The studio owner guide

Create the studio

Sidebar → Studios · /studios

1. 1Open Studios in the sidebar and click Create Studio. If this is your first, the empty state calls the button Create Your First Studio.
2. 2The dialog is titled "Create New Studio". Fill in the required fields: Studio Name, URL Slug, Street Address, City, State, ZIP Code, Phone and Timezone.
3. 3Watch the URL Slug label as you type. It appends "Available" in green or "Already taken" in red. The field force-lowercases your typing and strips anything that is not a letter, number or hyphen.
4. 4Fill in the optional fields if you have them: Description, "Apt, Suite, Unit", Email and Website.
5. 5Click Create Studio.

• Create Studio stays disabled while the slug reads "Already taken". Pick another.
• The slug is what every public URL is built from — your studio’s public page is /contact/your-slug — so choose one you are happy to print.
• There is a rate limit: 3 studios per account per 24 hours, and 5 per IP address. Going over returns a message, not a crash.

Fill in your studio details

Sidebar → Administration → Studio Settings · /studios/{studioId}/settings

1. 1Open the General tab. The card is called "Studio Information".
2. 2Update Studio Name, URL Slug, Description, Street Address, "Apt, Suite, Unit", City, State, ZIP Code, Phone, Email, Website and Timezone.
3. 3Click Save Changes.

• Phone is US-only: the help text reads "US numbers only. Saved as +1XXXXXXXXXX."
• If details are missing you get a red alert above the card headed "Finish setting up your studio", listing what is absent. It is a prompt, not a block — the save still goes through. Owners often assume it is stopping them. It is not.

Control your listing in the Catomni Studio Directory

Studio Settings → General

You are listed by default. This is an opt-OUT, not an opt-in — there is nothing to do here unless you want to be hidden.

1. 1On the General tab, find the "Catomni Studio Directory" card.
2. 2The "Show my studio in the Catomni Studio Directory" switch is already on. Turn it off to be hidden.

• There is no Save button on this card. The switch writes immediately and confirms with "Your studio is hidden from the directory", or "Your studio is listed in the directory" when you turn it back on. If the write fails the switch flips back on its own.
• The directory is visible to signed-in Catomni account holders only, not to the open web. Your Contact Now inquiry page stays public either way, so a link you have already shared keeps working for anyone.
• A newly created studio is not directory-approved when it is created, so the switch is your half of the decision rather than the whole of it. Both must hold: a platform admin approves that you may be listed, and this switch says whether you want to be.

Put your logo and colours on it

Studio Settings → Branding

1. 1Open the Branding tab. It has three cards: Logo, Brand Colors and Preview.
2. 2Upload your logo. The card notes where it shows up: "Appears in the sidebar, studio switcher, and kiosk header."
3. 3Set your colours in Brand Colors — the inputs are placeheld with #084054.
4. 4Check the Preview card, then click Save Branding.

• Save Branding is disabled while an upload is still running. Wait for it.

Publish your landing page

Studio Settings → Landing Page

Every studio gets a public page at /contact/your-slug. The Landing Page tab controls what visitors see there.

1. 1Open the Landing Page tab. The "Your landing page" card shows the real public URL in a read-only field.
2. 2Click Copy to put the link on your clipboard — it confirms with "Link copied — add it to your website". The icon button beside it opens the page in a new tab.
3. 3In the "Sections" card, switch on the blocks you want: "At a glance", "Programs and classes", "Weekly schedule", "Membership pricing", "Belt or rank path" and "Visit us".
4. 4In "Words on the page", write any of the Opening line, Headline, Sub-headline, Offer badge, Button label, Form heading, Closing headline and Highlights. Every one is optional.
5. 5Add a testimonial in "What people say" — Quote and "Who said it".
6. 6Decide whether the "Enquiry form" card should "Require a phone number".
7. 7Save at the bottom of the page.

• Sections only render when you have the data behind them. The card says so: "Each section only appears when you have the data behind it, so turning one on never produces an empty block."
• "Membership pricing" publishes a rate card, so it is off until you deliberately turn it on. "Belt or rank path" is also off by default and only shows a program with at least three ranks.
• Turning off "Publish the full landing page" does not take the page down. The link still works — visitors just get a simple contact form instead.
• Leave any of the "Words on the page" fields blank and a sensible default is used.

Decide what parents may do to their own membership

Studio Settings → Payments

1. 1Open the Payments tab.
2. 2In "Membership Pauses", decide whether to "Allow parents to pause their own membership", then set "Maximum pause length (days)" and "Pauses per year". Save that card.
3. 3In "Membership Cancellations", decide whether to "Allow parents to cancel their own membership". Save that card too.

