Case Study: Slack simplifies multi-tenant permissions with WorkOS RBAC

Slack simplifies multi-tenant permissions with WorkOS

Slack faced the challenge of role explosion as it scaled to serve enterprise customers, who required more granular and customizable permissions than its initial simple hierarchy could provide. Making someone an admin to manage channels also gave them unnecessary access to unrelated settings. To solve this, the vendor WorkOS provided its organization roles and IdP syncing capabilities, allowing for per-tenant customization.

The solution implemented by WorkOS enabled Slack to create custom roles scoped to specific workspaces and automatically assign them through identity provider groups. This allowed customers to delegate precise administrative functions without granting full admin access. The result was a scalable, self-serve permission model that met enterprise expectations and prevented a single global role list from becoming polluted, all while integrating seamlessly with the customer's existing IT workflows.

Slack