Overview

Velt organizes your collaborative data in a clear hierarchy. This structure helps control Velt feature data access with precision. The hierarchy is: Organization → Folders → Documents → Locations. Here are the core concepts:

Organizations: The top-level container for everything. Think of it as your customer’s entire account (e.g., Meta). It holds all their users, groups, and collaborative data.
Folders: A way to group and organize documents, just like in a file system. Folders can contain other folders and documents, inheriting permissions.
Documents: The primary collaborative space. This is where features like comments, presence, and cursors come alive. A document could be a design file, a dashboard, a spreadsheet, or a specific page in your app.
Locations: An optional, granular subspace within a document. If a document is a slide deck, a location is a single slide. If a document is a video, a location could be a specific timestamp.
Users: Your end users who use your app.
Access Control: The rules that control who can access what Velt feature data.
Authentication: The process of authenticating a user in Velt.

Organizations

Overview

An Organization is the top-level entity.

It contains folders, documents, locations and users.
Think of an organization as the account belonging to a company (e.g., Company A). This account may have several users (Company A employees). A document will be any file created within the organization (e.g., document, spreadsheet, slides, etc.). A location will be any child section within the document (e.g., slide within a presentation).

Properties

By default, Users within the organization can access all of it’s resources like folder, documents, contact list etc. This can be modified using access control settings.
A user can be added to multiple organizations but can only log in to one organization at a time.
Access to resources can be restricted by setting controls at the individual resource level.

APIs

Frontend APIs

Sign in the user into an organization using these options.
User needs to sign in to an organization in order to perform CRUD operations on it.

Backend APIs

Create Organization

When the user signs into an organization it will be created automatically if it doesn’t exist.
Explicitly create an organization using the REST API. Learn more

Update Organization

Update organization using the REST API. Learn more

Delete Organization

Delete organization using the REST API. Learn more
It will delete all the data (folders, documents, locations and users) within the organization.

Get Organization

Get organization and it’s metadata using the REST API. Learn more

Disable Organization

Disable CRUD access to an organization using the REST API. Learn more

Provision Access to an Organization

Provision access to an organization using access control APIs

Folders

Overview

Folders help you organize documents in a hierarchical way, like a traditional file system.

Properties

Folders can contain both documents and subfolders.
Folders use the same permission model as Organizations and Documents.
By default, folders inherits the permission from it’s organization.
A user can be added to multiple Folders but can only initialize one Folder at a time.
By default, all Folder users have access to all Folder resources including sub folders, documents, locations and user contacts.
Access to individual resources within the Folder cannot be restricted by setting controls at the individual resource level.
Access of the Folder cascades to all resources within the Folder.

APIs

Frontend APIs

Subscribe to a folder and its documents using the setDocuments method.
Subscribe to all documents in the folder or a specific set of documents. If you want to subscribe to specific documents in the folder then you can pass upto 30 documents at a time.

Filtering Behavior: When using setDocuments with the allDocuments flag, the method automatically filters out documents the user doesn’t have access to instead of failing the entire operation. The folder document limit is set to 50 documents when using allDocuments: true. Any documents the user doesn’t have access to are silently filtered from the result.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hooks:

const { setDocuments } = useSetDocuments();

{/* Subscribe to a folder and all its documents */}
const rootDocument = [
  {
    id: 'document-1',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 1'
    }
  }
];

setDocuments(
  rootDocument,
  {
    folderId: 'folder1',
    allDocuments: true
  }
);


{/* Subscribe to a folder and some documents */}
const documents = [
  {
    id: 'document-1',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 1'
    }
  },
  {
    id: 'document-2',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 2'
    }
  }
];

setDocuments(
  documents,
  {
    folderId: 'folder1',
  }
);

Using API:

{/* Subscribe to a folder and all its documents */}
await client.setDocuments(
  rootDocument,
  {
    folderId: 'folder1',
    allDocuments: true
  }
);

{/* Subscribe to a folder and some documents */}
await client.setDocuments(
  documents,
  {
    folderId: 'folder1',
  }
);

Fetch folder metadata

Retrieve folder metadata and its subfolders using either organizationId or folderId, with support for pagination.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

// Get all folders for a specific organization
const folderMetadata = await client.fetchFolders({
  organizationId: 'org1'
});

// Get a specific folder's metadata with its immediate subfolders
const folderMetadata = await client.fetchFolders({
  organizationId: 'org1',
  folderId: 'folder1'
});

console.log(folderMetadata); // { data: { folder1: { ... } }, nextPageToken: '...' }

Backend APIs

Create Folder

Create a folder using the REST API. Learn more

Update Folder

Update folder using the REST API. Learn more

Move Documents to Folder

Move documents to a folder using the REST API. Learn more

Delete Folder

Delete folder using the REST API. Learn more
It will delete all the data (subfolders, documents, locations and users) within the folder.

Get Folder

Get folder and it’s metadata using the REST API. Learn more

Update Folder Access Type

Update the access type of a folder using the REST API. Learn more

Provision Access to a Folder

Provision access to a folder using access control APIs

Documents

Overview

A Document is a collaborative space within an Organization where users work together in real time. Each document includes:

Feature data (such as Comments, Presence, Cursors, etc.)
Locations
Users (distinct from Organization users; see Access Control for details)

For example, in a slide presentation app, the whole slide deck would be a single document.