• Each card saves separately. Two cards, two save buttons.
• Despite the name, this tab has no Stripe setup on it at all. Stripe lives on the Billing page — see the payments section below.
• Leave self-service pausing off and families can still ask: they get a dated request that you approve or decline instead.

Add your classrooms

Studio Settings → Classrooms

A classroom is a prerequisite for creating a class, so this is worth doing before you build the timetable.

1. 1Open the Classrooms tab and click Add Classroom.
2. 2In the "Add Classroom" dialog fill in Name, Capacity, and optionally Description.
3. 3Save. The table lists Name, Description, Capacity and Status (Active or Inactive).

• The row menu edits a classroom or deactivates it.
• You can also add one without leaving the class form — see "Create a class" below.

Set the options your class form offers

Studio Settings → Classes

1. 1Open the Classes tab.
2. 2Edit the lists in "Class Form Options" — these are the categories and skill levels that appear in the class create form.
3. 3Set "Age Limit Unit" to Months or Years. This flips the age labels on the class form.
4. 4Manage saved class and program templates in "Saved Templates". Deleting one asks "Delete this template?" first.

Invite a staff member who will make their own account

Sidebar → Administration → Staff · /studios/{studioId}/staff

1. 1Open Staff and click Invite Staff.
2. 2The dialog is "Invite a Staff Member". Enter their Email address.
3. 3Pick a Role. The options carry their own descriptions: Admin — "Full access except owner actions"; Instructor — "Check-in, attendance, milestones"; Front Desk — "Members, check-in, attendance". Instructor is the default.
4. 4Click Send Invite. An email goes out automatically.

• Owner is deliberately not on the list. There is no way to create a second owner from inside a studio.
• This is also the right path when the person already has a Catomni account — the invite reattaches their existing profile rather than duplicating it.

Create an account for someone who will not check their email

Staff → Create Account

Useful for the front desk hire who is standing in front of you. It produces a temporary password you read out once.

1. 1Click Create Account. The dialog is "Create a Staff Account".
2. 2Fill in First name, Last name, Email address and Role.
3. 3Click Create Account.
4. 4The dialog switches to "Account created" and shows a Temporary login block with Email, Password and Role. Use the copy button.
5. 5Give it to them, then click Done.

• The temporary password is shown once and never again. Copy it before you close the dialog.
• The dialog tells them what to do next: "have them sign in and change it in Account settings."
• If that email already has an account this refuses and points you at Invite Staff instead.

Chase or revoke an invite

Staff → Pending Invites

When you see thisThe Pending Invites card only appears when invites exist.

1. 1Find the person in the Pending Invites card.
2. 2Click Copy link to send it yourself — over text, or in a message. The card explains: "Invites expire after 7 days. An email was sent automatically — copy the link if you’d like to share it directly too."
3. 3To cancel one, click the X on the row to revoke it.

• Expired invites are marked Expired in red.

Change someone’s role

Staff → Active Staff

1. 1Find them in the Active Staff card — "Current team members with access to the studio dashboard."
2. 2Use the role dropdown on their row.
3. 3Confirm in the "Change role?" dialog.

• Admin appears in that dropdown only for an owner. Nobody else can promote someone to Admin.
• Your own row always shows a static badge instead of a dropdown. That is because it is yours, not because of your role — you cannot change your own role here whoever you are.
• Another owner’s row is a working dropdown when you are an owner yourself, so a studio with two owners can demote one. An admin with Manage staff sees a static badge on any owner row instead — they can manage everyone below owner and no further.
• If the person’s access has been customised, changing their role does NOT change their permissions. The confirmation dialog says so: their access stays exactly as you set it, and you have to go into "Edit access" to change it or reset them to their new role’s defaults. This surprises people — the role label moves and nothing else does.
• Rows carry badges: You on your own row, and "Custom access" on anyone whose permissions you have overridden.

Give one person a custom set of permissions

Staff → row menu (⋯) → Edit access

This is the owner’s headline power. Roles are defaults; this replaces them for one person. An instructor can be handed financial visibility, and an admin can be cut back.

When you see thisEdit access is owner-only, and only on active, non-owner members. The row menu is hidden entirely on your own row and on any owner’s row.

