Authorization is the process of determining what an authenticated user is allowed to do. While authentication confirms identity, authorization defines access rights. In email tooling, authorization controls who can edit templates, publish changes, manage integrations, or view sensitive data.
Authorization Builds on Authentication
Authorization assumes the user has been authenticated. It uses identity information to enforce policies and permissions. This relationship with authentication is critical. If authentication is weak, authorization cannot protect resources effectively. If authorization rules are unclear, authenticated users can still cause harm by accessing the wrong data.
Common Authorization Models
In addition to role checks, consider resource-level checks. A user may be allowed to edit templates, but only within a specific workspace, brand, or tenant. This becomes important as organizations grow and multiple business units share the same platform.
Many products use role based access policies where roles and permissions define access. This is especially important for editors, where editor permissions prevent unreviewed changes from going live. In multi-tenant products, authorization must also enforce tenant boundaries. If your product is a multi tenant SaaS, every authorization check should include tenant context to prevent cross-tenant access.
Designing Authorization for Real Workflows
It also helps to define an escalation path. When a user lacks access, provide a clear way to request it. This reduces support tickets and discourages unsafe workarounds like shared accounts.
Authorization should match how teams actually operate. For example, marketing users may edit drafts, while admins publish. Developers may manage integrations, while compliance teams review legal text. Authorization should be enforced server-side even if the UI hides buttons. Client-side checks improve UX, but they do not prevent direct API calls. Treat every write operation as requiring a permission check and a tenant check.
Authorization and Topol
Topol supports enterprise-friendly editing workflows and predictable template output that can fit cleanly into role-based authorization models. Learn more at Topol or sign up at Topol signup.