Wiki.js

Overview

Wiki.js has a powerful permission system with fine grained control over what your users can see and do.

Permissions are managed at the group level.

Page Rules

Page rules specify what a user can do on one or more pages, whether it's viewing a page, making edits, upload assets or posting comments. They are optionally tied to specific sites and locales.

A page rule consists of the following elements:

Enforcement Mode

The enformement mode determines whether the rule grants or deny permissions.

Permissions

One or more permissions can be selected for a page rule:

Uses the matching pattern

Note

The following permissions are tied to the site, locale and matching pattern.

Name Key Description Note
Read Pages read:pages Can view and search pages.
Write Pages write:pages Can create and edit pages.
Review Pages review:pages Can review and approve edits submitted by users.
Manage Pages manage:pages Can move existing pages to other locations the user has write access to.
Delete Pages delete:pages Can delete existing pages and restore them from the recycle bin.
Assign Tags write:tags Can assign / unassign tags on pages.
Use CSS write:styles Can insert CSS styles in pages.
Use JavaScript write:scripts Can insert JavaScript in pages. ⚠️ Use with caution as users could inject malicious scripts into pages.
Do NOT enable if you don't fully trust your users.
View Page Source read:source Can view the pages source.
View Page History read:history Can view previous versions of pages.
Submit Feedback write:feedback Can submit ideas to a feedback board, and edit or withdraw their own while they are open.
Manage Navigation manage:navigation Can change how pages here resolve their sidebar, and edit the menu itself where this rule also covers the page the menu belongs to.
View Assets read:assets Can view / use assets (such as images and files) in pages.
Upload Assets write:assets Can upload new assets (such as images and files).
Manage Assets manage:assets Can edit and delete existing assets (such as images and files).
Read Comments read:comments Can view page comments.
Write Comments write:comments Can post new comments on pages, edit and delete their own comments.
Manage Comments manage:comments Can edit and delete any existing page comments.

Doesn't use the matching pattern

Note

The following permissions are tied to the site and locale only. Pattern matching is ignored as it doesn't apply to their use case.

Name Key Description Note
Read Glossary read:glossary Can view the glossary and read terms definitions.
Manage Glossary manage:glossary Can create, edit and delete glossary entries.
Read Live Notes read:notes Can view live notes from a shared link. Assumes the site primary locale.
Write Live Notes write:notes Can create and contribute to live notes. Can delete own notes. Assumes the site primary locale.

Site Filter

A site filter can be applied to limit the page rule to only specific sites instead of all sites.

Locale Filter

A locale filter can be applied to limit the page rule to only specific locales instead of all locales.

Matching Pattern

Select how this page rule will match pages:

Pattern Description Priority
Path Starts With... Matches any path that starts with the entered value. Do NOT include a leading slash /. Lowest
Path Ends With... Matches any path that ends with the entered value. Do NOT include a trailing slash /.
Path is Exactly... + Children Matches both an exact path and its children (e.g. foo/bar and foo/bar/*, but not foo/bard). Do NOT include a leading or trailing slash /.
Path Matches Regex... Matches any path matching a regular expression. Do NOT include a leading or trailing slash /.
Has Any Tag... Matches any page that has at least one of the selected tag(s).
Has All Tags... Matches any page that has all of the tags selected.
Path is Exactly Matches an exact path. Do NOT include a leading slash /. Highest

Specificity

Rule specificity specifies which rule wins over another when they apply to the same page. The page with the highest specificity always win.

The specificity is determined in order by:

In other terms,

  1. A longer path takes precedence over a shorter path.
  2. If the 2 rules match the same path, the priority is given based on the matching pattern.
  3. If 2 rules match the same path and use the same matching pattern, the enforcement mode with the highest priority wins.

Examples

Example 1 - Path

Assuming you have 2 rules:

Rule 1 🟥 Deny Path starts with foo
Rule 2 ✅ Allow Path starts with foo/bar

Rule 2 wins because the path is more specific than Rule 1.

Example 2 - Pattern Matching

Assuming you have 2 rules:

Rule 1 🟥 Deny Path starts with foo/bar
Rule 2 ✅ Allow Path is Exactly foo/bar

Rule 2 wins because the matching pattern is more specific than Rule 1.

Example 3 - Enforcement Mode

Assuming you have 2 rules:

Rule 1 🟥 Deny Path starts with foo/bar
Rule 2 ✅ Allow Path starts with foo/bar

Rule 1 wins because a Deny overrides an Allow when everything else is the same.
This use case mostly happens when a user is part of 2 groups, where one has Allow and another has Deny on the same path.

Global Permissions

Global permissions represents administrative actions a user can perform. They are not tied to specific pages or sites.

Important

Some granular permissions are cummulative. For example, a group that should be able to create new users and list existing users should have both the read:users and write:users. A write prefix doesn't necessarily imply read. Refer to the matrix tables below for details.

General Permissions Matrix

Action / Group access:admin read:audit read:metrics use:mcp manage:system
Access the admin dashboard 🟢 🟢
View / download the audit log 🟢 🟢
Access the Prometheus metrics endpoint1 🟢 🟢
Use the MCP endpoint2 🟢 🟢
  1. This is different than the Metrics administration page which requires the manage:system permission. The read:metrics permission is strictly for accessing the Prometheus metrics endpoint for sources that require authentication.
  2. Refer to the MCP page for the other requirements and general usage info.

Site Management Matrix

Action / Group manage:sites manage:theme manage:storage manage:system
Create new site 🟢 🟢
Enable / disable a site 🟢 🟢
Modify site configuration1 🟢 🟢
Modify site theme 🟢 🟢
Modify site storage 🟢 🟢
  1. With the exception of site theme and storage settings.

Webhooks Management Matrix

Action / Group read:webhooks manage:webhooks manage:system
List and view webhooks configuration1 🟢 🟢
Create, modify and delete webhooks 🟢 🟢
  1. The authentication header secret is masked and cannot be read with this permission alone.

User Management Matrix

Action / Group list:users read:users write:users manage:users list:groups read:groups write:groups manage:groups manage:scim manage:system
List users 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢
View user info 🟢 🟢 🟢
Create new user 🟢 🟢 🟢
Edit user info1 🟢 🟢
Delete user2 🟢 🟢
Assign user to normal groups 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢
Assign user to elevated groups 🟢 🟢 🟢
Assign user to root admin groups 🟢
List groups 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢
View group info 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢
Create new group 🟢 🟢 🟢
Edit group 🟢 🟢 🟢
Set rules 🟢 🟢 🟢
Set permissions3 🟢 🟢
Delete group4 🟢 🟢
Use the /_scim/v2 endpoint 🟢 🟢
  1. Unless the user is part of any group with the manage:system (root admin) permission.
  2. Unless the user is part of any group with elevated admin permissions.
  3. Unless the group has any elevated admin permissions.
  4. Unless the group has the manage:system (root admin) permission.

Elevated Admin Permissions

The following permissions are considered Elevated Admin Permissions:

  • write:users
  • manage:users
  • write:groups
  • manage:groups
  • manage:scim
  • manage:system

Full Access

The manage:system grants complete access to absolutely everything and bypasses any restriction. A group rule with DENY enforcement has no effect on this group.

Caution

This permission should only be given to root administrators managing the wiki instance.
A user with this permission can essentially delete everything and cause irreparable damage. Use with caution.