Properties

Anyone connected to the same documentId can see and interact with each other’s activity, like presence, cursors, comments etc.
Users can subscribe to a single document or multiple documents at the same time.
Document inherits the permission from it’s organization and parent folder.
A user can be added to multiple Documents.
You can set Document level access control to override the Organization’s access control it inherited but not the Folder’s access control.

Document Access Priority: Document-level access settings now take priority over folder-level access settings. If a document has its own explicit access configuration, those settings will be used. If the document doesn’t have explicit access settings, it will inherit from its parent folder or organization.

APIs

Frontend APIs

Use this to set and subscribe to one or multiple documents at the same time.
You can specify 30 documents at a time.
The first document in the list will be considered as the root document.
For features like comments, notifications, recorder, reactions etc. you will be able to read and write to multiple documents at the same time.
For features like cursors, presence, huddle, live state sync etc. it will default to the root document.
Sidebar will automatically show data from all the documents.

Access Filtering: The setDocuments method now filters out documents the user doesn’t have access to instead of failing the entire operation. Previously, if any document in the array was inaccessible, the entire query would fail. Now only accessible documents are subscribed, and inaccessible ones are silently filtered out.

Params:

documents: Document[]
options?: SetDocumentsRequestOptions

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hooks:

const documents = [
  {
    id: 'document-1',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 1'
    }
  },
  {
    id: 'document-2',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 2'
    }
  }
];
const { setDocuments } = useSetDocuments();
setDocuments(documents);

Using API:

const documents = [
  {
    id: 'document-1',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 1'
    }
  },
  {
    id: 'document-2',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 2'
    }
  }
];
await client.setDocuments(documents);

Read/Write data from multiple documents on the same page

If you want to display data (eg: comments) from multiple documents on the same page, add data-velt-document-id attribute to the container that contains the document.
It will be used to identify which part of the DOM belongs to which document.

<div class="document-container" data-velt-document-id="document-1">
  ...
</div>

<div class="document-container" data-velt-document-id="document-2">
  ...
</div>

<div class="document-container" data-velt-document-id="document-3">
  ...
</div>

Filter comments by context

You can filter which comments are loaded when subscribing to documents by passing a context parameter to setDocuments(). This is useful when you want to load only comments relevant to specific parts of your application.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

const { client } = useVeltClient();

client.setDocuments(documents, {
    context: {
        access: {
            entityId: ['numberOfVisitors'],
            dashboardId: ['myDashboard'],
        }
    },
});

Permission Provider Integration: When you enable context-based permissions in your Permission Provider configuration (isContextEnabled: true), each context value will trigger a separate permission request to your backend. This allows you to control which specific context values users can access.The context parameter in setDocuments() uses the SetDocumentsContext interface which accepts arrays of values. When Permission Provider is enabled, Velt automatically converts these arrays into individual permission requests using the Context interface with single values.Learn more about Permission Provider →

See Comments Customize Behavior for more details on context-based filtering.

By default, users can only access documents within their own organization.
Enable cross-organization access by passing the target organizationId in the options parameter to setDocument/setDocuments (see Hook & API Example below).
Ensure that the user has access to the target document in the target organization.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hook:

{/* Single Document */}
useSetDocument("DOCUMENT_ID", {
  organizationId: 'ANOTHER_ORGANIZATION_ID'
});

{/* Multiple Documents */}
const documents = [
  {
    id: 'document-1',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 1'
    }
  },
  {
    id: 'document-2',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 2'
    }
  }
];
useSetDocuments(documents, {
  organizationId: 'ANOTHER_ORGANIZATION_ID'
});

Using API:

{/* Single Document */}
await client.setDocument("DOCUMENT_ID", {
  organizationId: 'ANOTHER_ORGANIZATION_ID'
});

{/* Multiple Documents */}
const documents = [
  {
    id: 'document-1',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 1'
    }
  },
  {
    id: 'document-2',
    metadata: {
      documentName: 'Document 2'
    }
  }
];
await client.setDocuments(documents, {
  organizationId: 'ANOTHER_ORGANIZATION_ID'
});

Set Root Document

Set the root document.
This is useful when you have multiple documents subscribed in your app and you want change the root document during the session.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

await client.setRootDocument({id:'DOCUMENT_ID'})

Unsubscribe from Documents

Use this to unsubscribe from all documents at once.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hooks:

useUnsetDocuments();

Using API:

await client.unsetDocuments();

Get Document Metadata

Use this to get the metadata of a Document.
This is useful when you want to display the document name in your app or any custom metadata that you have set.
This returns a subscription with DocumentMetadata object.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

client.getDocumentMetadata().subscribe((documentMetadata) => {
  console.log("Current document metadata: ", documentMetadata);
});

Fetch Documents

Fetch documents by organization, folder, or specific document IDs.
Use allDocuments: true to fetch all documents for an organization or a specific folder.
Supports pagination via nextPageToken in the response.
When specifying individual documentIds, you can pass up to 30 IDs at a time.

This is a one-time fetch, not a realtime subscription. You will need to call again to refresh results.

Params:

request: FetchDocumentsRequest
Returns: FetchDocumentsResponse

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

// Gets all documents for given org id
await client.fetchDocuments({ organizationId: 'org1', allDocuments: true });

// Gets all documents for the given folderId
await client.fetchDocuments({ organizationId: 'org1', folderId: 'folder1', allDocuments: true });

// Gets specified documents
await client.fetchDocuments({ organizationId: 'org1', documentIds: ['doc1', 'doc2'] });

Backend APIs

Create Document

Create a document using the REST API. Learn more

Update Document

Update document using the REST API. Learn more

Delete Document

Delete document using the REST API. Learn more
It will delete all the data (locations and users) within the document.

