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Examples to Create Custom Roles

Custom roles help you control access to content, assets, languages, and taxonomies within your stack. This guide provides common role configuration examples to help you manage permissions for different user responsibilities and workflows.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you:

  • Have access to the organization and stack
  • Have permission to create and manage roles
  • Understand the content types, assets, languages, or taxonomies you want to manage

Entry-Level Permissions

Scenario 1: Grant All Permissions to Specific Content Types

Use this configuration when users need complete access to entries within selected content types while restricting access to other content types in the stack.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Entries in the Permissions section, go to All Entries of Content Types / Taxonomies and click Add Rule.
  6. Select All Permissions in the Select Permissions field.
  7. Select Specific Content Types.
  8. Click Select Content Types and select the required content types, for example, Products.
  9. Click Add Content Types.
  10. Save the role.

Scenario 2: Grant Specific Permissions to Specific Content Types

Use this configuration when users require limited access, such as read-only or publish-only permissions, for selected content types.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Entries in the Permissions section, go to All Entries of Content Types / Taxonomies and click Add Rule.
  6. Select Read in the Select Permissions field.
  7. Select Specific Content Types.
  8. Click Select Content Types and select the required content types, for example, Contact Us.
  9. Click Add Content Types.
  10. Save the role.

Scenario 3: Restrict Access to Specific Entries

Use exceptions when users should have broad access to a content type but must be restricted from accessing specific entries.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Entries in the Permissions section, go to All Entries of Content Types / Taxonomies and click Add Rule.
  6. Select All Permissions in the Select Permissions field.
  7. Select All Content Types.
  8. Scroll down and click Add Exceptions.
  9. Under Specific Entries, click Add Rule.
  10. Under Permissions, select Read.
  11. Click Select Content Type and select the Products content type.
  12. Select the “Introducing iPhone X” entry.
  13. Click Add Entries.
  14. Save the role.

Field-Level Permissions

Scenario 4: Restrict Editing Access to Specific Fields

Use field-level restrictions to protect sensitive or system-managed fields while allowing users to edit the rest of the entry.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Entries in the Permissions section, go to All Entries of Content Types / Taxonomies and click Add Rule.
  6. Select All Permissions in the Select Permissions field.
  7. Select All Content Types.
  8. Scroll down and click Add Exceptions.
  9. Under Specific Entries, click Add Rule.
  10. Under Permissions, select Edit.
  11. Click Select Content Type and select the Products content type.
  12. Select the Description field.
  13. Click Add Entries.
  14. Save the role.

Taxonomy Management Permissions

Scenario 5: Grant Permissions to Specific Taxonomies

Use taxonomy permissions to allow custom role users to manage taxonomy structures without requiring Admin or Developer access.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Taxonomies in the Permissions section, click Add Rule.
  6. In the Select Permissions field, select Create, Update, and Publish/Unpublish.
  7. Select Specific Taxonomies.
  8. Click Select Taxonomies and select the required taxonomies.
  9. Click Add Taxonomies.
  10. Save the role.

Note: Taxonomy management permissions control access to taxonomy structures only. Entry-level taxonomy access is managed separately through entry permissions.

Scenario 6: Restrict Actions on Specific Taxonomies

Use taxonomy exceptions when users need broad taxonomy management access but must be restricted from performing actions on specific taxonomies.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Taxonomies in the Permissions section, click Add Rule.
  6. Select All Permissions.
  7. Select All Taxonomies.
  8. Scroll down and click Add Exceptions.
  9. Under Specific Taxonomies, click Add Rule.
  10. Select Delete in the Permissions field. This allows the user to manage everything except for the accidental permanent removal of the critical 'Regions' taxonomy.
  11. Click Select Taxonomies and select the Regions taxonomy.
  12. Click Add Taxonomies.
  13. Save the role.

Note: Taxonomy exceptions apply only to taxonomy management permissions. They do not affect entry-level taxonomy access configured under entry permissions.

Asset-Level Permissions

Scenario 7: Grant Permissions to Specific Assets

Use asset-level permissions to control access to selected files or media assets within the stack.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Assets in the Permissions section, click Add Rule.
  6. Select Read in the Select Permissions field.
  7. Select Specific Assets.
  8. Click Select Assets.
  9. Select the required assets, for example, Image 1 and Image 2.
  10. Save the role.

Language-Level Permissions

Scenario 8: Restrict Actions for Specific Languages

Use language exceptions when users need access to most localized content but should not manage content for specific languages.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Languages in the Permissions section, select the All Languages checkbox.
  6. Click Add Exceptions.
  7. Click Add Rule.
  8. Select Create, Update, and Delete in the Select Permissions field.
  9. Select French - France and German - Germany.
  10. Save the role.

Scenario 9: Restrict Access to the Master Language

Use this configuration when localization teams should work only on translated content and should not modify the master language.

Warning: If you deselect the master language, unlocalized entries that inherit content from the master language may not be accessible.

To create this role, log in to your Contentstack account and perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the stack where you want to create the role.
  2. Click the Settings icon and select Users & Roles.
  3. Click Roles.
  4. Click New Role and enter a name and description for the role.
  5. Under Languages in the Permissions section, deselect English - United States.
  6. Click Add Exceptions.
  7. Click Add Rule.
  8. Select Create, Update, and Delete in the Select Permissions field.
  9. Select the required languages, for example, French - France.
  10. Save the role.

API Reference

To perform role management operations via API, refer to the following API requests:

Custom roles help you control access across entries, assets, languages, and taxonomies while ensuring users only have the permissions required for their responsibilities. By combining permissions and exceptions, you can create flexible access models that align with your organization’s workflows and governance requirements.

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