1. 1Open the row menu (⋯, labelled Actions) and choose Edit access.
2. 2The dialog is "Access for {name}". Read its description — it tells you whether this person is still following their role defaults or already has a custom set.
3. 3Work down the Module / Read / Write table. There is one row per module: Studio settings, Staff, Classes, Schedule, Members, Billing, Check-in, Attendance, Milestones, Messages, Announcements, Reports, Inquiries, Timesheets, Homework.
4. 4Tick what they should have. Only Members, Billing, Attendance and Reports have a Read cell; Reports has no Write cell. Anywhere there is no separate permission you get an em-dash instead of a checkbox.
5. 5Click Save access. To put them back on their role, use Reset to role defaults.

• Saving REPLACES their access — it does not merge with their role. Unticking a box takes that access away. This is the single most misread thing on the page.
• The dialog spells out the other trap: "Granting write access does not imply read access — tick both where a module offers both."
• Reset to role defaults is disabled when the person is already following their role.
• You cannot edit your own access, and you cannot restrict an owner.
• Every change writes a row to the audit log.

Remove or reactivate someone

Staff → row menu (⋯)

1. 1Open the row menu and choose Remove from studio.
2. 2Confirm in the "Remove staff member?" dialog.
3. 3To bring them back, find them in the Inactive Staff card — "Deactivated accounts — can be reactivated at any time." — and choose Reactivate.

• The Inactive Staff card only renders when there are inactive members and you hold Manage staff.
• You cannot remove yourself, and you cannot remove the last active owner.

Create a class

Sidebar → Classes · /studios/{studioId}/classes

1. 1Click Create Class. The dialog that opens is headed "Create New Class".
2. 2Optionally pick a template in "Start from template" — the placeholder reads "Blank class (optional)".
3. 3Fill in Name, Description, Category, Skill Level, Classroom, the age minimum and maximum, and Capacity.
4. 4Save.

• No classrooms yet? The Classroom select shows "No classrooms yet" and offers an inline "Add a classroom" dialog right there — Name (placeholder "e.g. Studio A") and Capacity (placeholder "e.g. 20"). It saves you a trip to Settings.
• The age fields are labelled in months or years depending on what you set on the Classes tab in Studio Settings.
• Archiving a class asks "Archive this class?" and is reversible — archived rows offer Reactivate.

Build a program and its milestones

Sidebar → Programs · /studios/{studioId}/programs

Programs are "Structured curricula that group classes and milestones" — your belt or rank ladder, and the classes that lead up to each rung.

1. 1Open Programs and click Create Program.
2. 2Link classes to it. On a program’s own page, the "Link Classes" button opens a dialog of the same name.
3. 3Add milestones and reorder them.
4. 4Award a milestone to a student from the program page’s student list.

• Creating and editing programs and milestones needs Manage classes. Awarding a milestone needs a different permission — Award milestones — which instructors hold and which does not let them create programs. Worth knowing when you decide who does what.
• A program’s detail page carries a student progress table showing where everyone stands.

Add a recurring weekly time slot

Sidebar → Schedule · /studios/{studioId}/schedule

There is no "Add schedule" button. The dialog is opened by dragging out a time range on the calendar itself — this is the least discoverable control in the product, so it gets its own step.

1. 1Open Schedule.
2. 2Click and drag across the time range you want, directly on the calendar grid.
3. 3The "Add Schedule Entry" dialog opens, pre-filled from the range you dragged.
4. 4Set Class, Days of Week, Start Time and End Time. Instructor is optional — its placeholder reads "Select instructor (optional)".
5. 5Save.

• The drag handler is gated on Manage schedules. Without that permission, dragging simply does nothing — there is no error to tell you why.
• Use the header controls to move around: previous and next arrows, Today, a date picker, the Day / Week / Month / List toggle, and the All Classrooms and All Instructors filters.

Put actual sessions on the calendar

Schedule → Generate Sessions

This is the step people miss. A recurring schedule entry is a pattern, not a calendar. Until you generate sessions, the calendar stays empty and nobody can be checked in.

When you see thisThe Generate Sessions button requires Manage schedules.

1. 1On the Schedule page, click Generate Sessions.
2. 2The dialog explains itself: "Create class sessions based on your recurring schedules. Sessions that already exist will be skipped."
3. 3Choose how far ahead to generate: 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks or 12 weeks.
4. 4Confirm. You get back either "Created N sessions" or "All sessions already exist".

• Running it twice is safe — existing sessions are skipped, not duplicated.
• Open a session on the calendar to cancel, edit or restore it. All three need Manage schedules.

