Policy schemas

Chrome policies are represented as policy schemas by the Schema Service API. Each policy schema has a unique name to identify it, a definition of setting fields and their types, and a human readable description of the settings in English.

For example, below is how the Schema Service API represents a setting that allows a sign out button to appear in Chrome's system tray. A simplified representation of this setting would be bool showLogoutButtonInTray. Click "Show an example" below to see how the Schema Service API represents this setting.

{
  "name": "customers/C0202nabg/policySchemas/chrome.users.ShowLogoutButton",
  "policyDescription": "Show logout button in tray.", // description of the policy
  "definition": { // definition of the settings (fields names and types)
    "messageType": [
      {
        "name": "ShowLogoutButton",
        "field": [
          {
            "name": "showLogoutButtonInTray", // the setting showLogoutButtonInTray
            "number": 1,
            "label": "LABEL_OPTIONAL",
            "type": "TYPE_BOOL" // the setting showLogoutButtonInTray is of type boolean
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "fieldDescriptions": [ // human readable descriptions of the settings and their values
    {
      "field": "showLogoutButtonInTray",
      "knownValueDescriptions": [
        {
          "value": "true",
          "description": "Show logout button in tray." // description for showLogoutButtonInTray=true
        },
        {
          "value": "false",
          "description": "Do not show logout button in tray." // description for showLogoutButtonInTray=false
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "schemaName": "chrome.users.ShowLogoutButton" //  unique name to identify the policy
}
  

Policy schema names

A schema's name is its unique identifier, with the following format: {namespace}.{leafName}.

In the example above, the full schema name is chrome.users.ShowLogoutButton. The namespace is chrome.users. and the leaf name is ShowLogoutButton.

Policies of similar scope are grouped under the same namespace. For example, all user policy schemas are prefixed with a chrome.users. namespace and all printer policy schemas are prefixed with a chrome.printers. namespace.

Namespaces

Policy schema keys

Some policies require additional context to be viewed or modified. For example:

• To modify policy for an application, you need to specify which application by populating key="app_id".
• To modify policy for printer settings in an Organizational Unit, you need to specify which printer by populating key="printer_id".

These policy schemas contain a additionalTargetKeyNames section that describes the keys and values to be passed in your API requests.

For more details, go to Code samples.

{
  "name": "customers/C0202nabg/policySchemas/chrome.printers.AllowForUsers",
  "policyDescription": "Allows a printer for users in a given organization.",
  "additionalTargetKeyNames": [
    {
      "key": "printer_id",
      "keyDescription": "Id of printer as visible in Admin SDK printers API."
    }
  ],
  "definition": {
    "messageType": [
      {
        "name": "AllowForUsers",
        "field": [
          {
            "name": "allowForUsers",
            "number": 1,
            "label": "LABEL_OPTIONAL",
            "type": "TYPE_BOOL"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "fieldDescriptions": [
    {
      "field": "allowForUsers",
      "description": "Controls whether a printer is allowed for users in a given organization."
    }
  ],
  "schemaName": "chrome.printers.AllowForUsers"
}
  

App policies

Some of the namespaces above are for app policy, like User Apps, Kiosk Apps, Managed Guest Session Apps, and Kiosk Apps Config policies. App policies require an app_id.

An app_id is formed by combining the app type and app identifier. For example:

• chrome:mkaakpdehdafacodkgkpghoibnmamcme represents the "Google Drawings" Chrome App
• android:com.google.android.calendar represents the "Google Calendar" Android app
• web:https://canvas.apps.chrome represents the "Canvas" Web app

Multi-value fields

Fields with the LABEL_REPEATED label represent multi-value fields, like lists or arrays. You can give several values to these fields. For more details, see the Code samples.

Policy schema status

Every policy has a policyApiLifecycle object to represent its current status. This object contains the following fields with details about the policy's status:

• The policyApiLifecycleStage field shows which of the stages in the following table best describes the current status of the policy.
• The description field gives more detail about this policy's current status.
• The endSupport field shows the final supporting date for the policy, if one is defined.
• The deprecatedInFavorOf can only be set if policyApiLifecycleStage is API_DEPRECATED. It shows the fully qualified namespace(s) of the new policies that current policy is deprecated in favor of.
• The scheduledToDeprecatePolicies field is corresponding to deprecatedInFavorOf. It shows the fully qualified namespace(s) of the old policies that will be deprecated because of the introduction of this policy.

Lifecycle stages

{
  "name": "customers/C0202nabg/policySchemas/chrome.users.OutdatedPolicy",
  "policyDescription": "Just for demo, this is an outdated policy.",
  "definition": {
    "messageType": [
      {
        "name": "OutdatedPolicy",
        "field": [
          {
            "name": "outdatedField",
            "number": 1,
            "label": "LABEL_OPTIONAL",
            "type": "TYPE_BOOL"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "fieldDescriptions": [
    {
      "field": "outdatedField",
      "description": "This is an outdated field"
    }
  ],
  "schemaName": "chrome.users.OutdatedPolicy",
  "policyApiLifecycle": { // policy's current lifecycle status
    "policyApiLifecycleStage": "API_DEPRECATED",
    "description": "This policy is deprecated. Please stop using it",
    "endSupport": {
      "year": 2021,
      "month": 2,
      "day": 29
    }
    "deprecatedInFavorOf": "chrome.users.NewPolicy"
  }
}

{
  "name": "customers/C0202nabg/policySchemas/chrome.users.NewPolicy",
  "policyDescription": "Just for demo, this is a new policy.",
  "definition": {
    "messageType": [
      {
        "name": "NewPolicy",
        "field": [
          {
            "name": "newField",
            "number": 1,
            "label": "LABEL_OPTIONAL",
            "type": "TYPE_BOOL"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "fieldDescriptions": [
    {
      "field": "newField",
      "description": "This is an new field"
    }
  ],
  "schemaName": "chrome.users.NewPolicy",
  "policyApiLifecycle": { // policy's current lifecycle status
    "policyApiLifecycleStage": "API_CURRENT,
    "scheduledToDeprecatePolicies": "chrome.users.OutdatedPolicy"
  }
}
  

Policy schema notices

Some policies have notices associated with them that have acknowledgement_required set to true for certain values of certain policy fields. For these policies, you need to set a special acknowledgement field to true before you can set the value.

For more details, see Code samples.

Supported platforms

supportedPlatforms is a list which indicates that the policy will only apply to devices or users on these platforms. All supported platforms are listed in the following table.

Supported platform

Next steps

• Enable the Chrome Policy API and authorize requests
• List policy schemas with the API