Widget Access: Build Your Own Reporting Library with Allow Lists and Block Lists
Qvasa's widget library is large, and not every widget suits every team. Widget access lets admins decide which widgets each person can build with. A block list takes widgets away. An allow list hands out a fixed set, so only those widgets can be used. You attach lists to users and to user groups, or make one the default for the whole account.
Used with reporting terminology, it lets you build your own reporting library. You register the widgets your team has agreed on, in your team's words, and everyone builds dashboards from that library and nothing else.
What widget access controls
Controlled: which widgets a person can add, edit or clone on dashboards they can edit. The widget picker shows them only the widgets they may use, and the API and Claude refuse the rest. A widget's rule follows it into combined charts, heat maps, time series tables and formulas.
Not controlled: what people can see. Widgets already on a dashboard stay visible to everyone who can open it, and can still be moved, resized or deleted. Widget access never hides data.
Nobody is affected until you say so. A person with no list attached, while no account default is set, can use every widget.
Before you start
Only account admins can turn widget access on and manage the lists.
It's switched on per account. Go to Settings, open Top Level Account Settings and search for Widget access configurations. If you don't find it, contact us and we'll make it available on your account. Once it's on, Settings → Widget Access appears. Turning it off later keeps your lists and ignores them.
For a curated library, set up your reporting terminology first. See Reporting Terminology: Your Team's Own Words for Widgets, Columns and Filters.
How lists combine
A person gets every list attached to them directly, plus every list attached to a group they belong to.
Block lists add up, and allow lists add up. A block always wins over an allow.
If any allow list reaches a person, they can use only the widgets their allow lists give them, minus anything blocked.
The account default applies only to people with no list of their own, directly or through a group. A person with their own list gets that list instead of the default.
Setting it up
1. Open Widget Access
Go to Settings → Widget Access. Each list shows its mode, its options (such as Account default), how many widget types and widgets it covers, and who it's attached to. Click New configuration to start a list.
2. Choose the mode and the widgets
Name the list, pick Block list or Allow list, then click Add widgets. In the dialog, pick a widget type on the left. Then either tick specific widgets, or take the whole type, which covers every widget of that kind, including ones added later. Your picks collect on the right. Click Done, then save the form.
3. Attach it, or make it the account default
Under Attached to, search for the users and user groups the list applies to. Under Advanced settings, an allow list has two more options:
Also allow every widget in your reporting terminology: every widget in your library counts as allowed, and the list keeps up as the library changes.
Account default: the list applies to everyone with no list of their own. Only one list can be the default, so marking a new one switches the previous one off. It takes effect for everyone the moment you save, so check the mode and the widgets first.
Build your own reporting library
Put the two features together, and your team builds only from the widgets it has agreed on.
Register your widgets in reporting terminology. Give each one your team's name, description and keywords. An entry with nothing in it still puts the widget in the library.
Create an allow list, say "Our reporting library". Tick Also allow every widget in your reporting terminology and Account default. Add the Display only type too, so people can still add titles and dividers.
Give some teams more, or less. Attach a broader allow list to your leads (for example, whole chart types). Attach block lists wherever a specific widget shouldn't be used. Blocks win everywhere, including over the library.
Everyone without a list of their own now opens the widget picker and finds your library: your names, your descriptions and your labels, and nothing else. When a widget is added to the library, it's allowed straight away.
Two things to know:
Labels don't control access. A widget labelled Do not use or Deprecated is still in your library, so a list that follows the library still allows it. The label only warns people. To stop a widget from being used, block it, or remove it from your reporting terminology.
Whoever manages reporting terminology widens the library. Adding a widget to the terminology allows it for everyone on a list that follows the library. Give the Manage reporting terminology permission with that in mind.
Checking what a person can use
Open a member under Settings → Account Members and click View and change this user's widget access. It shows what they may author, merged from every list that reaches them, with each widget tagged with the list it came from. It also shows the lists attached to them directly (attach or detach them here) and the lists they get through each of their user groups. A user group's page has a widget access table too, for attaching lists to the whole group.
Managing widget access with Claude
If Claude is connected to your account through the Qvasa MCP, it can create, change, attach and detach these lists for you. For example: "Block the AI-inferred CSAT widgets for the Tier 1 Pod group." The token needs to belong to an admin and carry the can_manage_widget_access_configurations scope. See User Access Tokens and the Qvasa MCP. Claude is also the quickest way to build the reporting library itself.
Troubleshooting
I don't see Settings → Widget Access. The feature is off for your account, or you aren't an admin. See "Before you start".
Someone can't add a widget they need. Open their widget access page. A block list wins over every allow list. If an allow list reaches them, the widget has to be on one of their allow lists or in the library (on a list that follows it).
Someone can't edit or clone a widget that's already on their dashboard. That widget isn't allowed for them. They can still see it, move it, resize it or delete it.
The account default isn't applying to someone. They have a list of their own, directly or through a group, so they get that list instead.
Everyone suddenly has fewer widgets. An allow list was marked as the account default. Check which widgets it allows, or untick Account default.