Get Document

Get document and it’s metadata using the REST API. Learn more

Update Document Access Type

Update the access type of a document using the REST API. Learn more

Provision Access to a Document

Provision access to a document using access control APIs

Disable Document

Disable CRUD access to a document using the REST API. Learn more

Legacy APIs

Subscribe to a Single Document

Use this to initialize and subscribe to a single Document.
Once you set the document, you will start receiving realtime updates from the document.
Params:
- documentId: The unique identifier for the document.
- metadata: (optional) This is a key/value pair object where you can set metadata about the document such as documentName. documentName is a special field that we use to display the document name in some Velt Components.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hooks:

useSetDocument('unique-document-id', {documentName: 'Document Name'});

Using API:

await client.setDocument('unique-document-id', {documentName: 'Document Name'});

Unsubscribe from a Single Document

Use this to unsubscribe from the root Document
Once you unset the document, you will no longer receive realtime updates from the document.
For some parts of your app, you may not need Velt. In such cases, you can unset the document.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hooks:

useUnsetDocumentId();

Using API:

await client.unsetDocumentId();

Locations

Overview

Locations are optional subspaces (JSON object) within a document, providing finer partitioning of data. Locations can represent:

Pages
Sections
Video frames
Data points on maps/charts
Any other contextual area

For instance:

In a slide presentation, the entire slide presentation will be a document each individual slide will be a location.
In a dashboard, the entire dashboard is a document but various filters applied will be locations;
In a video player, the entire video will be the document and timestamps will be locations.

If a Document is like a house, a Location is like a room within the house.

Properties

Any user with access to the document will have access to all locations in the document.
Access controls cannot be set at the location level.
Locations automatically generate location groups in the sidebar and organizes the comments within the group.
The location object has these fields:
- id (required): A unique identifier for the location that can be used to reference it later
- locationName (recommended): A human-readable name displayed in Velt components like the VeltCommentsSideBar
- You can add any number of custom fields to the location object.

APIs

Frontend APIs

Use this to set and subscribe to one or multiple locations at the same time.
The first location in the list will be considered as the root location.
Features will by default add data to the root location unless you use the location boundaries.
Sidebar will automatically show data from all the documents.

Params:

locations: Location[]
options?: SetLocationsRequestOptions
- rootLocationId: The id of the location that will be set as the root location. If you don’t specify this, the first location will be set as the root location.
- appendLocation: If you want to append new locations to the existing locations, set this to true.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hooks:

const locations = [
  {id:'location1', locationName:'Location 1'},
  {id:'location2', locationName:'Location 2'}
];
const { setLocations } = useSetLocations();
setLocations(locations);

Using API:

  await client.setLocations([
    {id:'location1', locationName:'Location 1'},
    {id:'location2', locationName:'Location 2'}
  ], {rootLocationId: 'location2'}); // By default 1st location will be set as root location unless rootLocationId is specified.

  // Append new locations
  await client.setLocations([
    {id:'location3', locationName:'Location 3'},
    {id:'location4', locationName:'Location 4'}
  ], {appendLocation: true})

Read/Write data from multiple locations on the same page using Location Boundaries

If you want to display data (eg: comments) from multiple locations on the same page, add data-velt-location-id attribute to the container that contains the location.
It will be used to identify which part of the DOM belongs to which location.
This ensures that the comment added within the location is associated with the correct location.

<div class="location-container" data-velt-location-id="location-1">
  ...
</div>

<div class="location-container" data-velt-location-id="location-2">
  ...
</div>

<div class="location-container" data-velt-location-id="location-3">
  ...
</div>

Set Root Location

Set the root location.
This is useful when you have multiple locations subscribed in your app and you want change the root location during the session.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

await client.setRootLocation({id:'LOCATION_ID'})

Unsubscribe from Locations

Unset locations by ids or all of them if you don’t specify any parameters.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

// remove specific locations
await client.unsetLocationsIds(['location1', 'location2', 'location3'])

// remove all locations
await client.unsetLocationsIds()

Legacy APIs

Subscribe to a Single Location

Use this to initialize and subscribe to a single Location.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hooks:

useSetLocation({
  'id': 'locationId1',
  'locationName': 'MainVideoPlayer',
  'videoFrame': '120'
})

Using API:

client.setLocation({
  'id': 'locationId1',
  'locationName': 'MainVideoPlayer',
  'videoFrame': '120'
})

Subscribe to Multiple Locations

Use this to subscribe to multiple locations at the same time.
Add additional locations on the page by using set location with the true parameter.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hooks:

useSetLocation({
  'id': 'locationId1',
  'locationName': 'MainVideoPlayer',
  'videoFrame': '120'
  // You can keep adding more field to make the location very specific.
  // The field names can be anything.
})

useSetLocation({
  'id': 'locationId1',
  'locationName': 'MainVideoPlayer',
  'videoFrame': '120'
  // You can keep adding more field to make the location very specific.
  // The field names can be anything.
}, true)

Using API:

client.setLocation({
  'id': 'locationId1',
  'locationName': 'MainVideoPlayer',
  'videoFrame': '120'
  // You can keep adding more field to make the location very specific.
  // The field names can be anything.
});

client.setLocation({
  'id': 'locationId2',
  'locationName': 'MainVideoPlayer2',
  'videoFrame': '120'
  // You can keep adding more field to make the location very specific.
  // The field names can be anything.
}, true);

Users

Overview

A User is anyone authenticated with the Velt SDK.
After authentication, a user’s profile appears in Velt’s collaboration features. For example, their name is shown next to their comments, in @mentions, and alongside their avatar in presence and cursor features.

