---
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,
  PermissionFlag,
  STANDARD_OBJECT_UNIVERSAL_IDENTIFIERS,
} 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,
    },
  ],
  permissionFlags: [PermissionFlag.APPLICATIONS],
});
```

## 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, PermissionFlag } 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: [],
  permissionFlags: [],
});
```

`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.
- `permissionFlags` control access to platform-level capabilities. Keep them minimal.
- See a working example: [`hello-world/src/roles/function-role.ts`](https://github.com/twentyhq/twenty/blob/main/packages/twenty-apps/hello-world/src/roles/function-role.ts).