent resources — work items, workflows, members, mailboxes — before any data is touched.
oi settings domain delete-preview OPS
2

Confirm cascade deletion

If you want to proceed, call DELETE /domains/:id?confirmCascade=true. The confirmCascade query parameter is required. Without it, the delete request is rejected.
DELETE /domains/:id?confirmCascade=true
Domain deletion is permanent and cascades to all work items, workflows, categories, and mailboxes in the domain. Always review the delete preview before confirming.