upstream-twenty/packages/twenty-docs/developers/extend/apps/config/roles.mdx

---
title: Roles & Permissions
description: Declare what objects and fields your app's logic functions and front components can read and write.
icon: 'shield-halved'
---

A **role** is a permission set: which objects an app can read or write, which fields it can see, and which platform-level capabilities it can use. Every app's logic functions and front components inherit the permissions of the role marked with `defineApplicationRole()` (see [The default function role](#the-default-function-role) below).

```ts src/roles/restricted-company-role.ts
import {
  defineRole,
  STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS,
  SystemPermissionFlag,
} from 'twenty-sdk/define';

export default defineRole({
  universalIdentifier: '2c80f640-2083-4803-bb49-003e38279de6',
  label: 'My new role',
  description: 'A role that can be used in your workspace',
  canReadAllObjectRecords: false,
  canUpdateAllObjectRecords: false,
  canSoftDeleteAllObjectRecords: false,
  canDestroyAllObjectRecords: false,
  canUpdateAllSettings: false,
  canBeAssignedToAgents: false,
  canBeAssignedToUsers: false,
  canBeAssignedToApiKeys: false,
  objectPermissions: [
    {
      objectUniversalIdentifier:
        STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS.company.universalIdentifier,
      canReadObjectRecords: true,
      canUpdateObjectRecords: true,
      canSoftDeleteObjectRecords: false,
      canDestroyObjectRecords: false,
    },
  ],
  fieldPermissions: [
    {
      objectUniversalIdentifier:
        STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS.company.universalIdentifier,
      fieldUniversalIdentifier:
        STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS.company.fields.name
          .universalIdentifier,
      canReadFieldValue: false,
      canUpdateFieldValue: false,
    },
  ],
  permissionFlagUniversalIdentifiers: [SystemPermissionFlag.APPLICATIONS],
});
```

## Row-level security

Row-level permissions require the **Organization plan or above** — see
[pricing](https://twenty.com/pricing). What happens on a plan without the entitlement is covered in
the notes at the end of this section.

Object and field permissions decide _which objects and fields_ a role can touch. **Row-level
permission predicates** go further and decide _which records_ a role can see and act on — for
example, a self-service role where each external user sees only their own records.

Declare predicates with `rowLevelPermissionPredicates` on the role. Like the rest of the manifest,
each predicate carries its own `universalIdentifier`, and references an object and a field by their
`universalIdentifier`, an `operand`, and (optionally) a workspaceMember field whose value is injected
at query time — so you can express "the record's owner relation **is** the current workspace member":

```ts src/roles/partner-role.ts
import {
  defineRole,
  RowLevelPermissionPredicateOperand,
  STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS,
} from 'twenty-sdk/define';

import { ACCOUNT_OWNER_FIELD_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER } from '../fields/account-owner.field';

export default defineRole({
  universalIdentifier: 'c3c1dc2e-1a08-4de5-abb7-2139b3d99343',
  label: 'Partner',
  description: 'External partner — sees only its own records',
  canBeAssignedToUsers: true,
  objectPermissions: [
    {
      objectUniversalIdentifier:
        STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS.company.universalIdentifier,
      canReadObjectRecords: true,
      canUpdateObjectRecords: true,
    },
  ],
  rowLevelPermissionPredicates: [
    {
      universalIdentifier: 'd0f0c1a2-3b4c-4d5e-8f60-111111111111',
      objectUniversalIdentifier:
        STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS.company.universalIdentifier,
      fieldUniversalIdentifier: ACCOUNT_OWNER_FIELD_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER,
      operand: RowLevelPermissionPredicateOperand.IS,
      workspaceMemberFieldUniversalIdentifier:
        STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS.workspaceMember.fields.id
          .universalIdentifier,
    },
  ],
});
```

Because predicates ship in the manifest, they are created, updated, and removed together with the
role on every install and upgrade — there is no separate post-install step to keep in sync.

