---
title: Read-Only Field Behavior
slug: user-guide-10x/read-only-field-behavior
docTags: 
createdAt: 2025-06-18T11:01:37.461Z
---

Enabling and disabling read-only fields is a flexible feature within Swimlane. You set up read-only fields from within Application Builder or within workflow. Within Application Builder, you set up a read-only field by clicking a checkbox in the field properties. In workflow, you can either enable a read-only field, or disable an existing read-only field.

When you add integrations, Python Driver, and API, the read-only fields can continue to be manipulated. Here are some scenarios that show you how read-only fields behave:

## Scenario 1

In this scenario, the read-only field is built into the application in Application Builder. The application has a field that is set to Read-Only, for example, a Date & Time field. The table below describes how that field behaves when encountered by a user or through workflow, and also when updated via APIs, integration tasks, or Python Driver.

| User (within a record)   | Workflow          | Python Driver                                         | RESTful API | Task API |
| ------------------------ | ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | -------- |
| Unable to edit the field | Field is editable | Not editable (You receive a read-only error message.) | Editable    | Editable |

## Scenario 2

In the second scenario, the read-only field is created by workflow. In this example, a condition is set up that if a record's Severity field is set to *Critical,* then the Reported by field is set to *Read-Only* (the field is not originally). Once the workflow executes, the field is editable or not editable as seen in this table:

| User (within a record)   | Workflow                                                     | Python Driver | RESTful API | Task API |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------- | ----------- | -------- |
| Unable to edit the field | Editable (if workflow is also set up to set the field value) | Editable      | Editable    | Editable |