---
title: "Manage User Groups with an AI Assistant"
slug: "manage-user-groups-with-an-ai-assistant"
tags: ["Thrive Groups", "Group Rules"]
updated: 2026-11-10T13:45:37Z
published: 2026-11-10T13:45:37Z
canonical: "docs.thrivelearning.com/manage-user-groups-with-an-ai-assistant"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.thrivelearning.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage User Groups with an AI Assistant

You can use an AI assistant connected to the **Thrive MCP Server** to create and manage user groups in Thrive. Groups decide who gets which job roles and skill targets. You describe what you want in plain language, and the assistant shows you a preview first – it changes nothing until you approve.

### What You Can Do

| Task | What Happens |
| --- | --- |
| Find groups | List all groups A to Z, or find groups whose name contains a word. |
| Read a group | See its name, membership rules, and members (25 per page). |
| Create a group | Make a new group with a name and description. A new group has no members. |
| Rename a group | Change a group's name or description. |
| Add rules | Thrive adds and removes members automatically. Users who match all the rules are members. |
| Remove a rule | Remove one rule. The members can change as a result. |
| Add members by hand | Add specific people to a group. |
| Remove members by hand | Remove people who were added by hand. |
| Give a job role to a group | Attach the group to a job role. Group members get the role and its skill targets. |

You can't delete a group with the assistant. To delete a group, use Thrive.

### Before You Start

| You Need | Details |
| --- | --- |
| Super Admin role | Only Super Admins can create or change groups. |
| AI assistant | An assistant connected to the Thrive MCP Server, for example Claude, signed in with your own Thrive account. For setup, see [Setting up the Thrive MCP Server](https://docs.thrivelearning.com/docs/setting-up-the-thrive-mcp-server). |
| Your Thrive URL | For example, acme.thrive.com. Replace [TENANT] in the prompts with it. |

We recommend asking the assistant to read data first. Reading doesn't change anything in Thrive.

### How Membership Works

A person can be in a group in two ways.

| Type | How People Join | How People Leave |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Rules | Thrive adds them automatically when they match all the group's rules. | Thrive removes them when they stop matching. You can't remove them by hand – change the rules instead. |
| Manual | You add them by hand. | You remove them by hand. |

> [!NOTE]
> Note:
> 
> A group's rules always work together (AND). A person must match every rule. To create a group for Sales or Marketing, use one rule with two values – for example, job title is any of Sales, Marketing.

If you add someone by hand who is already in the group through the rules, they become a manual member. After that, the rules don't remove them.

A group with no rules is a static group. It only has manual members.

### Rule Types

| Rule | Match Options | Values | Example |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Skills | any, none | Skill names | Has any of the skills Python, SQL |
| Interests | any, none | Topic names | Follows none of the topics Finance |
| Job title | any, none, contains, not contains, starts with, ends with | Job titles. For contains, starts with, and ends with, use one value only. | Job title contains Manager |
| Email domain | any, none | Email domains | Email domain is any of acme.com |
| Language | any, none | Language codes | Language is any of fr-fr, de-de |
| Has a line manager | yes, no | No values | Has a line manager: no |
| Has direct reports | yes, no | No values | Has direct reports: yes |
| Has indirect reports | yes, no | No values | Has indirect reports: yes |

Use skill and topic names exactly as they appear in Thrive.

### Common Tasks

Copy a prompt and change only the text in [square brackets]. Every prompt that makes a change asks the assistant to show a preview first.

#### Find Groups (Read Only)

```txt
List all user groups in [TENANT], A to Z, as a table of names and descriptions. Read every page until the list ends. Do not change anything.
```

To find one group, ask for groups whose name contains a word:

```txt
In [TENANT], find the user groups whose name contains "[WORD]". Do not change anything.
```

#### Read a Group (Read Only)

```txt
In [TENANT], show me the user group "[GROUP NAME]": its description, its membership rules with their rule IDs, and its members. Read every page of members. Do not change anything.
```

#### Create a Group with Rules

```txt
In [TENANT], I want a new user group through the connected Thrive MCP server.
Name: [GROUP NAME]
Description: [DESCRIPTION]
Rules (a person must match all of them):
- [for example: job title contains Manager]
- [for example: email domain is any of acme.com]
First, call check_auth and tell me who I am signed in as. Then call list_user_groups with search to check that no group has this name already. Show me a preview of the group and its rules. Do not create anything until I approve.
When I approve: create the group with create_user_group, add each rule with add_user_group_rule, then read the group back with get_user_group and show me the rules and the first page of members.
```

To create a static group, leave out the rules.

