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Two layers of authorization

Atlas authorization is a combination of:
  • Global auth: “is this request authenticated?”
    • enforced by verifyToken in Meridian/backend/middlewares/verifyToken.js
  • Org-scoped auth: “can this user do X inside org Y?”
    • enforced by Meridian/backend/middlewares/orgPermissions.js
This page documents the org-scoped layer.

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Permission vocabulary

Permissions are defined in:
  • Meridian/backend/constants/permissions.js
There are multiple namespaces (org/event/user), but Atlas primarily uses org-level permissions like:
  • all
  • view_roles
  • manage_roles
  • manage_members
  • manage_events
  • view_analytics
  • view_events

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Where permissions are stored

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Org roles

Roles are stored in the org document:
  • Org.positions[]
Each role has:
  • name (string key)
  • permissions[]
  • plus helper booleans (canManageMembers, etc)
The canonical evaluation path uses permissions[].

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Member assignment

Membership records are stored in:
  • OrgMember documents
Each member has:
  • role (string key that must match Org.positions[].name)
  • overrides:
    • customPermissions[] (force-allow)
    • deniedPermissions[] (force-deny)

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How enforcement works (backend)

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requireOrgPermission(permission, orgParam = 'orgId')

File: Meridian/backend/middlewares/orgPermissions.js
1

Resolve orgId

Extract from req.params[orgParam] or body/query
2

Load membership

const member = await OrgMember.findOne({ 
  org_id: orgId, 
  user_id: req.user.userId, 
  status: 'active' 
});
3

Load org

const org = await Org.findById(orgId);
4

Evaluate permission

member.hasPermissionWithOrg(permission, org);
5

Attach to request

On success, middleware attaches:
  • req.orgMember = member
  • req.org = org

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Member-level override semantics

In OrgMember.hasPermissionWithOrg(permission, org):
1

Check denied permissions

If deniedPermissions.includes(permission) → deny
2

Check custom permissions

Else if customPermissions.includes(permission) → allow
3

Check org role

Else → org.hasPermission(this.role, permission)

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Org-level role check semantics

In Org.hasPermission(roleName, permission): 
// Allow if role.permissions contains 'all' OR the exact permission string
org.hasPermission('admin', 'manage_members');
// Returns true if role.permissions includes 'all' or 'manage_members'

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Role management endpoints (and how they are gated)

Most role operations are served under /org-roles:
  • GET /org-roles/:orgId/roles → requires requireOrgPermission('view_roles')
  • POST /org-roles/:orgId/roles → requires requireRoleManagement() → checks manage_roles
  • PUT /org-roles/:orgId/roles → requires manage_roles
  • PUT /org-roles/:orgId/roles/:roleName → requires manage_roles
  • DELETE /org-roles/:orgId/roles/:roleName → requires manage_roles
Important invariants enforced in code:
  • You cannot remove owner or member roles (Org.removeRole)
  • You must preserve owner in bulk updates (PUT /org-roles/:orgId/roles)
  • Owner role must retain permissions: ['all'] and role management capability (Org.updateRole)

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Member management endpoints (and how they are gated)

  • DELETE /org-roles/:orgId/members/:userId is gated by requireMemberManagement() → checks manage_members.
  • Some other member endpoints currently do not use middleware gates (e.g. assigning roles) and may rely on higher-level UI gating. When hardening security, audit these and add requireMemberManagement where appropriate.

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Frontend permission checks (client-side)

The club dashboard (Meridian/frontend/src/pages/ClubDash/ClubDash.jsx) computes permissions to show/hide UI tabs:
  • If org owner → all capabilities
  • Else:
    • fetch GET /org-roles/:orgId/members
    • find current user’s member row
    • look up role object in org.positions
    • allow if:
      • role boolean is true or
      • role.permissions includes the string or
      • role.permissions includes all
This is UI gating only. Backend enforcement is still required.

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Common pitfalls

Role name drift: Renaming roles without migrating OrgMember.role will “orphan” members.
Missing status: 'active': orgPermission middleware requires active membership.
Inconsistent “admin/root” shape: Platform routes use authorizeRoles('admin','root'); verify what verifyToken exposes (req.user.role vs req.user.roles).