Implement RBAC with Prisma and Better Auth in Next.js

Role-based access control determines what users can do based on their team membership. In TeamPulse, members submit feedback while admins manage boards and statuses.

What you'll build:

• Permission checks in server actions
• Role-aware UI that hides unauthorized actions
• Author-based permissions (users can edit their own content)
• Graceful error handling for denied actions

Prerequisites: Complete Module 6: Authentication first.

TeamPulse Permission Matrix

Members can view and submit feedback. Admins and owners manage boards and moderate all feedback.

Note: Organization-level permissions (inviting members, billing, roles) use Makerkit's built-in settings - no custom RBAC needed.

Role Hierarchy

Makerkit uses a hierarchical role system:

Users can only manage members with a lower hierarchy level than their own.

Customize the hierarchy in packages/rbac/src/rbac.config.ts. See the Roles and Permissions Documentation for details.

Server vs Client Permission Checks

Permission checks happen in two places:

• Server-side: Enforces permissions in server actions. This is the source of truth - always check here before mutations.
• Client-side: Hides UI elements from unauthorized users. Purely for UX; doesn't prevent determined users from attempting actions.

Server-Side Middleware

Protect server actions with middleware from @kit/action-middleware:

• withMinRole('admin') - Requires minimum role level
• withFeaturePermission({ board: ['create'] }) - Checks resource-based RBAC permissions

import { authenticatedActionClient, withMinRole } from '@kit/action-middleware';
export const createBoardAction = authenticatedActionClient
  .use(withMinRole('admin'))
  .inputSchema(createBoardSchema)
  .action(async ({ parsedInput: data, ctx }) => {
    // Only admins/owners reach this point
    // ctx.role and ctx.organizationId are available
  });

Note: these checks do not control the access/permissions to the entity itself, only that the user has the minimum role to perform the action. To control the access to the organization - you need to make sure the user has the necessary permissions to access the organization.

Client-Side Checks

Pass the role from server components as a prop, then use simple comparisons:

const canManage = role === 'admin' || role === 'owner';

For checking if a user can manage another member, use canTargetRole from @kit/rbac.

Protecting Server Actions

Board Actions

Restrict board creation to admins and owners using withMinRole:

import { authenticatedActionClient, withMinRole } from '@kit/action-middleware';
export const createBoardAction = authenticatedActionClient
  .use(withMinRole('admin'))
  .inputSchema(createBoardSchema)
  .action(async ({ parsedInput: data, ctx }) => {
    const logger = await getLogger();
    logger.info(
      { userId: ctx.user.id, organizationId: ctx.organizationId, name: data.name },
      'Creating board',
    );
    // ... create board logic
  });

If a member attempts this action, the middleware throws "Unauthorized: admin role required".

Author-Based Permissions

Some actions allow users to edit their own content while admins can edit anyone's. Use organizationActionClient which provides ctx.organizationId and ctx.role:

import { organizationActionClient } from '@kit/action-middleware';
export const updateFeedbackAction = organizationActionClient
  .inputSchema(updateFeedbackSchema)
  .action(async ({ parsedInput: data, ctx }) => {
    const existing = await verifyFeedbackAccess(data.id, ctx.organizationId);
    if (!existing) {
      throw new Error('Feedback not found');
    }
    const isAuthor = existing.authorId === ctx.user.id;
    const isAdmin = ctx.role === 'admin' || ctx.role === 'owner';
    if (!isAuthor && !isAdmin) {
      throw new Error('You can only edit your own feedback');
    }
    // ... update feedback logic
  });

Note: we are using the verifyFeedbackAccess function to check if the user has access to the feedback item. This function is not part of the Makerkit framework, but it is a custom function that you can use to check if the user has access to the feedback item that we defined in the Feedback Items Module.

In general, you should always make sure to check the permissions of the entity itself before performing any action on it.

Role-Aware UI Components

Pass the role from server components to client components as a prop.

