diff --git a/mergin/client.py b/mergin/client.py
index 1555051..0028f61 100644
--- a/mergin/client.py
+++ b/mergin/client.py
@@ -1157,6 +1157,8 @@ def project_status(self, directory):
         mp = MerginProject(directory)
         server_info = self.project_info(mp.project_full_name(), since=mp.version())
 
+        mp.update_project_role(server_info["role"])
+
         pull_changes = mp.get_pull_changes(server_info.get("files", []), server_info.get("version"))
 
         push_changes = mp.get_push_changes()
diff --git a/mergin/merginproject.py b/mergin/merginproject.py
index 12d798f..5476f8a 100644
--- a/mergin/merginproject.py
+++ b/mergin/merginproject.py
@@ -167,6 +167,12 @@ def project_role(self) -> str:
         self._read_metadata()
         return self._metadata.get("role")
 
+    def update_project_role(self, role: str) -> None:
+        """Stores the user's current role on the project."""
+        self._read_metadata()
+        self._metadata["role"] = role
+        MerginProject.write_metadata(self.dir, self._metadata)
+
     def project_id(self) -> str:
         """Returns ID of the project (UUID using 8-4-4-4-12 formatting without braces)
 
diff --git a/mergin/test/test_mergin_project.py b/mergin/test/test_mergin_project.py
index 97fe554..9b040ad 100644
--- a/mergin/test/test_mergin_project.py
+++ b/mergin/test/test_mergin_project.py
@@ -471,3 +471,28 @@ def test_tables_to_skip_and_include_mutually_exclusive():
         mp.set_tables_to_skip(["table_a"])
         with pytest.raises(GeoDiffLibError):
             mp.set_tables_to_include(["table_b"])
+
+
+def test_update_project_role():
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
+        project_dir = os.path.join(tmp_dir, "test_update_project_role")
+        shutil.copytree(TEST_DATA_DIR, project_dir)
+
+        os.makedirs(os.path.join(project_dir, ".mergin"), exist_ok=True)
+        with open(os.path.join(project_dir, "v2_metadata.json"), "r") as f:
+            metadata = json.load(f)
+        project_metadata_file = os.path.join(project_dir, ".mergin", "mergin.json")
+        with open(project_metadata_file, "w") as f:
+            json.dump(metadata, f, indent=2)
+
+        mp = MerginProject(project_dir)
+        assert mp.project_role() == "owner"
+
+        mp.update_project_role("reader")
+        assert mp.project_role() == "reader"
+        # the rest of the metadata has to survive, otherwise the local sync state would be lost
+        assert mp.version() == metadata.get("version")
+        assert mp.files() == metadata.get("files")
+
+        # the new role is on disk, not just in the in-memory cache
+        assert MerginProject(project_dir).project_role() == "reader"