Quickstart

Create a Permit.io account and workspace, then build your first role-based access control (RBAC) policy in the Permit dashboard. This quickstart is for developers who are new to Permit. At the end, the user sam@permit.io has the Admin role, and the Admin role has permissions on a Document resource.

A Video Walkthrough

Prefer video? This walkthrough covers the core features of Permit in one sitting.

1. Create a Permit account

Sign up at app.permit.io. You use the account to configure and manage the authorization layer of your application.

Social sign-in and SSO

You can sign in with a Google, GitHub, or Microsoft account. Permit also supports single sign-on (SSO) with your enterprise identity provider. For SSO availability and pricing, see the pricing page or ask in the Permit Slack community.

2. Create a workspace and name your organization

Create your workspace. A workspace is the organization account that holds all of your configuration, projects, and environments.

1. Enter a Workspace Name. Most teams use the company name, for example "Company A".
2. Check the Workspace Key. Permit fills in a URL-friendly key from the name, for example company-a.
3. Click Launch Your Account.

note

You can create several workspaces and switch between them, though most teams need only one. Workspaces are fully isolated from each other.

3. Create a basic policy

Your first policy uses RBAC. You create a role, add a resource with actions, assign the role to a user, and grant the role permissions in the Policy Editor.

Create a role

Create a role called Admin.

1. In the Permit dashboard, open Policy and select the Roles tab.
2. Create a role with the name Admin.
3. Click Save.

Create a resource and actions

Create a resource called Document. Keep the default actions Permit adds (create, read, update, and delete), and add a custom action: publish.

1. On the Policy screen, select the Resources tab and create a resource.
2. Enter the name Document.
3. Add the action publish. Press Enter after the action.
4. Click Save.

Create a user

Add a user called sam@permit.io and assign the Admin role to the user.

1. Select Directory in the dashboard navigation.
2. Click Add user.
3. Enter the key sam@permit.io. You use the key to identify the user in permit.check().
4. Under Top Level Access, add the Admin role.
5. Click Save.

Tenant of a new user

Permit creates the user in the tenant you're working in. To create the user in a different tenant, switch tenants in the Tenant dropdown first.

Configure permissions in the Policy Editor

Choose which actions the Admin role can perform on the Document resource.

1. On the Policy screen, select the Policy Editor tab.
2. Under the Admin role, select the Document actions, including publish.
3. Save your changes.

Beyond RBAC

RBAC is the starting point. The same Policy Editor also builds ABAC (attribute-based access control) and ReBAC (relationship-based access control) policies, and you can combine models in one policy.

4. Confirm the policy

Check that the policy and the role assignment are saved:

• On the Policy Editor tab, the Admin role shows the Document actions you selected.
• On the Directory screen, sam@permit.io has the Admin role in the Top Level Access column.

To confirm the policy from code, connect your app and run your first permission check. A permit.check() call for sam@permit.io, the publish action, and the Document resource returns true, and the check appears in the Permit audit log.

5. Next steps

Connect your application and enforce the policy you built:

• Connect your app and run your first permission check
• Build policies:
  • With roles (RBAC)
  • With attributes (ABAC)
  • With relationships (ReBAC)
  • As code, with policy-based access control (PBAC)
• Sync users to Permit
• Enforce permissions
• Use audit logs
• Load custom data
• Deploy to production

Next step

Going to production? Review the PDP deployment checklist, or talk to an engineer about scale and latency.