Load Role in Server Component

import { loadCurrentUserRole } from '@kit/better-auth/context';
export default async function BoardsPage() {
  const boards = await loadBoards();
  const role = await loadCurrentUserRole();
  return (
    <PageBody>
      <BoardsHeader role={role} />
      <BoardsList boards={boards} role={role} />
    </PageBody>
  );
}

Conditionally Render UI

Let's go back to the boards page, and notice how we are using the auth.api.hasPermission function to check if the user has the permission to create a board:

export default async function BoardsPage() {
  const [boards, { success: hasPermission }, billingLimit] = await Promise.all([
    loadBoards(),
    auth.api.hasPermission({
      headers: await headers(),
      body: {
        permissions: {
          board: ['create'],
        },
      },
    }),
    checkBoardsLimit(),
  ]);
  // User can create if they have RBAC permission AND billing limit allows
  const canCreateBoard = hasPermission && billingLimit.allowed;

We use canCreateBoard to conditionally render the create board button. This is a common pattern in Makerkit applications to conditionally render UI based on permissions.

Note: this is only useful as a UX improvement, as the server action will still enforce the permissions - and that's where it's important to enforce the permissions.

Custom RBAC Permissions

withMinRole handles simple hierarchy checks ("admins and above"). For granular control, define resource-based permissions in packages/rbac/src/rbac.config.ts:

Configure Resources and Permissions

The defineRBACConfig function is used to define the RBAC configuration for the application.

It is located in the packages/rbac/src/rbac.config.ts file. This file is the only file you need to edit for all RBAC customizations.

If you have followed the Data Model and First Feature Module, you will have defined the resources and actions for the boards feature.

Let's take a look at the RBAC configuration for the boards feature:

import { defineRBACConfig } from './core/factory';
export default defineRBACConfig({
  resources: {
    BOARD: 'board',
    FEEDBACK: 'feedback',
  },
  accessController: {
    board: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'],
    feedback: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'],
  },
  permissions: {
    owner: {
      board: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'],
      feedback: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'],
    },
    admin: {
      board: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'],
      feedback: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'],
    },
    member: {
      board: ['read'],
      feedback: ['create', 'read'],
    },
  },
});

Back there we did not explain well the defineRBACConfig function, so let's do it now. The defineRBACConfig function is used to define the RBAC configuration for the application. It takes an object with the following properties:

• resources: the resources that are available in the application
• accessController: the actions that are available for each resource
• permissions: the permissions that are available for each role

Let's take a look at an example to understand how it works:

• The resources property is an object with the resources that are available in the application
• The accessController property is an object with the actions that are available for each resource
• The permissions property is an object with the permissions that are available for each role

Let's assume you are building a platform for a company that allows users to create and manage their own projects. You will have the following resources:

• Project
• Task

You may want to have the following actions:

• Create a project (create)
• Update a project (update)
• Delete a project (delete)
• Create a task (create)
• Update a task (update)
• Delete a task (delete)

And you may want to have the following roles:

• Owner
• Admin
• Member

You can then define the RBAC configuration for the application as follows:

export default defineRBACConfig({
  resources: {
    PROJECT: 'project',
    TASK: 'task',
  },
  accessController: {
    project: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'],
    task: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'],
  },
  permissions: {
    owner: { 
      project: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'], 
      task: ['create', 'read', 'update', 'delete'] 
    },
    admin: { 
      project: ['create', 'read', 'update'], 
      task: ['create', 'read', 'update'] 
    },
    member: { 
      project: ['read'], 
      task: ['read'] 
    },
  },
});

This will give:

• the owner the ability to create, read, update and delete projects and tasks.
• the admin the ability to create, read and update projects and tasks, but not delete them.
• the member the ability to read projects and tasks, but not create or update them.

Use in Server Actions

To apply the permissions to a server action, you can use the withFeaturePermission middleware. This middleware will check if the user has the necessary permissions to perform the action:

import { authenticatedActionClient, withFeaturePermission } from '@kit/action-middleware';
export const createBoardAction = authenticatedActionClient
  .use(withFeaturePermission({ board: ['create'] }))
  .inputSchema(createBoardSchema)
  .action(async ({ parsedInput, ctx }) => {
    // Only roles with board:create permission reach here
  });

Unauthorized requests throw "Unauthorized: board:create".

