Metadata API Reference: Permissions (v2.0 and above)

Introduction

The permission layer is designed to restrict the operations that can be performed by various users. Permissions can be defined on various operations (insert/select/update/delete) at a role level granularity. By default, the admin role has unrestricted access to all operations.

Variables in rules

All X-Hasura-* header values can be used in the permission rules. These values can come with the request and can be validated using webhook or can be sent with the JWT token.

Supported from

The metadata API is supported for versions v2.0.0 and above and replaces the older schema/metadata API.

pg_create_insert_permission

An insert permission is used to enforce constraints on the data that is being inserted.

Let’s look at an example, a permission for the user role to insert into the article table. What is the constraint that we would like to enforce here? A user can only insert articles for themselves .

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_create_insert_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "source": "default",
        "role" : "user",
        "permission" : {
            "check" : {
                "author_id" : "X-HASURA-USER-ID"
            },
            "set":{
                "id":"X-HASURA-USER-ID"
            },
            "columns":["name","author_id"]
        }
    }
}

This reads as follows - for the user role:

  • For every row that is being inserted into the article table, allow insert only if the check passes i.e. that the author_id column value is the same as the value in the request header X-HASURA-USER-ID”.
  • If the above check passes, then access for insert will be limited to columns name and author_id only.
  • When this insert happens, the value of the column id will be automatically set to the value of the resolved session variable X-HASURA-USER-ID.

The argument for check is a boolean expression which has the same syntax as the where clause in the select query, making it extremely expressive.

An example:

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_create_insert_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "source": "default",
        "role" : "user",
        "permission" : {
            "check" : {
                "author_id" : "X-HASURA-USER-ID",
                "$or" : [
                    {
                        "category" : "editorial",
                        "is_reviewed" : false
                    },
                    {
                        "category" : { "$neq" : "editorial"}
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

In the above definition, the row is allowed to be inserted if the author_id is the same as the request’s user id and is_reviewed is false when the category is “editorial”.

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName Role
permission true InsertPermission The permission definition
comment false text Comment
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)

pg_drop_insert_permission

The pg_drop_insert_permission API is used to drop an existing insert permission for a role on a table.

An example:

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_drop_insert_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "source": "default",
        "role" : "user"
    }
}

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName Role
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)

pg_create_select_permission

A select permission is used to restrict access to only the specified columns and rows.

Let’s look at an example, a permission for the user role to select from the article table: all columns can be read, as well as the rows that have been published or authored by the user themselves.

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_create_select_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "role" : "user",
        "source": "default",
        "permission" : {
            "columns" : "*",
            "filter" : {
                "$or" : [
                    { "author_id" : "X-HASURA-USER-ID" },
                    { "is_published" : true }
                ]
             },
             "limit": 10,
             "allow_aggregations": true
        }
    }
}

This reads as follows - For the user role:

  • Allow selecting rows where the check passes i.e. is_published is true or the author_id matches the value of the session variable X-HASURA-USER-ID.
  • Allow selecting all columns (because the columns key is set to *).
  • limit the numbers of rows returned by a query to the article table by the user role to a maximum of 10.
  • Allow aggregate queries.

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName Role
permission true SelectPermission The permission definition
comment false text Comment
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)

pg_drop_select_permission

The pg_drop_select_permission is used to drop an existing select permission for a role on a table.

An example:

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_drop_select_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "role" : "user",
        "source": "default"
    }
}

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName Role
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)

pg_create_update_permission

An update permission is used to restrict the columns and rows that can be updated. Its structure is quite similar to the select permission.

An example:

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_create_update_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "source": "default",
        "role" : "user",
        "permission" : {
            "columns" : ["title", "content", "category"],
            "filter" : {
                "author_id" : "X-HASURA-USER-ID"
            },
            "check" : {
                "content" : {
                  "_ne": ""
                }
            },
            "set":{
                "updated_at" : "NOW()"
            }
        }
    }
}

This reads as follows - for the user role:

  • Allow updating only those rows where the filter passes i.e. the value of the author_id column of a row matches the value of the session variable X-HASURA-USER-ID.
  • If the above filter passes for a given row, allow updating only the title, content and category columns (as specified in the columns key).
  • After the update happens, verify that the check condition holds for the updated row i.e. that the value in the content column is not empty.
  • When this update happens, the value of the column updated_at will be automatically set to the current timestamp.

Note

It is important to deny updates to columns that will determine the row ownership. In the above example, the author_id column determines the ownership of a row in the article table. Columns such as this should never be allowed to be updated.

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName Role
permission true UpdatePermission The permission definition
comment false text Comment
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)

pg_drop_update_permission

The pg_drop_update_permission API is used to drop an existing update permission for a role on a table.

An example:

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_drop_update_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "source": "default",
        "role" : "user"
    }
}

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName Role
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)

pg_create_delete_permission

A delete permission is used to restrict the rows that can be deleted.

An example:

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_create_delete_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "source": "default",
        "role" : "user",
        "permission" : {
            "filter" : {
                "author_id" : "X-HASURA-USER-ID"
            }
        }
    }
}

This reads as follows:

“delete for the user role on the article table is allowed on rows where author_id is the same as the request header X-HASURA-USER-ID value.”

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName Role
permission true DeletePermission The permission definition
comment false text Comment
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)

pg_drop_delete_permission

The pg_drop_delete_permission API is used to drop an existing delete permission for a role on a table.

An example:

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type" : "pg_drop_delete_permission",
    "args" : {
        "table" : "article",
        "role" : "user",
        "source": "default"
    }
}

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName Role
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)

pg_set_permission_comment

pg_set_permission_comment is used to set/update the comment on a permission. Setting the comment to null removes it.

An example:

POST /v1/metadata HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <auth-token> # optional if cookie is set
X-Hasura-Role: admin

{
    "type": "pg_set_permission_comment",
    "args": {
        "table": "article",
        "source": "default",
        "role": "user",
        "type" : "update",
        "comment" : "can only modify his/her own rows"
    }
}

Args syntax

Key Required Schema Description
table true TableName Name of the table
role true RoleName The role in the permission
type true permission type (one of select/update/delete/insert) The type of the permission
comment false Text Comment
source false SourceName Name of the source database of the table (default: default)
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