Access control & data security

Control who can access resources in your chat app through authentication (identity verification) and authorization (permission management).

Required keyset configuration

To use the GetChannels(), GetChannelSuggestions(), GetUsers(), and GetUserSuggestions() methods in the Chat SDKs with Access Manager, you must uncheck the Disallow Get All Channel Metadata and Disallow Get All User Metadata checkboxes in the App Context section of your keyset configuration in the Admin Portal.

Custom origin

A custom origin is a subdomain configured specifically for your application, such as abc.pubnubapi.com. Using a custom origin allows PubNub to route traffic uniquely for your application.

Contact support

To request a custom origin, contact PubNub Support.

Set origin

The SetPubnubOrigin() method in Unreal Chat SDK allows client devices to configure a custom origin for their PubNub requests.

Method signature

1UPubnubChatAccessManager::SetPubnubOrigin(FString Origin)

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
Origin * Type: FString	The custom origin to be set for PubNub requests.

Output

Type	Description
int	0 if the origin is set successfully, +1 if it will be applied on reconnect, -1 if setting the origin is not enabled.

Sample code

Actor.h

1

Actor.cpp

1

Get origin

The GetPubnubOrigin() method returns the current PubNub origin (host) used by the underlying client.

Method signature

1UPubnubChatAccessManager::GetPubnubOrigin()

Output

Type	Description
FString	The current origin string, or empty if not set.

User authentication

Authentication verifies user identity. The Chat SDK does not include built-in authentication. Implement your own system using:

• Username/password login
• Token-based authentication
• Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Two-factor authentication (2FA)
• OAuth or external identity providers

User authorization

Authorization controls what authenticated users can do. Use Access Manager to:

• Grant or deny access to channels and users
• Define permissions for reading, writing, and managing data
• Protect private channels and user metadata

For details on client-server-PubNub interactions, see the authorization workflow.

Access Manager

Access Manager is available in Unreal SDK, not Unreal Chat SDK.

As long as the tokens with correct permissions are granted and set in the client that uses Unreal Chat SDK, it doesn't matter which SDK grants them.

Token permissions

When you use Access Manager, your client application receives a token that governs access levels and operations. Use the AccessManager->CanI() method to check if a client has permissions for a specific action on a given resource.

Method signature

1AccessManager->CanI(
2  EPubnubChatAccessManagerPermission Permission, EPubnubChatAccessManagerResourceType ResourceType, 
3  FString ResourceName
4);

* required

Parameter	Description
Permission * Type: EPubnubChatAccessManagerPermission	The operation type to check if the current user has permissions for.
ResourceType * Type: EPubnubChatAccessManagerResourceType	The resource type to check if the current user has permissions for.
ResourceName * Type: FString	The name of the resource, for example, a channel name or a user ID.

EPubnubChatAccessManagerPermission

Enum Value	Description
PCAMP_Read	Read permission for a resource.
PCAMP_Write	Write permission for a resource.
PCAMP_Manage	Manage permission for a resource.
PCAMP_Delete	Delete permission for a resource.
PCAMP_Get	Permission to get details of a resource.
PCAMP_Join	Permission to join a channel.
PCAMP_Update	Permission to update a resource's details.

EPubnubChatAccessManagerResourceType

Enum Value	Description
PCAMRT_Users	Resource type for Users.
PCAMRT_Channels	Resource type for Channels.

Output

Type	Description
bool	Whether or not the client has permissions to perform the requested operation on the requested resource.

Sample code

Reference code

This example is a self-contained code snippet ready to be run. Set up your Unreal project and follow the instructions in the lines marked with ACTION REQUIRED before running the code. Use it as a reference when working with other examples in this document.

Check if the current user can send messages to the customer_XYZ channel.

Actor.h

1

Actor.cpp

1

Token management

The UPubnubChatAccessManager class provides methods for managing authentication tokens.

Set token

Use SetAuthToken() to update the client's authentication token. The token contains embedded permissions that define access to PubNub resources.

Method signature

1void UPubnubChatAccessManager::SetAuthToken(FString Token)

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
Token * Type: FString	The authentication token with embedded permissions.

Sample code

Actor.h

1

Actor.cpp

1

This method does not return any response value. If the operation fails, ensure the token is valid and properly formatted.

Parse token

Use ParseToken() to decode an existing token and inspect its permissions and metadata (TTL, authorized user ID).

Method signature

1FString UPubnubChatAccessManager::ParseToken(FString Token)

Input

* required

Parameter	Description
Token * Type: FString	The authentication token to decode.

Output

Type	Description
FString	A string containing the token's permissions and metadata.

Sample code

Actor.h

1

Actor.cpp

1

Example output

The server returns the permissions in a CBOR format. You can Base 64 decode it, and parse with any a CBOR parser.

1{
2   "v":2,
3   "t":1619718521,
4   "ttl":15,
5   "res":{
6      "usr":{},
7      "spc":{},
8      "chan":{{"ch1":19}},
9      "grp":{}
10   },
11   "pat":{
12      "usr":{},
13      "spc":{},
14      "chan":{},
15      "grp":{}
16   },
17   "meta":{},
18   "sig":"signature"
19}

show all 19 lines

Operations-to-permissions mapping

The type of access level you grant on a given resource type defines which operations users can perform in your app. For example, write access given to a user for the channels resource type (either specific channels or channel patterns) lets them send messages to this channel/these channels (calling the PubNub Pub/Sub API underneath and the Unreal Chat SDK's SendText() method).

Chat SDK method to required Access Manager permission mapping

For information about which Chat SDK methods require what Access Manager permissions, refer to Security and permissions.