Flow running user and execution context by flow type
Key Takeaway
How a flow is launched sets its default run context. User context enforces the running user's access, while system context ignores the running user's object permissions and field-level access. A flow left on the default option runs in system context when a system-context flow calls it.
Every flow has a run context: either user context or system context. The run context decides which records and fields the flow can read or change. User context limits the flow to what the running user can access. System context ignores that user's permissions. Each launch method has a default run context. For some flow types, an admin can override the default.
What the run context controls
The run context decides what these flow elements can do with Salesforce data, including which records and fields they can read or update:
- Get Records
- Create Records
- Update Records
- Delete Records
- Action
- Subflow
- Any other element that accesses fields from a record