Let's continue to add permissions to the server actions for the feedback feature.

import { authenticatedActionClient, withFeaturePermission } from '@kit/action-middleware';
export const createFeedbackAction = authenticatedActionClient
  .use(withFeaturePermission({ feedback: ['create'] }))
  .inputSchema(createFeedbackSchema)
  .action(async ({ parsedInput, ctx }) => {
    // Only roles with feedback:create permission reach here
  });

And the same for the update feedback action:

export const updateFeedbackAction = authenticatedActionClient
  .use(withFeaturePermission({ feedback: ['update'] }))
  .inputSchema(updateFeedbackSchema)
  .action(async ({ parsedInput, ctx }) => {
    // Only roles with feedback:update permission reach here
  });

And the same for the delete feedback action:

export const deleteFeedbackAction = authenticatedActionClient
  .use(withFeaturePermission({ feedback: ['delete'] }))
  .inputSchema(deleteFeedbackSchema)
  .action(async ({ parsedInput, ctx }) => {
    // Only roles with feedback:delete permission reach here
  });

Check Permissions in Server Components

To check if the user has the necessary permissions to perform the action in a server component, you can use the auth.api.hasPermission function. This function will check if the user has the necessary permissions to perform the action:

import { auth } from '@kit/better-auth';
const { success } = await auth.api.hasPermission({
  headers: await headers(),
  body: {
    permissions: {
      board: ['create'],
    },
  },
});

We used the same API to check the permissions in the server component to conditionally render the create board button.

See the Better Auth Documentation for more options.

Handling Permission Errors

Handle denied permissions gracefully with toast notifications in the client component:

'use client';
import { useAction } from 'next-safe-action/hooks';
import { toast } from '@kit/ui/sonner';
import { Button } from '@kit/ui/button';
import { createBoardAction } from '@lib/boards/boards-server-actions';
export function CreateBoardButton() {
  const { execute, status } = useAction(createBoardAction, {
    onSuccess: () => {
      toast.success('Board created')
    },
    onError: ({ error }) => {
      toast.error(error.serverError ?? 'Failed to create board');
    },
  });
  return (
    <Button
      onClick={() => execute({ name: 'New Board' })}
      disabled={status === 'executing'}
    >
      Create Board
    </Button>
  );
}

Permission errors appear in error.serverError with messages like "Unauthorized: admin role required".

Better yet, define errors at apps/web/i18n/messages/en/errors.json to handle the errors gracefully in the client component:

{
  "CANNOT_CREATE_BOARD": "You are not authorized to create boards"
}

Then, you can use the t function to translate the error message in the server component:

import { getTranslations } from 'next-intl';
const t = await getTranslations('errors');
toast.error(t('CANNOT_CREATE_BOARD'));

Alternatively, you can use the Trans component to translate the error message in both server and client components:

import { Trans } from '@kit/ui/trans';
toast.error(<Trans i18nKey="errors.CANNOT_CREATE_BOARD" />);

Testing Permissions

Test the invitation flow to verify permissions work correctly.

Invite a Member

1. Go to /settings/members
2. Click Invite Member
3. Enter an email and select Member role
4. Click Send Invitation

Accept the Invitation

1. Open Mailpit at http://localhost:8025
2. Click the invitation link
3. Sign up and accept the invitation

Verify Member Restrictions

Sign in as the new member:

• Can view boards - Boards list page loads
• Cannot create boards - Button is hidden
• Can submit feedback - "Add Feedback" works
• Can edit own feedback - Actions menu shows Edit
• Cannot edit others' feedback - No actions menu on others' items

Checkpoint

Test each role:

Run quality checks:

pnpm typecheck
pnpm lint:fix
pnpm format:fix

Summary

TeamPulse now has role-based access control: server actions enforce permissions, UI hides unauthorized actions, and users can edit their own content.

Next: Module 8: Billing & Subscriptions adds Stripe integration with plan-based feature limits.

Learn More

• Organizations Documentation
• RBAC Documentation
• Better Auth Organizations Plugin
• Better Auth Access Control