#### Add or Remove a Rule

```txt
In [TENANT], for the user group "[GROUP NAME]": [add a rule: has direct reports, yes] / [remove the rule: job title contains Manager].
First, read the group with get_user_group and show me its rules and the number of members now. Show me the change you will make. Do not change anything until I approve. After the change, read the group again and show me the rules and the members.
```

Remove one rule at a time. Rule IDs change after each removal, so the assistant must read the group again before the next one.

#### Add People by Hand

```txt
In [TENANT], add these people to the user group "[GROUP NAME]": [user IDs]. Show me a preview first. Do not change anything until I approve. After the change, read the group again and confirm that each person is a member.
```

The assistant needs each person's Thrive user ID. It can't find people by name or email address.

#### Remove People by Hand

```txt
In [TENANT], remove these people from the user group "[GROUP NAME]": [user IDs]. Show me a preview first. Do not change anything until I approve. After the change, read the group again and tell me if anyone is still a member.
```

You can only remove manual members. People in the group through its rules stay – to remove them, change the rules.

#### Rename a Group

```txt
In [TENANT], change the user group "[GROUP NAME]". New name: [NEW NAME]. New description: [NEW DESCRIPTION]. Show me the change first and do not change anything until I approve.
```

#### Give a Job Role to a Group

```txt
In [TENANT], attach the user group "[GROUP NAME]" to the job role "[JOB ROLE NAME]". Find the group with list_user_groups and the role with list_job_roles. Show me the group, the role and the number of group members first. Do not change anything until I approve. After the change, read the groups of the role back with get_job_role_groups.
```

All group members get the job role and its skill targets. To set up many job roles at once, see [Create a Job role with AI Assistant](https://docs.thrivelearning.com/docs/create-a-role-with-an-ai-assistant).

### What to Check

**Before you approve:**

- The assistant is signed in as you, on the correct Thrive URL.
- The group name is correct, and no other group has the same name.
- Each rule is the one you mean. Remember that all rules must match.
- Each skill and topic name matches the name in Thrive exactly.
- For a job role, the group is correct. All its members get the role.

**After the change:**

- The assistant has read the group again, and the rules and members are what you expect.
- The group in Thrive matches what the assistant reports.

Members added through rules can take some time to update after a change.

### Troubleshooting

| What You See | Why | What to Do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FORBIDDEN | You don't have the Super Admin role. | Ask a Super Admin to give you the role, or to make the change. |
| Group not found | The group name or ID is wrong. | List the groups and copy the exact name. |
| Two groups have the same name | The assistant can't tell which one you mean. | Tell the assistant which group to use, based on its description or members. |
| A person is still in the group after removal | They're in the group through its rules. | Change the rules, or accept that the person matches them. |
| The group has too many or too few members | The rules work together (AND), or a value isn't exact. | Read the group and check each rule and its values. |
| Rule not found | Rule IDs changed after a removal. | Read the group again and use the new rule ID. |
| A result is unclear or the error is empty | The change may have worked. | Ask the assistant to read the group again before it retries. |
| A group was created by mistake | The preview had a mistake. | Delete the group in Thrive. The assistant can't delete groups. |

### Limits

- The assistant can't delete a group.
- A group's rules always work together (AND). You can't create "rule A or rule B" – use one rule with more values where you can.
- The assistant can't find people by name or email. To add people by hand, you need their user IDs.
- Each rule or hand change can include up to 100 values or people. Split larger lists.
- The assistant reads 25 groups or 25 members per page.