---
title: "How do I assign policies, roles and users to each other using the API?"
slug: "how-do-i-assign-policies-roles-and-users-to-each-other-using-the-api"
tags: ["assign role", "assign policy", "user", "identity api", "access api"]
updated: 2024-09-23T12:10:28Z
published: 2024-09-23T12:10:28Z
canonical: "support.lusid.com/how-do-i-assign-policies-roles-and-users-to-each-other-using-the-api"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.lusid.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How do I assign policies, roles and users to each other using the API?

Providing you are a LUSID user with sufficient privileges, you can use a combination of the [Access](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/access/intro) and [Identity](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/identity/intro) APIs to assign policies to roles, and roles to users, respectively.

> **Note:** If you are the LUSID domain owner, you are automatically assigned the built-in `lusid-administrator` role, which has all the permissions necessary to perform the operations in this article.

We have separate Identity and Access APIs because identity management and access control are two different systems, [working closely together](/v1/docs/understanding-how-lusids-identity-management-and-access-control-systems-work). Note you can also assign policies to roles and roles to users seamlessly using the [LUSID web app](https://www.lusid.com/app/home).

## Assigning a policy to a role

Use the Access API:

1. [Obtain an API access token](/v1/docs/how-do-i-obtain-and-use-a-short-lived-api-access-token-from-okta).
2. Obtain the code of the role you want to assign the policy to, for example using the [GetRole](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/access/endpoints/roles/GetRole) API.
3. Call the [UpdateRole](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/access/endpoints/roles/UpdateRole) API, passing in your API access token. Because this is a PUT operation, make sure the request body includes any existing policies assigned to the role in addition to the new policy. For example, to add a new-policy to a test-role that already has an existing-policy, construct a JSON payload like this:

```json
{
  "description": "This is an example role",
  "resource": {
    "policyIdRoleResource": {
      "policies": [
        {
          "scope": "default",
          "code": "existing-policy"
        },
        {
          "scope": "default",
          "code": "new-policy"
        }
      ],
      "policyCollections": []
    }
  },
  "when": {
    "activate": "2021-08-31T18:00:00.0000000+00:00",
    "deactivate": "9999-12-31T18:00:00.0000000+00:00"
  }
}
```

An example PUT using Curl might look like this (note the JSON payload above has been obfuscated for clarity):

```json
curl -X PUT "https://<your-domain>.lusid.com/access/api/roles/<your-role-code>"
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-api-access-token>"
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"
  -d "<json-payload>"
```

## Assigning a policy collection to a role

Use the Access API:

1. [Obtain an API access token](/v1/docs/how-do-i-obtain-and-use-a-short-lived-api-access-token-from-okta).
2. Obtain the scope and code of the policy collection you want to assign, for example using the [ListPolicyCollections](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/access/endpoints/policies/ListPolicyCollections) API.
3. Obtain the scope and code of the role you want to assign to, for example using the [ListRoles](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/access/endpoints/roles/ListRoles) API.
4. Call the [AddPolicyCollectionToRole](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/access/endpoints/roles/AddPolicyCollectionToRole) API, passing in your API access token and the scope and code of the policy collection:

```json
curl -X PUT "https://<your-domain>.lusid.com/access/api/roles/<your-role-scope>/<your-role-code>/policycollections"
-H "Authorization: Bearer <your-api-access-token>"
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"
  -d "{'policyCollections':[{'scope':'<your-polcoll-scope>','code':'<your-pollcoll-code>'}]}"
```

## Assigning a role to a user

Use the Identity API:

1. [Obtain an API access token](/v1/docs/how-do-i-obtain-and-use-a-short-lived-api-access-token-from-okta).
2. Obtain the ID of the role you want to assign, for example using the [ListRoles](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/identity/endpoints/roles/ListRoles) API.
3. Obtain the ID of the user you want to assign to, for example using the [ListUsers](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/identity/endpoints/users/ListUsers) API.
4. Call the [AddUserToRole](https://www.lusid.com/docs/api/identity/endpoints/roles/AddUserToRole) API, passing in your API access token:

```json
curl -X PUT "https://<your-domain>.lusid.com/identity/api/roles/<your-role-id>/users/<your-user-id>"
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-api-access-token>"
```