[role="xpack"]
[[security-api-roles]]
=== Role Management APIs

The Roles API enables you to add, remove, and retrieve roles in the `native`
realm. To use this API, you must have at least the `manage_security` cluster
privilege.

NOTE: The Roles API is now the preferred way to manage roles.

[[security-api-put-role]]
To add a role, submit a PUT or POST request to the `/_xpack/security/role/<rolename>`
endpoint:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST /_xpack/security/role/my_admin_role
{
  "cluster": ["all"],
  "indices": [
    {
      "names": [ "index1", "index2" ],
      "privileges": ["all"],
      "field_security" : { // optional
        "grant" : [ "title", "body" ]
      },
      "query": "{\"match\": {\"title\": \"foo\"}}" // optional
    }
  ],
  "run_as": [ "other_user" ], // optional
  "metadata" : { // optional
    "version" : 1
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

The `name`, `cluster`, and `indices` fields are required at the top-level.
Within the `indices` array, the `names` and `privileges` fields are required.
Within the `metadata` object, keys beginning with `_` are reserved for system
usage.

The `field_security` and `query` fields are both optional. They are used to
implement field and document level security. For more information, see
{xpack-ref}/field-and-document-access-control.html[Setting Up Field and Document Level Security].

A successful call returns a JSON structure that shows whether the role has been
created or updated.

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "role": {
    "created": true <1>
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE
<1> When an existing role is updated, `created` is set to false.

[[security-api-get-role]]
To retrieve a role from the `native` Security realm, issue a GET request to the
`/_xpack/security/role/<rolename>` endpoint:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
GET /_xpack/security/role/my_admin_role
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[continued]

A successful call returns an array of roles with the JSON representation of the
role. If the role is not defined in the `native` realm, the request 404s.

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "my_admin_role": {
    "cluster" : [ "all" ],
    "indices" : [ {
      "names" : [ "index1", "index2" ],
      "privileges" : [ "all" ],
      "field_security" : {
        "grant" : [ "title", "body" ]
      },
      "query" : "{\"match\": {\"title\": \"foo\"}}"
    } ],
    "run_as" : [ "other_user" ],
    "metadata" : {
      "version" : 1
    },
    "transient_metadata": {
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE

You can specify multiple roles as a comma-separated list. To retrieve all roles,
omit the role name.

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
# Retrieve roles "r1", "r2", and "my_admin_role"
GET /_xpack/security/role/r1,r2,my_admin_role

# Retrieve all roles
GET /_xpack/security/role
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[continued]

[[security-api-delete-role]]
To delete a role, submit a DELETE request to the `/_xpack/security/role/<rolename>`
endpoint:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
DELETE /_xpack/security/role/my_admin_role
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[continued]

If the role is successfully deleted, the request returns `{"found": true}`.
Otherwise, `found` is set to false.

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "found" : true
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE

[[security-api-clear-role-cache]]
The Clear Roles Cache API evicts roles from the native role cache. To clear the
cache for a role, submit a POST request `/_xpack/security/role/<rolename>/_clear_cache`
endpoint:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST /_xpack/security/role/my_admin_role/_clear_cache
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE