Agents Tab Returns 404 or Is Hidden for Non-Admin Users – DataHub Customer Support Portal

Area: Product Issues

Sub-Area: AI Agents / Access Control

Issue

Non-admin users in DataHub Cloud cannot see the Agents tab under the Context section of the navigation sidebar. When these users attempt to access the Agents area directly via a URL, they receive a 404 (No Page Found) error. Additionally, even when agents are configured with the Show in Ask DataHub Chat option enabled, users without the required privilege may not see those agents appear in the Ask DataHub chat interface — requests fail silently and no agents are displayed.

Error Messages

404 - No Page Found (client-side route guard rendered when navigating directly to /context/agents without the required privilege)

You Might Be Asking

Why can't my non-admin users see the Agents tab even though the AI Agents feature is enabled on our instance?
Why do my users get a 404 when navigating directly to the Agents URL?
I enabled "Show in Ask DataHub Chat" on an agent — why don't non-admin users see it in chat?
Do users need admin rights just to use agents in Ask DataHub?

Solution

There are two distinct but related behaviors to address: (1) granting access to the Agents management tab, and (2) ensuring agents appear in the Ask DataHub chat for non-privileged users.

Part 1: Granting Access to the Agents Tab

The Agents tab is intentionally hidden from users who do not have the Manage Agents platform privilege. This is enforced at two levels in the frontend:

Navigation: The sidebar tab is hidden when the user lacks the manageAgents privilege.
Route guard: Directly navigating to the Agents URL renders a client-side "No Page Found" component (not a true server 404) for unauthorized users.

To grant non-admin users access to the Agents tab, a DataHub admin must create or update a Platform Policy:

Log in as a DataHub admin and navigate to Settings → Access → Policies.
Click + New Policy.
Set the Policy Type to Platform.
Under Privileges, add Manage Agents (described as: "Manage agents, tasks, and decisions for all AI agents on the platform").
Under Users & Groups, add the users or groups who require access.
Save and publish the policy.

Once the policy is applied, the Agents tab will appear in the sidebar for those users and direct URL access will work without returning a 404.

Part 2: Agents Not Appearing in Ask DataHub Chat for Non-Privileged Users

DataHub documentation states that users without the Manage Agents privilege can still interact with agents that have Show in Ask DataHub Chat enabled — they simply cannot create or configure agents. However, a known bug was identified where agents configured with this setting did not appear in the Ask DataHub chat for users lacking the MANAGE_AGENTS privilege; instead, the request failed silently.

This bug has been resolved in DataHub Cloud v2.3.0. After upgrading to v2.3.0 or later, non-admin users should be able to see and interact with agents surfaced via Ask DataHub Chat without requiring the Manage Agents privilege.

To verify an agent is correctly configured to surface in Ask DataHub Chat:

Log in as a DataHub admin and navigate to Context → Agents.
Open the agent you wish to surface to all users.
Confirm that the Show in Ask DataHub Chat toggle is enabled.
Save any changes.

After upgrading to v2.3.0+, non-privileged users should see this agent available in the Ask DataHub chat interface without needing the Manage Agents privilege assigned to them.

Deciding Between the Two Approaches

Depending on your requirements, you have two options for enabling agent access for non-admin users:

Grant Manage Agents privilege via policy — Allows users to view, create, and configure agents directly from the Agents tab. Use this for power users or data stewards who need to manage AI agent configuration.
Use Ask DataHub Chat (v2.3.0+) — Allows general users to interact with pre-configured agents without granting elevated privileges. Use this for broader user populations where agent consumption (not management) is the goal.

# Example: Verifying a user's platform privileges via the DataHub GraphQL API
# Replace <your-instance> and <user-urn> with appropriate values

curl -X POST https://<your-instance>.datahubproject.io/api/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-api-token>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "{ me { platformPrivileges { manageAgents } } }"
  }'

# A user with manageAgents: true will see the Agents tab and pass the route guard.
# A user with manageAgents: false will have the tab hidden and receive a 404 on direct URL access.

Additional Notes

The 404 error seen when non-admin users navigate directly to the Agents URL is a client-side route guard response (a "No Page Found" component rendered by the frontend), not a true HTTP 404 from the server. This behavior is by design and is consistent with how other privileged management areas (such as Manage Policies and Manage Users) are protected in DataHub.

The bug where agents with Show in Ask DataHub Chat enabled were not appearing for non-privileged users in the chat interface was a confirmed product defect. The fix is included in DataHub Cloud v2.3.0. If your instance is running a version earlier than v2.3.0, non-privileged users will not see agents in Ask DataHub Chat regardless of agent configuration. Contact DataHub Support to confirm your current version and upgrade path.

Enabling the AI Agents feature flag on your instance (which is a DataHub Cloud platform configuration) is a prerequisite for the Agents tab to appear at all — even for admins. If the Agents tab is not visible to any user including admins, confirm with DataHub Support that the AI Agents feature is enabled on your instance.