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Retrieve details about a specific permission including its name, description, and metadata. Use this to inspect a permission’s current state, verify its configuration, or look up its name and description. The returned data includes the permission’s unique ID, human-readable name, URL-safe slug, and optional description. Required permissions:
  • rbac.*.read_permission (to read permissions in any workspace)
See the API reference for the full HTTP endpoint documentation.

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Usage

unkey api permissions get-permission [flags]

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Flags

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--permission
string
required
The unique identifier of the permission to retrieve. Must be a valid permission ID that begins with perm_ and exists within your workspace.

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Global Flags

FlagTypeDescription
--root-keystringOverride root key ($UNKEY_ROOT_KEY)
--api-urlstringOverride API base URL (default: https://api.unkey.com)
--configstringPath to config file (default: ~/.unkey/config.toml)
--outputstringOutput format — use json for raw JSON

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Examples

unkey api permissions get-permission --permission=perm_1234567890abcdef

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Output

Default output shows the request ID with latency, followed by the permission details: 
req_1234abcd (took 38ms)

{
  "id": "perm_1234567890abcdef",
  "name": "documents.read",
  "slug": "documents-read",
  "description": "Allows reading document resources"
}
With --output=json, the full response envelope is returned: 
{
  "meta": {
    "requestId": "req_1234abcd"
  },
  "data": {
    "id": "perm_1234567890abcdef",
    "name": "documents.read",
    "slug": "documents-read",
    "description": "Allows reading document resources"
  }
}
Last modified on March 26, 2026