Contact List

When the user is on a document, they can @mention other users. By default, the contact list for the @mention feature includes users from:

Organization.
Folder.
Document.
User Groups.
@here: This is a special group that includes only the users explicitly added on the document. This doesn’t include organization users or organization user groups.

User Groups

User Groups let you organize users into teams (like “engineering” or “marketing”) for easier management and access control.

Mention an entire group (e.g., @engineering) instead of individual users, similar to Slack.
Organization users can be in multiple groups.
Only organization users can join user groups.

Properties

Uniqueness of the user is determined by its userId.
A user can be part of multiple organizations.

APIs

Frontend APIs

Authenticate a User

There are two ways to authenticate a user in Velt.

Using an Auth Provider (recommended)
Using Identify method

1. Use Auth Provider

With this approach, you configure an authentication provider by specifying the user you want to authenticate and a function that returns a Velt JWT token.
This function is automatically called by Velt whenever a token is required—such as during the initial sign-in or when the token expires.
You should define this authentication provider within the Velt Provider during your app’s initialization.
Use this to generate a Velt JWT token.
Params:
- user: User
- retryConfig: AuthRetryConfig
- generateToken: () => Promise<string>

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks
generateVeltAuthToken()

<VeltProvider authProvider={{
  user,
  retryConfig: { retryCount: 3, retryDelay: 1000 },
  generateToken: async () => {
    // See generateVeltAuthToken() tab for example implementation
    const token = await generateVeltAuthToken();
    return token;
  }
}} />

2. Use Identify with JWT Token

In this approach, you will call the identify method with the user object and a JWT token.
Here you are responsible for re-generating a JWT token whenever it expires.
This gives you more flexibility on when and where to initialize the user and generate the token.
Params:
- user: User
- options: Options
  - authToken: string
  - forceReset: boolean

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using Hook:

  const user = {
    userId: uid,
    organizationId: organizationId, // this is the organization id the user belongs to. You should always use this.
    name: displayName,
    email: email,
    photoUrl: photoURL,
    color: colorCode, // Use valid Hex code value. Used in the background color of the user's avatar.
    textColor: textColor // Use valid Hex code value. Used in the text color of the user's intial when photoUrl is not present.
  };

  useIdentify(user, {
    authToken: authToken, // this is optional but highly recommended.
  });

Using API:

await client.identify(user, {
    authToken: authToken, // this is optional but highly recommended.
});

Sign in with force reset

By default, when you identify a user, their authentication state is preserved in the browser until you explicitly sign them out.
If you update a user’s metadata or default access settings in the console and want those changes to take effect right away, you should call the identify method again with the forceReset option set to true.
Default: false

await client.identify(user, {
  forceReset: true
});

Sign out a User

In a given session or browser tab, if you want to switch users, you need to first signout the current user and then sign in using identify method again. This will ensure we clean up the current user session and start a new session with the new user.

client.signOutUser();

Contact List:

In this case, the contact list can be updated on the fly in the frontend. This will not save the list in Velt. You can also search the list directly from your backend and display it in Velt Components.

Backend APIs

Contact List:

This will save the list in Velt.

User Groups:

Access Control

Overview

Velt’s access control system is built around four main concepts:

Resources - The hierarchical structure of your app (Organizations → Folders → Documents)
Access Types - This is applied to a resource to determine who can access it (public, organizationPrivate, or restricted)
Roles - This is applied to a user to determine what they can do on a resource (editor or viewer)
Permissions – Define whether a user can access a resource, based on the resource’s access type, the user’s role, and explicit permission grants. Access can be temporary or permanent.

Access Control Model

Inheritance (default): Similar to Google Drive, Velt Resources (Organizations, Folders, and Documents) follow a hierarchical permission model. By default, child resources inherit access control settings from their parents.
Overrides: If a resource defines its own access type or user permissions, those explicit settings override the inherited values. This precedence applies during both permission evaluation and access enforcement.

Example: Think of it like folders in Google Drive

You create a folder and set it to “Anyone with the link can view”
Any document you add to that folder automatically inherits those same sharing settings
If you want, you can override a specific document’s sharing settings to be more restrictive or more open

In Velt, this works the same way:

All Folders in that org automatically inherit organizationPrivate access
All Documents in those folders also inherit organizationPrivate access
If you explicitly set a specific Document to restricted access, that override takes precedence

1. Resources

Velt permissions apply to these resources and at the feature level using Access Context: Resource-Level Permissions:

Organization – top-level container that groups users, folders, and documents.
Folder – groups documents under an organization.
Document – individual collaborative unit (e.g., a canvas, page, or file).

Most permission changes occur at the Folder and Document level, but Organizations can set defaults that flow down hierarchically.

Feature-Level Permissions (Access Context): Access Context enables granular, feature-level permissions using custom metadata. Unlike resource-level permissions that control access to entire organizations, folders, or documents, Access Context allows you to control access to specific features (like individual comments or notifications) based on custom metadata fields you define. When to use Access Context:

Fine-grained control: When you need to restrict visibility of specific features within a document rather than the entire document. For example, in a multi-tenant dashboard, different users might access the same document but see comments on different widgets based on their widgetId access.
Data-driven permissions: When access needs to be determined by dynamic metadata such as entity IDs, project codes, section identifiers, or other custom fields specific to your application’s data model.
Complex scenarios: When resource-level permissions alone are too broad and you need feature-specific isolation within the same collaborative space.

