Admin overview
The admin module in LifeWell is the back-office surface for platform maintainers — managing users, moderating communities, configuring ad placements, sending platform-wide notifications, reviewing payments, processing verification requests, and tuning wellness-admin settings. Access is gated by admin claims on your account; regular users never see these pages.
This documentation is included for transparency about what the admin tools can and cannot do. If you're a regular user, this won't affect your day-to-day use of LifeWell. If you're an admin (currently a small team including Ahsan Mahmood), this section is your reference.
Admin surfaces
| Page | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Users | View, search, suspend, restore user accounts |
| Communities | Moderate communities, approve / suspend admins |
| Ads | Configure ad placements (currently none — LifeWell has no ads) |
| Notifications | Send platform-wide announcements |
| Payments | Review payments, refunds, credit grants |
| Verifications | Approve / reject professional and identity verifications |
| Wellness admin | Tune wellness-score weights, default reminders |
Access control
Admin pages are protected by a Firestore-stored admin-role claim:
- Users with
role: 'admin'(orsuperadmin) on their account see the admin nav. - All other users don't see admin pages at all (the routes redirect to dashboard).
- Firestore rules deny admin-only writes from non-admin users — even if a malicious user discovered the URLs, the data writes would be rejected.
What admins can do
- View any user's account metadata (name, email, signup date, plan).
- Suspend / restore accounts (with reason).
- Approve or remove community admins.
- Process verification requests for professionals or identity-verified users.
- Grant credits or premium days (e.g. for promotional purposes or refunds).
- Send platform-wide notifications.
- Review payment / refund history.
What admins CANNOT do
- Read users' private health data — Firestore rules deny admin-read of personal health collections by default. Privacy posture is consistent across roles.
- Read users' private notes, memories, or chats.
- Impersonate users — there's no "sign in as user X" function.
- Delete user accounts without process — account deletion goes through the same 30-day grace flow regardless of who initiates.
- Override user privacy settings — admins can't grant themselves access to someone's medical info.
Admin power is intentionally limited to platform operations, not user-data access.
Audit log
Every admin action is logged with:
- Admin who performed it.
- Timestamp.
- Action type.
- Target (user / community / payment).
- Reason text.
The audit log is queryable by other admins and is the accountability mechanism for admin actions.
Becoming an admin
Admin claims are granted manually (not self-serve):
- Submit a request with justification (community admin, paid support, etc.).
- An existing superadmin reviews.
- The claim is added to your account.
There's no automated path to admin status. The mechanism deliberately limits who has back-office access.
Where to read next
- Users — account management.
- Communities — community moderation.
- Verifications — professional and identity verification.
Last updated: 2026-05-11 Author: Ahsan Mahmood