Role-Based Permissions via API

Image & Video APIs

Last updated: Jul-21-2025

Use the Permissions API to programmatically manage access control across your Cloudinary account. The API allows you to create and assign roles and define custom permission policies.

This section covers:

Manage roles: How to manage roles via the Permissions API, including viewing, creating, updating, and assigning roles
Assign roles: How to assign roles to users, groups, and API keys via the Permissions API
Define custom policies: How to define and apply custom permission policies using the Cedar-based schema

Important
Custom policies give you fine-grained control, but they can behave in unexpected ways if not configured correctly. Review them carefully and test to make sure they align with your intended access rules.

Important

Cloudinary's Roles and Permissions Management is now available as a Beta. This is an early stage release, and while it's functional and ready for real-world testing, it's subject to change as we continue refining the experience based on what we learn, including your feedback. During the Beta period, core functionality is considered stable, though some APIs, scopes, or response formats may evolve. We'll also be expanding the documentation with additional examples, best practices, and implementation tips.

How you can help:

Use Roles and Permissions Management in real projects, prototypes, or tests.
Share feedback, issues, or ideas with our support team.

Thank you for exploring this early release and helping us shape these tools to best meet your needs.

Tip

To manage roles and permissions through the Console instead, see Role management in the Console.

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Role-based permissions via API

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