Access Context is currently available with Real-time Permission Provider and will soon be supported with On-Demand Permissions and Synced Permissions. Learn more about configuring Access Context.

2. Access Types

Access types define who can access a resource:

public (default): Any authenticated user in your app who initializes Velt can access the resource’s collaboration layer.
organizationPrivate: Only users in the same organization as the resource can access it.
restricted: Only explicitly permitted users can access the resource.

APIs (backend)

Folder: Use Update Folder Access Type.
Document: Use Update Document Access Type.
Defaults: Update default access across your app.

Open Velt Console

Go to the App Config in the Velt Console: console.velt.dev

Choose default access type

Select the desired default access type for new resources and save your changes.

Access Types = who can access. Roles = what they can do once they have access. These controls are orthogonal and compose together.

3. Roles

Roles define what an allowed user can do on a resource:

Editor: Read and write access to collaboration features data for the given resource. This is the default role.
Viewer: Read-only access to collaboration features data for the given resource.

Assign or override roles per resource via your backend when granting permissions. Frontend SDK methods cannot set or change accessRole.

APIs

Add users
Remove users
Generate token (to be used during login)
Add permissions
Remove permissions

4. Permissions

Permissions control which users can access and collaborate on specific resources in your app. They determine what actions users can perform on organizations, folders, and documents. Permissions are determined by a combination of the resource’s access type and the user’s role. There are 3 ways to configure permissions in Velt. Choose the approach that best fits your app’s architecture: a. On-Demand Permissions b. Synced Permissions c. Real-time Permission Provider

a. On-Demand Permissions

Grant or revoke permissions at runtime when a user logs in or navigates to a resource.

Best when your app has a very complex and granular permissioning system and you want to keep your system as the source of truth.
Supports temporary (time-bound) access and permanent access, enabling ad‑hoc sharing and expiring invites.

Temporary vs. Permanent Access

Temporary access: Grant permissions with an expiry or revoke after session/end of task (e.g., guest reviewers, contractors). Use this when access should automatically end or be short‑lived.
Permanent access: Grant durable permissions for members or long‑term collaborators. Use this when roles rarely change and should persist across sessions.

APIs

Add Permissions
- When user logs in: Use an auth provider with JWT. In the frontend, set the auth provider to fetch a JWT from your backend (Generate token).
- When user switches resources: Call Add Permissions API to grant or adjust access for the newly active resource(s) (folders/documents).
Remove Permissions
- Revoke access when the user signs out, loses membership, or navigates away from sensitive resources using Remove Permissions API.
Get Permissions
- Backend API: Used to query a user’s effective permissions/roles for the given resources. This returns what permissions your user has according to Velt.
- Frontend API: Use getUserPermissions to return the current logged-in user’s permissions on the currently set resources in Velt (e.g., organization, folder, documents).
Params:
- request?: GetUserPermissionsRequest
- Returns: GetUserPermissionsResponse

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using API:

// Build the request (all fields optional)
const request = {
  organizationId: 'org_123',
  folderIds: ['folder_1', 'folder_2'],
  documentIds: ['doc_1', 'doc_2']
};

// Fetch effective permissions for the current user
const permissions = await client.getUserPermissions(request);

console.log(permissions)

// Example Output:
// {
//   "user_123": {
//     "organization": {
//       "org_123": { "accessRole": "editor", "expiresAt": 1735689600 }
//     },
//     "folders": {
//       "folder_1": { "accessRole": "viewer" },
//       "folder_2": { "errorCode": "permission_denied", "error": "User does not have access to Folder." }
//     },
//     "documents": {
//       "doc_1": { "accessRole": "editor" },
//       "doc_2": { "errorCode": "does_not_exist", "error": "Document does not exist." }
//     }
//   }
// }

When you include organizationId in the identify/auth payload, Velt automatically creates and associates the user with that organization. This happens because the “Auto-create Organization Users” console setting is enabled by default. To change this default behavior, go to Console under App Configuration -> Auto-create Organization User

b. Synced Permissions

Periodically or event‑driven sync between your app and Velt.
Do an initial bulk load, then keep up with adds/removes/role changes.

APIs (backend)

Add users
- Initial sync: Bulk add existing users so they appear in mentions and can be permissioned.
- Ongoing sync: When a user is added or granted permissions to additional resources in your app, call this API to sync that change in Velt.
Remove users
- Ongoing sync: When a user is removed or their permissions are revoked to resources in your app, call this API to sync that change in Velt.
Get Permissions
- Backend API: Used to query a user’s effective permissions/roles for the given resources. This returns what permissions your user has according to Velt.
- Frontend API: Use getUserPermissions to return the current logged-in user’s permissions on the currently set resources in Velt (e.g., organization, folder, documents).
Params:
- request?: GetUserPermissionsRequest
- Returns: GetUserPermissionsResponse

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Using API:

// Build the request (all fields optional)
const request = {
  organizationId: 'org_123',
  folderIds: ['folder_1', 'folder_2'],
  documentIds: ['doc_1', 'doc_2']
};

// Fetch effective permissions for the current user
const permissions = await client.getUserPermissions(request);

console.log(permissions)

