Lokalise Enterprise RBAC
Overview
Manage fine-grained access to Lokalise translation projects using its built-in role hierarchy, language-level scoping, contributor groups, and organization-level SSO enforcement. Lokalise has four core roles — owner, admin, manager-level (via admin_rights), and contributor (translator/reviewer) — each configurable per project and per language.
Prerequisites
- Lokalise Team or Enterprise plan (contributor groups and SSO require Team+)
- Owner or Admin role in the Lokalise organization
LOKALISE_API_TOKEN environment variable set (admin-level token)@lokalise/node-api SDK or curl + jq for REST API access
Instructions
Step 1: Understand the Role Hierarchy
Lokalise uses a flat role model per project, controlled by three boolean flags on each contributor:
| Role | is_admin | is_reviewer | Can translate | Can review | Can manage keys | Can manage contributors |
|---|
| Admin | true | true | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manager | false | true | Yes | Yes | Limited (via admin_rights) | No |
| Reviewer | false | true | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Translator | false | false | Yes | No | No | No |
At the team level, users are either admin or member. Team admins can create projects and manage billing. Team members can only access projects they are explicitly added to.
Step 2: Add Contributors with Language Scoping
import { LokaliseApi } from '@lokalise/node-api';
const lok = new LokaliseApi({ apiKey: process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN! });
await lok.contributors().create(PROJECT_ID, [{
email: 'translator@agency.com',
fullname: 'Marie Dupont',
is_admin: false,
is_reviewer: false,
languages: [
{ lang_iso: 'fr', is_writable: true },
{ lang_iso: 'es', is_writable: true },
],
}]);
await lok.contributors().create(PROJECT_ID, [{
email: 'reviewer@company.com',
fullname: 'Hans Mueller',
is_admin: false,
is_reviewer: true,
languages: [
{ lang_iso: 'de', is_writable: true },
{ lang_iso: 'fr', is_writable: false },
{ lang_iso: 'es', is_writable: false },
],
}]);
Step 3: Manage Team-Level Users and Roles
set -euo pipefail
TEAM_ID="YOUR_TEAM_ID"
curl -s -X GET "https://api.lokalise.com/api2/teams/${TEAM_ID}/users" \
-H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
| jq '.team_users[] | {user_id: .user_id, email: .email, role: .role}'
curl -s -X PUT "https://api.lokalise.com/api2/teams/${TEAM_ID}/users/USER_ID" \
-H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"role": "member"}'
Step 4: Create Contributor Groups for Bulk Management
Groups let you assign the same permissions to multiple people at once. When you add a user to a group, they inherit the group's language scope and role across all projects the group is assigned to.
set -euo pipefail
TEAM_ID="YOUR_TEAM_ID"
curl -s -X POST "https://api.lokalise.com/api2/teams/${TEAM_ID}/groups" \
-H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"name": "APAC Translators",
"is_reviewer": false,
"is_admin": false,
"admin_rights": [],
"languages": [
{"lang_iso": "ja", "is_writable": true},
{"lang_iso": "ko", "is_writable": true},
{"lang_iso": "zh_CN", "is_writable": true}
]
}'
GROUP_ID=$(curl -s "https://api.lokalise.com/api2/teams/${TEAM_ID}/groups" \
-H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
| jq -r '.groups[] | select(.name == "APAC Translators") | .group_id')
curl -s -X PUT "https://api.lokalise.com/api2/teams/${TEAM_ID}/groups/${GROUP_ID}/members/add" \
-H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"users": [12345, 67890]}'
curl -s -X PUT "https://api.lokalise.com/api2/teams/${TEAM_ID}/groups/${GROUP_ID}/projects/add" \
-H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"projects": ["PROJECT_ID_1", "PROJECT_ID_2"]}'
Step 5: Configure SSO (Enterprise Plan Only)
SSO is configured in the Lokalise dashboard, not via API. Map your IdP groups to Lokalise roles:
- Navigate to Organization Settings > Single Sign-On
- Select SAML 2.0 and enter your IdP metadata URL
- Map IdP groups to Lokalise roles:
Engineering-Localization -> AdminTranslators-EMEA -> Contributor group "EMEA Translators"Product-Managers -> Reviewer
