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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 below).
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

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”:
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:
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 plans that include it; the predicates still sync on other plans, they are simply not enforced.

​
The default function role

When you scaffold a new app, the CLI creates a default role file declared with defineApplicationRole():
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 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.
  • See a working example: hello-world/src/roles/function-role.ts.