Can't write to content lake without subscription on free plan?

Good news - Sanity has NOT removed write API tokens from the free plan! The Editor token (which provides read+write access) is still available on all plans, including the free tier.

Based on this community thread from May 2024, there was some confusion around this when Sanity updated their plan structure. If you're seeing an error message like "On a Free plan, roleName must be viewer, editor, or deploy-studio," it's likely because:

1. You're on a legacy free plan - The permissions for the editor role changed slightly when Sanity updated their plans
2. You need to regenerate your token - If you're upgrading from an older free plan to the current free plan, you'll need to delete your existing token and create a new one

The solution is straightforward: go to your project's API settings in Sanity Manage (or run npx sanity@latest manage), remove the old token, and create a fresh Editor token. This should resolve any permission issues.

So yes, you can absolutely still write to the Content Lake outside of Studio on the free plan - you just need to use an Editor token with the proper role assignment. The roles documentation confirms that Editor tokens with read+write access are available on all plans, including free.

If you're building something that requires write access from your application, remember to keep your Editor tokens secure - they should only be used in server-side code, Sanity Functions, or backend services, never exposed in client-side code. Store them in environment variables and follow the token security best practices to protect your content.