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Create a root key with the permissions listed on this page under Root Keys in the dashboard sidebar. CLI commands can instead use a session from unkey login with the required permissions. See Permission reference for every permission.
Update the name, slug, or description of a permission, identified by its ID or slug. Omitted fields keep their current values. A request with no fields to update returns the stored permission without a write. Important: Keys and roles reference the permission by ID, so they keep the permission after a slug change. Key verification can return the old slug for a short time while caches refresh. A slug that another permission in your workspace already uses returns 409.

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Usage

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Flags

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string
New description for the permission. Omit this field to keep the current description. Send null or an empty string to remove it. Pass --description= to remove it, or use --body with description: null.
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string
New human-readable name for the permission. Omit this field to keep the current name.
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string
required
The permission to update. Pass the permission ID (perm_...) or its current slug.
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string
New slug for the permission. Keys and roles that have this permission get the new slug in verification responses. The slug must be unique in your workspace. Omit this field to keep the current slug.

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Shared flags

These flags control authentication, requests, and output. CLI output and shared flags describes them in full.
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string
A JSON document sent as the request body instead of building it from the flags above. It is mutually exclusive with the request-building flags, and unknown fields are rejected locally. See Send a raw body.
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string
Root key used for the request. Falls back to UNKEY_ROOT_KEY, then stored credentials, including a CLI session. See CLI authentication for the full precedence order.
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string
default:"https://api.unkey.com"
Base URL of the API. Falls back to UNKEY_API_BASE_URL. You don’t normally need to set it.
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string
default:"~/.unkey/config.toml"
Path of the TOML config file. Falls back to UNKEY_CONFIG. An explicit --config takes precedence over a stored CLI session. Browser login stores a session, not a root key in this file. See CLI authentication.
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enum
default:"human"
Use human (default) for name-first summary tables and labeled details, or json for the unchanged full response envelope, including all fields and pagination. Terminal tables use relative timestamps and may shorten display names and descriptions, but never identifiers, slugs, or credentials. Redirected human output keeps complete values and uses RFC3339 UTC timestamps. Falls back to UNKEY_OUTPUT; other values are rejected. --json also selects JSON output. Add --debug to print the request ID to stderr. See Output formats.
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boolean
Print the successful response’s request ID to stderr, separate from stdout.
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boolean
Print the full response as JSON. Takes precedence over a valid --output or UNKEY_OUTPUT value.

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Required permissions

Your root key must have the following permission:
  • unkey:v1:<workspace_id>:projects/<project_id>/rbac/permissions/<permission_id>#write
See Root key permissions.

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Examples

Send the request body as JSON:

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API endpoint

The command calls POST /v2/permissions.updatePermission and prints its response. See the endpoint definition for the HTTP contract. Request fields use camelCase in --body.
Last modified on October 28, 2026