# Run your yard

> For owners and admins — Manage yard holds the link and who can join, members and admins, join requests, events, the pinned notice, the chat's rules, sub yards and what was taken down.

Section: Yards · Updated: 2026-10-09
URL: https://commonyard.app/guides/run-your-yard/

If you made a yard, or were made its admin or mod, it wears a small gear when it is in the middle of your yards at the top of HOME. Tap the gear to go straight to **Manage yard**. Or open the yard, tap its name at the top, and tap **Manage yard** on its page.

![The info page of a yard you run, with the Manage yard row near the top](https://commonyard.app/guides/img/yard-info-admin.webp "Manage yard is on the yard's page, for owners and admins.")

Manage yard is split into parts, along the top: **Invite people**, **Link & privacy**, **Members & admins**, **Join requests**, **Events**, **Taken down**, **Chat**, **Yard settings** and **Sub yards**.

## Invite people, and the link

- Share or copy the yard's link from **Invite people**. Whoever comes in through it counts as someone you brought.
- **Reset the link** gives the yard a new link. Every link shared before stops letting anybody in; whoever is in stays in. On a public yard, resetting the link also makes the yard private — CommonYard asks first, with **Make it private and reset**.

## Link & privacy

- **Public or private.** A public yard is on the open list, where anyone on CommonYard can find it and read its chat. A private yard is off the list; its chat, pictures and posts are for members.
- **Who can come in.** **Anyone with the link**, **Admin approval** (people ask to join and an owner or admin approves them), or **Nobody new for now**.

## Members & admins

Tap a member to **Make an admin**, **Make a mod**, **Make an ordinary member**, **Pause their messages**, or **Take them out of the yard**. An admin can change the yard and manage people; a mod can take people out, and nothing else.

## Join requests

When your yard needs approval, the people waiting are under **Join requests**. Tap **Approve** or **Decline**. Admins get a notification when someone asks.

## Say something to the whole yard

- **The pinned notice** — one short thing the yard should know. It sits at the top of the yard. Write it and tap **Pin it**; take it down whenever you like. It's under **Yard settings**.
- **Announce a post** — open any post's three dots (**•••**) and tap **Announce to the yard** to tell every member about it. You can announce once a day.

## Events

Under **Events**, tap **Add an event** and fill in **What**, **Where**, **Details** and the time, then **Add it**. The yard sees it at once and hears about it an hour before it starts.

## Games members make

Members can make a game for the yard — a quiz night, a word scramble, Sasabonsam. It waits for an owner or admin before it goes up. The requests are on the yard's own **GAMES** page, under **Requests**: tap **Allow** and it goes up, or **Turn down**. See [Your yard's games and ladder](/guides/your-yards-games/).

## Keeping it kind

- Owners, admins and mods see **Take down from the yard** in the menu on other people's posts. What came down is kept under **Taken down**, where you can **Put back** anything taken down by mistake.
- Under **Chat**, choose who can talk: **Everyone in the yard**, or **Admins and mods only** for announcements. Reports about the chat are there too.

## Sub yards

A sub yard is a smaller yard inside yours — a class, a hall, a department, the choir. Under **Sub yards**, tap **Make a sub yard**. See [Sub yards](/guides/sub-yards/).

## The yard itself

Under **Yard settings** you can change the yard's name, **What this yard is for** and its picture, change what kind of yard it is, **Hand the yard to someone** else, or **Archive the yard**.

## In a school yard

Owners and admins can put slides, notes and past papers on the yard's shelf for members to download. See [Share study materials](/guides/study-materials/).