Connect your Stripe account

Sidebar → Billing · /studios/{studioId}/billing

Only the owner can do this. Admins see the buttons, and Connect Stripe Account refuses them with "Only studio owners can set up Stripe". If you are an admin reading this, fetch the owner.

1. 1Open Billing. While onboarding is incomplete you get a warning card at the top of the Overview tab.
2. 2Read the "Have these ready" panel before you start. It lists what Stripe will ask for, split by business type.
3. 3For a sole proprietor or individual: SSN last 4 digits, date of birth, home address, bank routing and account number, phone, and a website URL or a one-line description of the business.
4. 4For an LLC or corporation: EIN, legal business name and address, business phone, bank routing and account number, a website or one-line description, and for you and anyone owning 25% or more — name, email, date of birth, SSN last 4 and home address.
5. 5Click Connect Stripe Account and complete Stripe’s flow. The panel is honest about the effort: "Stripe collects this, not Catomni. It takes about 10 minutes if you have the numbers to hand."
6. 6You land back on Billing, which syncs your status automatically.

• Interrupted? The button becomes Resume Stripe Setup and picks up the same account — retrying does not create a duplicate.
• Business type — individual versus company — is chosen inside Stripe’s flow and locks permanently the first time you start it. There is deliberately no selector in Catomni. Getting it wrong means talking to Stripe support, so read the two lists above before you click.
• Come back from Stripe and navigate elsewhere instead of landing on Billing, and your status can read stale. Open Billing, or use the Refresh Status button beside Connect, to re-sync. Refresh Status is not owner-only — any staff member who can open Billing can click it.

Keep payouts running

Billing → Overview

1. 1Once connected, the page shows a single green "Stripe connected" line rather than a banner.
2. 2Below it, an account-health card appears whenever a Stripe account exists — before and after onboarding completes — and tells you what, if anything, Stripe still needs from you.
3. 3When it reports something outstanding, follow it through to Stripe using "Continue in Stripe" or "Open Stripe dashboard", then click "Re-check with Stripe" on the health card to pull the new state back in.

• The setup card that carries Connect and Refresh Status disappears once onboarding is complete. After that the health card is the whole of your Stripe surface, and "Re-check with Stripe" is the button that re-syncs.
• "Re-check with Stripe" is owner-only: an admin sees the button but gets "Only studio owners can check Stripe requirements" on clicking it. The card says so in advance — "Only the studio owner can send these details to Stripe" — but only to a non-owner who can manage billing.
• "Open Stripe dashboard" is an ordinary external link with no role check on it at all. Anyone who can open Billing can follow it; what they can then do is decided by Stripe, not by Catomni.
• Billing has four tabs: Overview, Membership Plans, Promo Codes and Pause Requests. Pause Requests shows a pending count in brackets when families are waiting on you.

How roles and overrides fit together

• Owner holds all 18 permissions. Admin holds 17 — everything except Manage staff. That single permission is the only difference between the two roles in the permission system.
• Everything else that is owner-only — starting or resuming Stripe setup, the embedded onboarding form, re-checking Stripe requirements, deleting the studio, editing another member’s access, assigning the Admin role, reviewing your own timesheet — is hard-wired to the owner role, not to a permission. You cannot grant your way to it. Note that this is a list of specific actions, not of whole pages: Billing itself is reachable by anyone with View financials, and some of what is on it works for them.
• A per-member override REPLACES a role’s defaults; it does not add to them. So "an admin can do X" is a default, not a guarantee.
• Owners are exempt from overrides. An owner always has the full set, whatever the access editor says.

What a missing permission looks like

Four different behaviours, and telling them apart will save your staff a support ticket.

• Redirect to an "Access denied" page: Billing, Reports, Announcements, Inquiries, the Audit Log, and Events actions.
• Page loads, write controls hidden: Classes, Programs, Schedule, Events and Timesheets. Staff can look but not touch, and nothing they can see will refuse them.
• Page loads, controls visible, refusal on click: Members and Check-In. Members shows Create Family and Invite Family to everyone and answers with an inline error in the dialog; Check-In shows its buttons and then redirects to Access denied when one is pressed. This is the bucket that generates tickets, because the button looked available.
• Studio Settings is the odd one out — it sends you back to the studio dashboard with no message at all. The sidebar link is hidden from anyone without Manage studio settings, so the click that triggers this is almost always the Settings button in the top right of the studio dashboard, which is shown to everyone. A staff member who reports "the Settings button does nothing" is telling you they lack Manage studio settings.