Odoo Multi-Company Support – company_id, company_dependent, and Record Rules

Multi-Company: Isolating Data Between Companies

One Odoo database can host several companies. The mechanism that keeps Company A's data from leaking into Company B is the company_id field plus record rules that filter by the user's allowed companies.

class SaleOrder(models.Model):
    _inherit = "sale.order"
    # standard pattern: default to the active company
    company_id = fields.Many2one(
        "res.company", default=lambda self: self.env.company)

Shared vs isolated data: some models are company-specific (orders, invoices — carry a company_id); others are shared across all companies (products, partners often are). When you add a company-specific model, include a company_id field and a matching record rule, or users will see every company's records.

The active-company gotcha: a user can have several companies enabled at once (allowed_company_ids), and self.env.company is just the primary active one. Always default new records to self.env.company and be careful with cross-company references — linking a record in Company A to one in Company B is a common source of subtle bugs. Test with a real multi-company setup.

How Multi-Company Works

In a multi-company Odoo instance, each user has a primary company and a set of allowed companies. The current company context is in self.env.company and the allowed set is in self.env.companies:

self.env.company        # the currently active company (res.company)
self.env.companies      # all companies the user has switched to (recordset)
self.env.company.id     # the active company ID
self.env.companies.ids  # list of allowed company IDs

When a user has multiple companies active, ORM searches automatically include records from all active companies (if record rules are set up correctly).

Adding company_id to Your Model

Use the standard company_id field name with res.company as the comodel:

from odoo import models, fields

class LibraryBook(models.Model):
    _name = 'library.book'
    _description = 'Library Book'

    name = fields.Char(string='Title', required=True)

    company_id = fields.Many2one(
        'res.company',
        string='Company',
        required=True,
        default=lambda self: self.env.company,
        index=True,
    )

The default lambda self: self.env.company sets the company to the user's current active company when creating a new record.

Multi-Company Record Rules

A record rule enforces that users can only see records from their allowed companies:

<record id="rule_library_book_company" model="ir.rule">
  <field name="name">Library Book: multi-company rule</field>
  <field name="model_id" ref="model_library_book"/>
  <field name="domain_force">
    ['|',
      ('company_id', '=', False),
      ('company_id', 'in', company_ids)]
  </field>
</record>

The domain ('company_id', '=', False) allows shared records (no company) to be visible to everyone. company_ids is a special variable in record rule domains that resolves to the user's allowed company IDs at evaluation time.

company_dependent Fields

Some configuration fields should have different values per company without duplicating records. Use company_dependent=True:

class LibraryConfig(models.TransientModel):
    _inherit = 'res.config.settings'

    library_late_fee = fields.Float(
        string='Late Fee per Day',
        config_parameter='library.late_fee',
        company_dependent=True,  # each company has its own value
    )

With company_dependent=True, each company stores its own value for the field. When you read the field, Odoo automatically returns the value for self.env.company. The field type must be one of: Char, Float, Integer, Boolean, Date, Datetime, Selection, or Many2one.

Common Multi-Company Pitfalls

Interview Questions

• How does Odoo support multiple companies?
• What field makes a model multi-company aware?
• How is data isolated between companies?
• What is the difference between the active company and allowed companies?
• How do you share a record across companies?

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