PATCH/roles/{id}

Updates a custom role. Every field is optional, but permissions is a full replacement, not a merge - send the complete list you want the role to end up with, or omit the key entirely to leave permissions untouched. Sending "description": null clears the description.

System roles are immutable. Attempting to update owner, admin or viewer returns HTTP 409 - and, because of how the controller maps conflicts, it carries the code role.name_conflict even though nothing about the name conflicted. Check isSystem before patching.

The same two ceilings as role creation apply to permissions: workspace:delete and billing:manage are rejected at validation with 400 request.body_invalid, and anything the API key's owner does not hold themselves is rejected with 403 auth.permission_denied.

A permission change takes effect immediately for every member holding the role. Existing API keys owned by those members are not re-clamped by this route (only a member's role change does that), so a key can keep a scope its owner's role no longer grants until the key is updated or the member's role is changed. Emits role.updated.

Requires the roles:write scope.

curl --request PATCH \
  --url 'https://api.envless.cloud/roles/<id>' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer ev_sk_xxxxxxxxxxxx' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "name": "Billing",
  "description": "<string>",
  "permissions": [
    "projects:read",
    "variables:read"
  ]
}'

Try itPATCHhttps://api.envless.cloud/roles/{id}

Authorization

Authorizationstringrequiredheader
Bearer token: an Envless API key (ev_sk_…), created in the dashboard or with POST /keys. The key is bound to one workspace; every request runs inside it.

Path parameters

idstringrequired
Role id from GET /roles. Must be a custom role.

Request body

application/json · required

namestringmin length 2max length 40
New name, 2 to 40 characters after trimming, unique in the workspace case-insensitively.
descriptionstring | nullmax length 200
New description, up to 200 characters. Pass null to clear it, omit the key to leave it alone.
permissionsstring[]
Complete replacement permission list from GET /permissions. Omit to leave permissions unchanged.

Responses

200OK

Update a custom role succeeded.

successbooleanrequired
codeintegerrequired
The HTTP status of this response, repeated in the body.
messagestringrequired
errornullrequired
dataobjectrequired
Show child attributesHide child attributes
- idstringrequired
- namestringrequired
- descriptionstring | null
- isSystembooleanrequired
- systemKeystring | null
- permissionsstring[]required
- createdAtstringrequireddate-time
- updatedAtstring | nulldate-time
_reqobject
Show child attributesHide child attributes
- reqIdstring
- resTimeinteger | null

{
    "success": true,
    "code": 200,
    "message": "OK",
    "error": null,
    "data": {
        "id": "<string>",
        "name": "<string>",
        "description": "<string>",
        "isSystem": true,
        "systemKey": "<string>",
        "permissions": [
            "<string>"
        ],
        "createdAt": "2026-05-30T10:14:22.000Z",
        "updatedAt": "2026-05-30T10:14:22.000Z"
    },
    "_req": {
        "reqId": "<string>",
        "resTime": 1
    }
}

Error envelope

Every failure below returns the same shape with success: false; branch on error.code, never on message.

successbooleanrequired
codeintegerrequired
The HTTP status of this response, repeated in the body.
messagestringrequired
errorobjectrequired
Machine-readable failure detail. Null on success.
Show child attributesHide child attributes
- codeenum<string>required
  Stable error code. Branch on this, never on message.
  Options: "auth.api_key_required", "auth.api_key_not_found", "auth.api_key_user_missing", "auth.api_key_owner_not_member", "auth.scope_missing", "auth.scope_ceiling_exceeded", "auth.key_project_restricted", "auth.product_restricted", "auth.permission_denied", "auth.self_mutation_forbidden", "auth.step_up_required", "auth.step_up_fresh_required", "auth.cli_token_not_accepted", "auth.two_factor_required", "auth.workspace_two_factor_required", "auth.two_factor_invalid", "auth.two_factor_replayed", "auth.two_factor_locked", "auth.two_factor_not_enabled", "auth.two_factor_already_enabled", "request.body_must_be_json", "request.body_invalid", "request.body_too_large", "request.rate_limited", "request.invalid_pagination", "workspace.not_found", "workspace.slug_conflict", "workspace.limit_reached", "workspace.delete_last", "workspace.delete_too_early", "workspace.delete_has_projects", "domain.not_configured", "domain.not_found", "domain.invalid", "domain.taken", "domain.attempt_limit", "product.not_found", "product.slug_conflict", "product.locked", "project.not_found", "project.ambiguous_product", "project.slug_conflict", "environment.not_found", "environment.slug_conflict", "environment.expose_disabled", "environment.expose_private_product", "variable.not_found", "variable.name_conflict", "variable.ciphertext_invalid", "variable.baseline_drifted", "version.not_found", "member.not_found", "member.already_exists", "member.self_invite", "member.self_mutation", "member.owner_immutable", "member.owner_cannot_leave", "member.seat_limit", "invite.already_pending", "role.owner_not_assignable", "role.limit_reached", "role.immutable", "role.in_use", "invite.not_found", "invite.expired", "role.not_found", "role.name_conflict", "key.not_found", "key.limit_reached", "webhook.not_found", "webhook.delivery_not_found", "plan.limit_reached", "plan.upgrade_required", "request.not_found", "request.method_not_allowed", "request.conflict", "auth.unauthorized", "auth.forbidden", "request.invalid", "server.error"
- resourcestring
  The resource or scope the failure relates to.
- fieldstring
  The request field that caused the failure.
dataobject | nullrequired
Null on most failures. A plan limit carries { limit, current }.
_reqobject
Show child attributesHide child attributes
- reqIdstring
- resTimeinteger | null

{
    "success": false,
    "code": 400,
    "message": "Something went wrong.",
    "error": {
        "code": "auth.api_key_required",
        "resource": "<string>",
        "field": "<string>"
    },
    "data": {},
    "_req": {
        "reqId": "<string>",
        "resTime": 1
    }
}

400Bad Request

request.body_invalid - the name, description or permission list is invalid.

401Unauthorized

auth.api_key_required - the Authorization header is missing, or its value does not start with ev_sk_.
auth.api_key_not_found - the key is unknown, inactive or revoked.
auth.api_key_user_missing - the key is valid but its owner no longer exists.
auth.api_key_owner_not_member - the key's owner is no longer a member of the key's workspace.

403Forbidden

auth.permission_denied - you requested a permission you do not hold yourself.
auth.workspace_two_factor_required - the workspace requires two-factor authentication and the key's owner has not turned it on.
auth.scope_missing - the key lacks a scope this operation requires; error.resource names it.

404Not Found

role.not_found - no role matches.

409Conflict

role.immutable - the role is a system role and cannot be edited.
role.name_conflict - another role already has that name.

413Payload Too Large

request.body_too_large - the request body is larger than 1 MiB (1,048,576 bytes).

500Internal Server Error

server.error - an unexpected error; retry with backoff.

503Service Unavailable

server.error - the API is in maintenance mode or is missing its configuration; retry with backoff.

Authorization#

Path parameters#

Request body#

Responses#

200OK#

Error envelope#

400Bad Request#

401Unauthorized#

403Forbidden#

404Not Found#

409Conflict#

413Payload Too Large#

500Internal Server Error#

503Service Unavailable#