- Enable Enforce SSO to block password-based login for all org members
- Set Default Role for new SSO users (recommend: member with no project access)
ACS URL format: https://app.lokalise.com/sso/saml/YOUR_TEAM_ID/callback
Step 6: Audit Permissions Regularly
import { LokaliseApi } from '@lokalise/node-api';
const lok = new LokaliseApi({ apiKey: process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN! });
async function auditPermissions() {
const projects = await lok.projects().list({ limit: 100 });
const report: Array<{project: string; issue: string; detail: string}> = [];
for (const proj of projects.items) {
const contributors = await lok.contributors().list({
project_id: proj.project_id,
limit: 500,
});
const admins = contributors.items.filter(c => c.is_admin);
if (admins.length > 3) {
report.push({
: proj.,
: ,
: ,
});
}
unscopedTranslators = contributors..(
!c. && (!c. || c.. === )
);
(unscopedTranslators. > ) {
report.({
: proj.,
: ,
: ,
});
}
( (r, ));
}
.(report);
report;
}
();
Step 7: Set Up Webhook for Access Change Notifications
set -euo pipefail
curl -s -X POST "https://api.lokalise.com/api2/projects/${PROJECT_ID}/webhooks" \
-H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"url": "https://hooks.company.com/lokalise-audit",
"events": [
"project.contributor_added",
"project.contributor_deleted",
"project.contributor_added_to_language",
"project.contributor_deleted_from_language"
]
}'
Output
- Contributors added with explicit language scoping (no unscoped access)
- Contributor groups created for bulk role management across projects
- Team-level roles configured (admin vs. member distinction)
- SSO configured with IdP group-to-role mapping (Enterprise)
- Audit script identifying over-privileged users and unscoped contributors
- Webhook configured for access change notifications
Error Handling
| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|---|
403 on contributor create | Caller lacks Admin role on the project | Use an admin-level token or get elevated by an Owner |
| Translator sees all languages | No languages array set on contributor | Update contributor with explicit language scope array |
| SSO login loop | Mismatched ACS URL | Verify ACS URL matches https://app.lokalise.com/sso/saml/TEAM_ID/callback exactly |
| Cannot remove Owner | Last owner protection | Transfer ownership to another admin first |
400 on group create | admin_rights contains invalid values | Valid values: activity, statistics, settings, manage_keys, manage_screenshots, manage_languages, manage_contributors |
| Group members don't see project | Group not assigned to the project | Use the groups/projects/add endpoint to link them |
Examples
List All Contributors Across All Projects
set -euo pipefail
curl -s -H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
"https://api.lokalise.com/api2/projects?limit=100" \
| jq -r '.projects[].project_id' \
| while read -r pid; do
curl -s -H "X-Api-Token: ${LOKALISE_API_TOKEN}" \
"https://api.lokalise.com/api2/projects/${pid}/contributors?limit=500" \
| jq -r --arg pid "$pid" '.contributors[] | [$pid, .email, (.is_admin|tostring), (.is_reviewer|tostring), (.languages|length|tostring)] | @csv'
sleep 0.2
done | sort -t, -k2
Principle of Least Privilege Setup
For a typical project with 3 languages (en, fr, de):
await lok.contributors().create(PROJECT_ID, [{
email: 'pm@company.com', fullname: 'PM', is_admin: true, is_reviewer: true, languages: [],
}]);
await lok.contributors().create(PROJECT_ID, [{
email: 'fr@agency.com', fullname: 'FR Translator', is_admin: false, is_reviewer: false,
languages: [{ lang_iso: 'fr', is_writable: true }],
}]);
await lok.contributors().create(PROJECT_ID, [{
email: 'de@agency.com', fullname: 'DE Reviewer', is_admin: false, is_reviewer: true,
languages: [
{ lang_iso: 'de', is_writable: true },
{ lang_iso: , : },
],
}]);
Resources
Next Steps
- After setting up permissions, run
lokalise-debug-bundle to verify access scoping works as expected.
- For migration scenarios requiring bulk contributor setup, see
lokalise-migration-deep-dive.
- Monitor access patterns over time with the audit script from Step 6.
