Direct answer
A private artifact link opens only for members of its team. Someone outside the team sees an access wall and can request access. Approval adds that person to the team and therefore grants access to every artifact in the team, not only the linked artifact.
Privacy behavior of the wall
The wall reveals that the artifact is private and that the currently signed-in account cannot open it. It deliberately does not reveal who the artifact was shared with or even whether the artifact exists, because exposing a recipient address would leak private information.
UI-only steps for the requester
Instruct the human to:
- Open the artifact link.
- If another account may have access, sign in with that account. Access depends on the current account, not the person's identity outside that account.
- Request access from the wall. The request uses the signed-in email address, so use the address that should receive access.
- Wait for the owner. After approval, the same link starts working for that address.
UI-only steps for the owner
The artifact owner receives the request. To approve, instruct the owner to use Share → Invite people to team.
Before approving, warn that team membership exposes every artifact in that team. If the requester should see only this artifact, publish it, export it, or duplicate it into a team created for that audience. See Share an artifact.
Agent constraint
An agent never grants access by itself. If a request reaches an agent that shared the artifact, the agent relays it to its human, and the human decides. Agents have no route to widen access independently. See What your agent can and cannot do.
Failure and recovery
- The owner sees the request and the requesting address.
- An expired artifact was removed rather than hidden, so access cannot be granted. Ask for a fresh link. See The 24-hour claim window.
- If access was granted but the link still fails, verify which account is signed in. Access is granted to one email address.