### Combining predicates with groups

By default a role's predicates are combined with `AND`. To combine some of them with `OR` (or to
nest logic), declare a `rowLevelPermissionPredicateGroups` entry and point each predicate at it via
`predicateGroupUniversalIdentifier`. This role lets a partner see an Opportunity it either **owns**
or is the **point of contact** for:

```ts src/roles/partner-opportunities-role.ts
import {
  defineRole,
  RowLevelPermissionPredicateGroupLogicalOperator,
  RowLevelPermissionPredicateOperand,
  STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS,
} from 'twenty-sdk/define';

const OPPORTUNITY = STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS.opportunity;
const CURRENT_MEMBER =
  STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS.workspaceMember.fields.id
    .universalIdentifier;

export default defineRole({
  universalIdentifier: 'b2a1c0d9-8e7f-4a6b-9c5d-222222222222',
  label: 'Partner (opportunities)',
  canBeAssignedToUsers: true,
  objectPermissions: [
    {
      objectUniversalIdentifier: OPPORTUNITY.universalIdentifier,
      canReadObjectRecords: true,
    },
  ],
  rowLevelPermissionPredicateGroups: [
    {
      universalIdentifier: 'c3b2a1d0-9f8e-4b7a-8d6c-333333333333',
      objectUniversalIdentifier: OPPORTUNITY.universalIdentifier,
      logicalOperator: RowLevelPermissionPredicateGroupLogicalOperator.OR,
    },
  ],
  rowLevelPermissionPredicates: [
    {
      universalIdentifier: 'd4c3b2a1-0e9f-4c8b-9e7d-444444444444',
      objectUniversalIdentifier: OPPORTUNITY.universalIdentifier,
      fieldUniversalIdentifier: OPPORTUNITY.fields.owner.universalIdentifier,
      operand: RowLevelPermissionPredicateOperand.IS,
      workspaceMemberFieldUniversalIdentifier: CURRENT_MEMBER,
      predicateGroupUniversalIdentifier: 'c3b2a1d0-9f8e-4b7a-8d6c-333333333333',
    },
    {
      universalIdentifier: 'e5d4c3b2-1f0e-4d9c-8f8e-555555555555',
      objectUniversalIdentifier: OPPORTUNITY.universalIdentifier,
      fieldUniversalIdentifier:
        OPPORTUNITY.fields.pointOfContact.universalIdentifier,
      operand: RowLevelPermissionPredicateOperand.IS,
      workspaceMemberFieldUniversalIdentifier: CURRENT_MEMBER,
      predicateGroupUniversalIdentifier: 'c3b2a1d0-9f8e-4b7a-8d6c-333333333333',
    },
  ],
});
```

Notes:

- Give every predicate and group a stable `universalIdentifier` (any uuid) — it keys the entity
  across upgrades, and predicates reference groups by it.
- Predicates can reference objects and fields owned by your app or by Twenty's standard objects.
- Row-level security is enforced for workspaces on the **Organization plan or above**. On other
  plans the predicates declared in an app manifest still sync, they are simply not enforced.
- The Metadata API behaves differently from the manifest here: without the entitlement,
  `upsertRowLevelPermissionPredicates` is rejected with
  `ROW_LEVEL_PERMISSION_FEATURE_DISABLED` rather than syncing. A workspace on a plan that does not
  include row-level security therefore cannot create predicates outside of an app manifest, even
  though the `rowLevelPermissionPredicates` field is present on the `Role` type when you introspect
  the schema.

## The default function role

When you scaffold a new app, the CLI creates a default role file declared with `defineApplicationRole()`:

```ts src/roles/default-role.ts
import { defineApplicationRole } from 'twenty-sdk/define';

export const DEFAULT_ROLE_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER =
  'b648f87b-1d26-4961-b974-0908fd991061';

export default defineApplicationRole({
  universalIdentifier: DEFAULT_ROLE_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIER,
  label: 'Default function role',
  description: 'Default role for function Twenty client',
  canReadAllObjectRecords: true,
  canUpdateAllObjectRecords: false,
  canSoftDeleteAllObjectRecords: false,
  canDestroyAllObjectRecords: false,
  canUpdateAllSettings: false,
  canBeAssignedToAgents: false,
  canBeAssignedToUsers: false,
  canBeAssignedToApiKeys: false,
  objectPermissions: [],
  fieldPermissions: [],
  permissionFlagUniversalIdentifiers: [],
});
```

`defineApplicationRole()` is a thin wrapper around `defineRole()` that flags **the** role used as your application's default at install time. Validation is identical to `defineRole`, but the build pipeline auto-wires its `universalIdentifier` into the application manifest's `defaultRoleUniversalIdentifier` — so you do not need to reference it from [`defineApplication`](/developers/extend/apps/config/application) yourself.

Notes:

- Exactly **one** `defineApplicationRole(...)` is allowed per app — the manifest build will fail if it finds more than one.
- Use `defineRole()` (not `defineApplicationRole()`) for any **additional** roles your app ships.
- Setting `defaultRoleUniversalIdentifier` explicitly on `defineApplication()` is still supported for backward compatibility, but is deprecated in favor of `defineApplicationRole()`.

## Best practices

- Start from the scaffolded role, then progressively restrict it — the default grants broad read access, which is rarely what you want in production.
- Replace `objectPermissions` and `fieldPermissions` with the exact objects and fields your functions actually need.
- `permissionFlagUniversalIdentifiers` control access to platform-level capabilities. Keep them minimal.
- A permission flag your app declares with `definePermissionFlag()` carries a `permissionType`: `'tool'` (the default) for a capability an agent or a user can be granted, `'settings'` for a flag that unlocks a settings area.
- See a working example: [`examples/hello-world/src/roles/default-role.ts`](https://github.com/twentyhq/twenty/blob/main/packages/twenty-apps/examples/hello-world/src/roles/default-role.ts).