Who Can Do What: Roles and Permissions in slynx

The five roles

slynx ships with five roles out of the box, each with a clear scope:

• Root — full system access. Manages settings, theme, legal pages, and all users. Only one root account exists per install.
• Admin — full editorial access plus user management. Can do everything except change core system settings.
• Editor — can create, edit, and publish any post, manage categories and tags, and access the media library.
• Contributor — can write and submit posts but cannot publish. An editor or admin reviews and publishes their work. Has full access to the forum.
• User — forum access and own profile only. No admin panel, no post editing. Perfect for paid community members who participate in discussions but do not contribute editorial content.

Why not more granular?

Granular permission systems sound powerful but create complexity that most editorial teams never need. The five-role model covers the vast majority of real workflows: the person who owns the site, the person who runs it day-to-day, the people who write, the people who draft, and the community. If your workflow fits this shape — and most do — you never need to think about permissions again.

Monetising community access

The User role is a natural fit for paid memberships. Invite paying subscribers via Admin → Users with the User role and they get forum access from day one — nothing else to configure.

Forum

The built-in forum uses the same user accounts. Users and above can post topics and replies. Forum categories can be restricted to specific roles, so you can run a public discussion area alongside a staff-only section.