// Example Output:
// {
//   "user_123": {
//     "organization": {
//       "org_123": { "accessRole": "editor", "expiresAt": 1735689600 }
//     },
//     "folders": {
//       "folder_1": { "accessRole": "viewer" },
//       "folder_2": { "errorCode": "permission_denied", "error": "User does not have access to Folder." }
//     },
//     "documents": {
//       "doc_1": { "accessRole": "editor" },
//       "doc_2": { "errorCode": "does_not_exist", "error": "Document does not exist." }
//     }
//   }
// }

When you include organizationId in the identify/auth payload, Velt automatically creates and associates the user with that organization. The Auto-create Organization Users console setting is enabled by default, so you don’t need to pre-create users for on-demand flows. Go to Console under App Configuration -> Auto-create Organization User

c. Real-time Permission Provider

With this approach, Velt pings your defined endpoint to verify whether a user should be granted access to a resource (organization, folder, or document). This ensures that your backend is still the source of truth and you don’t have to sync the permissions into Velt directly.

How it works

Configure your backend endpoint in the Velt Console under Permission Provider settings
Add your POST endpoint URL and optional auth token
Configure Permission Provider in your frontend using VeltProvider or using setPermissionProvider()
When users access resources, Velt automatically queries your endpoint
Your backend determines access and returns permission decisions
Velt uses the response to grant or revoke permissions.
Optionally, when the user switches documents or logs out, you can configure the permission provider to auto-revoke permissions.

When to use

Your app has complex, dynamic permissions that change frequently
You want to avoid syncing permission data to an external system
You need real-time permission validation without backend synchronization overhead

How to Setup: Step 1: Configure Endpoint in Velt Console

Enable Permission Provider in Velt Console
Add your POST endpoint URL (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/api/check-permissions)
(Optional) Add auth token for request authentication

Step 2: Implement Your Backend Endpoint Your backend receives permission requests from Velt, checks your authorization system, and returns access decisions. Request Schema See the full request schema: PermissionQuery Expected Response Schema See the full response schema: PermissionResult Sample Example

Sample Request from Velt
Expected Response from Your Endpoint
Node.js / Express Implementation
Python / Flask Implementation

// Headers
{
  "Content-Type": "application/json",
  "Authorization": "Basic ${permissionProviderToken}"
}

// Body
{
  "data": {
    "requests": [
      {
        "userId": "user123",
        "resource": {
          "id": "org456",
          "type": "organization",
          "source": "your-app",
          "organizationId": "org456"
        }
      },
      {
        "userId": "user123",
        "resource": {
          "id": "doc789",
          "type": "document",
          "source": "your-app",
          "organizationId": "org456"
        }
      },
      {
        "userId": "user123",
        "resource": {
          "id": "folder101",
          "type": "folder",
          "source": "your-app",
          "organizationId": "org456"
        }
      },
      {
        "userId": "user123",
        "resource": {
          "id": "doc789",
          "type": "context",
          "source": "your-app",
          "organizationId": "org456",
          "context": {
            "access": {
              "entityId": "numberOfVisitors"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Context to Permission Conversion: When you pass arrays of context values in setDocuments(), Velt automatically converts them to individual permission requests. For example, entityId: ['value1', 'value2'] becomes two separate requests with entityId: 'value1' and entityId: 'value2'.

Step 3: Configure Frontend Configure Permission Provider behavior in your frontend using setPermissionProvider(). Configuration Options: View the complete VeltPermissionProvider schema for all available options.

isContextEnabled: Enable context-based permission requests for granular access control per context value. Default: false
retryConfig: Configure retry attempts and delays for failed permission requests. Default: 3 retries with 2000ms delay. See AuthRetryConfig
forceRefresh: Force re-validation on each access check when permissions change frequently. Default: false
revokeAccessOn: Configure automatic access revocation on specific events (e.g., document unset, user logout). See Revoke Access Functionality below

When using setPermissionProvider() method, call it before identify(), setAuthProvider(), and setDocument() methods to ensure proper initialization.

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

You can configure the Permission Provider in two ways:Option 1: In VeltProvider (Recommended)

<VeltProvider
  apiKey="YOUR_API_KEY"
  permissionProvider={{
    isContextEnabled: true,
    retryConfig: { retryCount: 3, retryDelay: 2000 },
    forceRefresh: false,
  }}
>
  {/* Your app */}
</VeltProvider>

Option 2: Using setPermissionProvider()

const { client } = useVeltClient();

// Call before identify(), setAuthProvider(), and setDocument()
client.setPermissionProvider({
  isContextEnabled: true,
  retryConfig: { retryCount: 3, retryDelay: 2000 },
  forceRefresh: false,
});

Context-Based Permissions: When isContextEnabled is true, the Permission Provider will receive individual requests for each context value. This happens automatically when you use context filtering with setDocuments(). Each context value becomes a separate permission request, allowing you to control access at a granular level. Learn more about context filtering →

Revoke Access Automatically

Automatically revoke permissions when specific events occur, providing better control over user access and security.
Access is automatically revoked from both cache and backend when triggered. This ensures immediate permission removal without requiring manual cleanup.
Context access is only revoked when the user logs out and not at document unset

Available Revoke Triggers:

document_unset: Revokes access when user unsets or leaves a document
user_logout: Revokes access when user logs out

Configuration Options:

type: Type of trigger (RevokeAccessOnType.DOCUMENT_UNSET or RevokeAccessOnType.USER_LOGOUT). See RevokeAccessOnType
revokeOrganizationAccess: Set to true to also revoke organization-level permissions (default: false)

Event Subscription: RevokeAccessOn Subscribe to revocation events to monitor when access is automatically removed. Here is the list of events you can subscribe to and the event objects you will receive.

