Roles and permissions
Decide who can manage your flat and what guests can do in a room.
Last updated:
What are roles and permissions in flat.social?
A role is a named set of permissions you assign to people by email. Each permission switches one ability on or off, like editing rooms or turning a camera on. Everyone who is not given a specific role gets your default role, so you control what every member and guest can do.
How roles work
You build roles in Settings → User Roles. A role has a name, a short description, and a list of permissions you turn on one by one. Then you assign that role to people using the email they sign in with.
There is one default role. Anyone who joins without an explicitly assigned role gets it automatically, so set its permissions to match what you want a typical guest to be able to do. Picture a community event: you might keep the default role to in-meeting abilities only, then create a "Moderator" role for the two people who help you run the space.
How to create and assign a role
- 1Open User Roles
Go to Settings → User Roles. You see your existing roles, including the default one marked with a Default badge.
- 2Add a role
Click Add Role, give it a name (2 to 32 characters) like Moderator or Speaker, and create it.
- 3Pick permissions
In Edit permissions, write a short description and toggle on each ability the role should have. Permissions are grouped by area — Management, In-Meeting, and Call Moderation — and you can flip a whole group at once. Click Save.
- 4Assign people by email
Click Assign role, type one or more emails (separated by a space or comma), and click Add. Use the same email each person signs into flat.social with.
What each permission does
Permissions split into three groups. Management permissions control your flat's setup and admin. In-Meeting permissions control what someone can do once they are inside a room. Call Moderation permissions let someone manage everyone else in a live session.
Management permissions
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Edit Basic Info | Edit the flat name, slug, and description |
| Edit Access | Edit privacy, the domain allowlist, and guest access |
| Edit Look & Feel | Edit the flat theme, logo, and background |
| Edit Rooms | Create, edit, and delete rooms, manage lobby categories, and feature rooms |
| Build Map | Edit room elements and reposition them on the map |
| Send Announcements | Create, edit, and delete announcements |
| Edit User Roles | Create, edit, and assign user roles |
| View Insights | View flat usage insights and statistics |
| Always Access flat | Get in regardless of access restrictions |
In-Meeting permissions
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Camera | Turn the camera on during meetings |
| Audio | Turn the microphone on during meetings |
| Reactions | Add emoji reactions |
| Guest List | See the guest list |
| Chat Window | See the chat window and send messages |
| Screenshare | Screenshare spatially in meetings |
| Present Slides | Present slide decks in conference rooms |
Call Moderation permissions
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Move Participants | Gather, summon, and arrange participants in spatial rooms |
| Mute Participants | Mute others' audio or video and stop their screenshares |
| Remove Participants | Kick or ban participants from the flat |
| Stop Presentations | Force-end any live slide presentation in the flat |
| Manage Activities | Pin, lock, and force-end room activities like the whiteboard, webinar, and standup |
| Manage Banned Users | Review the banned-users list and unban people |
| Moderate Chat | Delete other people's messages in shared chat channels |
Tune the default role first, since it covers everyone you do not assign by hand. Then add named roles only for the few people who need extra powers, like editing rooms or sending announcements.
The View Insights permission gates your Insights dashboard, and Edit Access controls your privacy and access settings. Grant those only to people you trust with your data and your front door.