Roles & Permissions
Last updated: September 9, 2026
SilentChat uses a role-based access model (RBAC). Each team member has exactly one role that determines their permissions.
System Roles
| Role | Description | Typical User |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Full access, cannot be removed | Business Owner |
| Admin | Full access to all settings | IT Admin, Team Lead |
| Manager | Conversations, Team (excluding Billing/Settings) | Team Manager, Supervisor |
| Agent | Edit conversations, view contacts | Support Staff |
| Billing Admin | Billing area only | Accounting |
| Developer | Widgets, APIs, Webhooks | Developer |
| Analyst | Read-Only on conversations, visitors, analytics | Data Analyst, QA |
Permission Matrix
| Area | Owner/Admin | Manager | Agent | Billing | Developer | Analyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conversations (Read) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Conversations (Write) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Visitors | ✓ | Read | Read | — | — | Read |
| Contacts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | Read |
| Widgets | ✓ | Read | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Domains | ✓ | Read | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Team | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Roles | ✓ | Read | — | — | — | — |
| API Keys | ✓ | — | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Webhooks | ✓ | — | — | — | ✓ | — |
| Analytics | ✓ | Read | — | — | — | Read |
| Billing | ✓ | — | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Settings | ✓ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Automations | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Canned Responses | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
Legend: ✓ = Read + Write + Delete, Read = read-only access, — = no access
Custom Roles
In addition to system roles, you can create your own roles:
- Settings → Roles → "Create Role"
- Assign name and description
- Permissions set granularly (Read/Write/Delete per area)
Custom roles are tenant-specific and do not override system roles.
Role and Seat Type
The role determines what a member can do. The seat type determines whether they can write:
- Full Seat + Agent: Can read AND reply to conversations
- Lite Seat + Agent: Can only read conversations (Agent permissions are reduced to read-only)
See Lite Seats for details.