Event Type	Description	Event Object
`revokeAccessOnDocumentUnsetTriggered`	Triggered when permissions are automatically revoked due to document unset trigger	RevokeAccessOnType
`revokeAccessOnUserLogoutTriggered`	Triggered when permissions are automatically revoked due to user logout trigger	RevokeAccessOnType

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

const { client } = useVeltClient();

// Track document unset revocations
client.on('revokeAccessOnDocumentUnsetTriggered').subscribe(event => {
  console.log('Document unset revocation:', event);
});

// Track logout revocations
client.on('revokeAccessOnUserLogoutTriggered').subscribe(event => {
  console.log('Logout revocation:', event);
});

Event Payload Examples:

revokeAccessOnDocumentUnsetTriggered
revokeAccessOnUserLogoutTriggered

{
  "event": "revokeAccessOnDocumentUnsetTriggered",
  "timestamp": 1761580810137,
  "payload": {
    "userId": "user_123",
    "documentId": "doc_456",
    "organizationId": "org_789",
    "revokeOrganizationAccess": false
  }
}

Access is automatically revoked from both cache and backend when triggered. This ensures immediate permission removal without requiring manual cleanup.

The signature generation step has been removed. Velt now handles all validation internally through the backend endpoint configuration.

Permission Provider events

on() Subscribe to Permission Provider events to monitor the sequence of permission check events. Here is the list of events you can subscribe to.

Event Type	Description
`resourceAccessRequestFormed`	Fired when a permission request is formed internally before being sent
`resourceAccessRequestTriggered`	Fired when a permission request is actually triggered and sent
`resourceAccessResult`	Fired when a permission check result is received from your server
`resourceAccessError`	Fired when an error occurs during permission checking
`resourceAccessResultFromCache`	Fired when a permission result is retrieved from cache instead of making a new request
`revokeAccessOnDocumentUnsetTriggered`	Fired when permissions are automatically revoked due to document unset trigger
`revokeAccessOnUserLogoutTriggered`	Fired when permissions are automatically revoked due to user logout trigger

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

const { client } = useVeltClient();

client.on('permissionProvider').subscribe(e => console.log(e));

Event Names:

{
  RESOURCE_ACCESS_REQUEST_FORMED: 'resourceAccessRequestFormed',
  RESOURCE_ACCESS_REQUEST_TRIGGERED: 'resourceAccessRequestTriggered',
  RESOURCE_ACCESS_RESULT: 'resourceAccessResult',
  RESOURCE_ACCESS_ERROR: 'resourceAccessError',
  RESOURCE_ACCESS_RESULT_FROM_CACHE: 'resourceAccessResultFromCache',
}

Event Payload Examples:

resourceAccessRequestFormed
resourceAccessRequestTriggered
resourceAccessResult

{
  "event": "resourceAccessRequestFormed",
  "methodName": "identify",
  "timestamp": 1761580810137,
  "source": "internal",
  "payload": {
    "requests": [
      {
        "userId": "1.1",
        "resource": {
          "id": "org1",
          "type": "organization",
          "source": "identify"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Set feature level permissions using Access Context (custom metadata)

Access Context allows you to set granular, feature-level permissions using custom metadata. When configured, new feature data is added and existing feature data is fetched only for the access context values the current user has access to.

How it works

Access Context enables you to control access to specific features (like comments, notifications) based on custom metadata fields. For example, you could restrict comment visibility based on widgetId, dashboardId, or any custom field relevant to your application. Matching Logic:

When multiple fields are present in the context, Velt checks access for each field combination
When multiple array values exist in each field, each value creates a separate permission request
A user must have access to all fields in a context to view the associated feature data
The access context supports up to 200 items total

Configuration Steps

Step 1: Add Access Context to Features You need to add access context metadata to your features on both frontend and backend. Frontend:

If you add access context to comments, other features associated with it (like notifications) will automatically inherit the same access context.

When a comment annotation is added, attach the access context using the addContext() method. Pass a string or number for each context field:

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

const commentElement = client.getCommentElement();

commentElement.on('addCommentAnnotation').subscribe((event) => {
  event.addContext({
    access: {
      widgetId: 2  // Pass string or number, not array
    }
  });
});

Backend Comments Example: Use the REST API to add access context when creating comments programmatically:

POST /v2/comments
{
  "data": {
    "organizationId": "org1",
    "documentId": "document1",
    "commentText": "This is a comment",
    "context": {
      "access": {
        "widgetId": 2
      }
    }
  }
}

Notifications Example: Use the REST API to add access context when creating notifications:

POST /v2/notifications
{
  "data": {
    "organizationId": "org1",
    "documentId": "document1",
    "notificationText": "New update available",
    "context": {
      "access": {
        "dashboardId": "dashboard1"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Add Access Context Permission Check Notifications: Enable access context permission validation by setting isContextEnabled: true in your Permission Provider configuration:

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

Option 1: In VeltProvider (Recommended)

<VeltProvider
  apiKey="YOUR_API_KEY"
  permissionProvider={{
    isContextEnabled: true, // Enable context-based permissions for notifications
    retryConfig: {
      retryCount: 3,
      retryDelay: 2000
    },
    forceRefresh: false,
    revokeAccessOn: [
      {
        type: "document_unset",
        revokeOrganizationAccess: false
      },
      {
        type: "user_logout",
        revokeOrganizationAccess: true
      }
    ]
  }}
>
  {/* Your app */}
</VeltProvider>

Option 2: Using setPermissionProvider()

const { client } = useVeltClient();

client.setPermissionProvider({
  isContextEnabled: true, // Enable context-based permissions for notifications
  retryConfig: {
    retryCount: 3,
    retryDelay: 2000
  },
  forceRefresh: false,
  revokeAccessOn: [
    {
      type: "document_unset",
      revokeOrganizationAccess: false
    },
    {
      type: "user_logout",
      revokeOrganizationAccess: true
    }
  ]
});

Context has been removed from authProvider. Use setPermissionProvider() instead with the isContextEnabled option.

Comments: Add access context when subscribing to documents. Pass the access context values as arrays in setDocuments(). Each value will generate a separate permission request:

React / Next.js
Other Frameworks

const { client } = useVeltClient();

client.setDocuments(documents, {
  context: {
    access: {
      widgetId: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] // Up to 200 items total
    }
  }
});

Permission Request Structure

When you use access context with multiple items in setDocuments(), Velt sends a single request with an array of access request objects: Example Request to Your Permission Provider Endpoint:

{
  "data": {
    "requests": [
      {
        "userId": "1.1",
        "resource": {
          "id": "document1",
          "type": "document",
          "source": "setDocuments",
          "organizationId": "org1"
        }
      },
      {
        "userId": "1.1",
        "resource": {
          "id": "{\"widgetId\":1}",
          "type": "context",
          "source": "setDocuments",
          "organizationId": "org1",
          "context": {
            "access": { "widgetId": 1 }
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "userId": "1.1",
        "resource": {
          "id": "{\"widgetId\":2}",
          "type": "context",
          "source": "setDocuments",
          "organizationId": "org1",
          "context": {
            "access": { "widgetId": 2 }
          }
        }
      }
      // ... more context items
    ]
  }
}

Example Response from Your Endpoint:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "userId": "1.1",
      "resourceId": "document1",
      "type": "document",
      "hasAccess": true,
      "organizationId": "org1"
    },
    {
      "userId": "1.1",
      "resourceId": "{\"widgetId\":1}",
      "type": "context",
      "hasAccess": true,
      "organizationId": "org1"
    },
    {
      "userId": "1.1",
      "resourceId": "{\"widgetId\":2}",
      "type": "context",
      "hasAccess": false,
      "organizationId": "org1"
    }
    // ... more context results
  ],
  "success": true,
  "statusCode": 200
}

Get Started

Key Concepts

Async Collaboration

Realtime Collaboration

Self-Host Data

Model Context Protocol

Webhooks

Security

Miscellaneous

​Overview

​Organizations

​Overview

​Properties

​APIs

​Frontend APIs

​Sign in User into an Organization

​Backend APIs

​Create Organization

​Update Organization

​Delete Organization

​Get Organization

​Disable Organization

​Provision Access to an Organization

​Folders

​Overview

​Properties

​APIs

​Frontend APIs

​Subscribe to a folder

​Fetch folder metadata

​Backend APIs

​Create Folder

​Update Folder

​Move Documents to Folder

​Delete Folder

​Get Folder

​Update Folder Access Type

​Provision Access to a Folder

​Documents

​Overview

​Properties

​APIs

​Frontend APIs

​Subscribe to Documents

Read/Write data from multiple documents on the same page

​Filter comments by context

​Subscribe to Documents from Other Organizations

​Set Root Document

​Unsubscribe from Documents

​Get Document Metadata

​Fetch Documents

​Backend APIs

​Create Document

​Update Document

​Delete Document

​Get Document

​Update Document Access Type

​Provision Access to a Document

​Disable Document

​Legacy APIs

Subscribe to a Single Document

Unsubscribe from a Single Document

​Locations

​Overview

​Properties

​APIs

​Frontend APIs

​Subscribe to Locations

Read/Write data from multiple locations on the same page using Location Boundaries

​Set Root Location

​Unsubscribe from Locations

​Legacy APIs

Subscribe to a Single Location

Subscribe to Multiple Locations

​Users

​Overview

​Contact List

​User Groups

​Properties

​APIs

Overview

Organizations

Overview

Properties

APIs

Frontend APIs

Sign in User into an Organization

Backend APIs

Create Organization

Update Organization

Delete Organization

Get Organization

Disable Organization

Provision Access to an Organization

Folders

Overview

Properties

APIs

Frontend APIs

Subscribe to a folder

Fetch folder metadata

Backend APIs

Create Folder

Update Folder

Move Documents to Folder

Delete Folder

Get Folder

Update Folder Access Type

Provision Access to a Folder

Documents

Overview

Properties

APIs

Frontend APIs

Subscribe to Documents

Filter comments by context

Subscribe to Documents from Other Organizations

Set Root Document

Unsubscribe from Documents

Get Document Metadata

Fetch Documents

Backend APIs

Create Document

Update Document

Delete Document

Get Document

Update Document Access Type

Provision Access to a Document

Disable Document

Legacy APIs

Locations

Overview

Properties

APIs

Frontend APIs

Subscribe to Locations

Set Root Location

Unsubscribe from Locations

Legacy APIs

Users

Overview

Contact List

User Groups

Properties

APIs

Frontend APIs

Authenticate a User

Sign out a User

Contact List:

Backend APIs

Contact List:

User Groups:

Access Control

Overview

Access Control Model

1. Resources

2. Access Types

APIs (backend)

3. Roles

APIs