In Permify, attributes and relations between your entities, objects and users represents your authorization data. These data stored as tuples in a preferred database. Since these attributes and relations are live instances, meaning they can be affected by specific user actions within the application, they can be created/deleted with a simple Permify API call at runtime. More specifically, the application client should update preferred database about the changes happening in entities or resources that are related to the authorization structure. If we consider a document system; when some user joins a group that has edit access on some documents, the application side needs to write tuples to keep preferred database up-to-date. Besides, each attribute or relationship should be created according to its authorization model, Permify Schema. Another example: when one a company executive grant admin role to user (lets say with id = 3) on their organization, application side needs to tell that update to Permify in order to reform that as tuples and store in preferred database.

You can use the /v1/tenants/{tenant_id}/data/write endpoint for both creating relation tuples and for creating attribute data.

Path:

 POST /v1/tenants/{tenant_id}/data/write

Content

Example Relationship Creation
Example Attributes Creation
Creating Attributes and Relationship In Single Request
Suggested Workflow
Parameters & Properties

Example Relationship Creation

Let’s create an example relation tuple. If user:3 has been granted an admin role in organization:1, relational tuple organization:1#admin@user:3 should be created as follows:

Go
Node
Python
cURL

rr, err: = client.Data.Write(context.Background(), & v1.DataWriteRequest {
    TenantId: "t1",
    Metadata: &v1.DataWriteRequestMetadata {
        SchemaVersion: ""
    },
    Tuples: [] * v1.Tuple {
        {
            Entity: & v1.Entity {
                Type: "organization",
                Id: "1",
            },
            Relation: "admin",
            Subject: & v1.Subject {
                Type: "user",
                Id: "3",
            },
        }
    },
})

client.data
  .write({
    tenantId: "t1",
    metadata: {
      schemaVersion: "",
    },
    tuples: [
      {
        entity: {
          type: "organization",
          id: "1",
        },
        relation: "admin",
        subject: {
          type: "user",
          id: "3",
        },
      },
    ],
  })
  .then((response) => {
    // handle response
  });

with permify.ApiClient(configuration) as api_client:
    api_instance = permify.DataApi(api_client)

    body = permify.DataWriteRequest(
        tenant_id='t1',  
        metadata={"schemaVersion": ""},
        tuples=[{
            "entity": {
                "type": "organization",
                "id": "1",
            },
            "relation": "admin",
            "subject": {
                "type": "user",
                "id": "3",
            },
        }]
    )

curl --location --request POST 'localhost:3476/v1/tenants/{tenant_id}/data/write' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "metadata": {
        "schema_version": ""
    },
    "tuples": [
        {
        "entity": {
            "type": "organization",
            "id": "1"
        },
        "relation": "admin",
        "subject":{
            "type": "user",
            "id": "3",
            "relation": ""
        }
    }
    ]
}'

Example Attribute Creation

You can use attributes argument to create attribute/attributes with a single API call, similarly creating a relational tuple. Let’s say document:1 is a private (boolean) document, that only specific users have view access - document:1$is_private|boolean:true.

As you noticed, the attribute tuple syntax differs from the relationship syntax, structured similarly as: entity $ attribute | value

Go
Node
Python
cURL

// Convert the wrapped attribute value into Any proto message
value, err := anypb.New(&v1.BooleanValue{
    Data: true,
})
if err != nil {
	// Handle error
}

cr, err := client.Data.Write(context.Background(), &v1.DataWriteRequest{
    TenantId: "t1",,
    Metadata: &v1.DataWriteRequestMetadata{
        SchemaVersion: "",
    },
    Attributes: []*v1.Attribute{
        {
            Entity: &v1.Entity{
                Type: "document",
                Id:   "1",
            },
            Attribute: "is_private",
            Value:     value,
        },
    },
})

const booleanValue = BooleanValue.fromJSON({ data: true });

const value = Any.fromJSON({
    typeUrl: 'type.googleapis.com/base.v1.BooleanValue',
    value: BooleanValue.encode(booleanValue).finish()
});

client.data.write({
    tenantId: "t1",
    metadata: {
        schemaVersion: ""
    },
    attributes: [{
        entity: {
            type: "document",
            id: "1"
        },
        attribute: "is_private",
        value: value,
    }]
}).then((response) => {
    // handle response
})

boolean_value = BooleanValue.from_json({"data": True})

value = Any.from_json({
    "typeUrl": 'type.googleapis.com/base.v1.BooleanValue',
    "value": BooleanValue.encode(boolean_value).finish()
})

with permify.ApiClient(configuration) as api_client:
    api_instance = permify.DataApi(api_client)
    tenant_id = 't1'

    body = permify.DataWriteRequest(
        tenant_id=tenant_id,
        metadata={"schemaVersion": ""},
        attributes=[{
            "entity": {
                "type": "document",
                "id": "1"
            },
            "attribute": "is_private",
            "value": value,
        }]
    )

curl --location --request POST 'localhost:3476/v1/tenants/{tenant_id}/data/write' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
{
    "metadata": {
        "schema_version": ""
    },
    "attributes": [
        {
            "entity": {
                "type": "document",
                "id": "1"
            },
            "attribute": "is_private",
            "value": {
                "@type": "type.googleapis.com/base.v1.BooleanValue",
                "data": true
            }
        }
    ]
}
}'

value field is mandatory on attribute data creation!Here are the available attribute value types:

type.googleapis.com/base.v1.StringValue
type.googleapis.com/base.v1.BooleanValue
type.googleapis.com/base.v1.IntegerValue
type.googleapis.com/base.v1.DoubleValue
type.googleapis.com/base.v1.StringArrayValue
type.googleapis.com/base.v1.BooleanArrayValue
type.googleapis.com/base.v1.IntegerArrayValue
type.googleapis.com/base.v1.DoubleArrayValue

Creating Attributes and Relationship In Single Request

Assume we want to both create relational tuple and attribute within in single request. Specifically we want to create following tuples,

document:1#editor@user:1
document:1$is_private|boolean:true

Go
Node
Python

// Convert the wrapped attribute value into Any proto message
value, err := anypb.New(&v1.BooleanValue{
    Data: true,
})
if err != nil {
	// Handle error
}

cr, err := client.Data.Write(context.Background(), &v1.DataWriteRequest{
    TenantId: "t1",,
    Metadata: &v1.DataWriteRequestMetadata{
        SchemaVersion: "",
    },
	Tuples: []*v1.Attribute{
        {
            Entity: &v1.Entity{
                Type: "document",
                Id:   "1",
            },
            Relation: "editor",
            Subject:  &v1.Subject{
		        Type: "user",
		        Id:   "1",
				Relation: "",
			},
        },
    },
    Attributes: []*v1.Attribute{
        {
            Entity: &v1.Entity{
                Type: "document",
                Id:   "1",
            },
            Attribute: "is_private",
            Value:     value,
        },
    },
})

const booleanValue = BooleanValue.fromJSON({ data: true });

const value = Any.fromJSON({
    typeUrl: 'type.googleapis.com/base.v1.BooleanValue',
    value: BooleanValue.encode(booleanValue).finish()
});

client.data.write({
    tenantId: "t1",
    metadata: {
        schemaVersion: ""
    },
    tuples: [{
        entity: {
            type: "document",
            id: "1"
        },
        relation: "editor",
        subject: {
            type: "user",
            id: "1"
        }
    }],
    attributes: [{
        entity: {
            type: "document",
            id: "1"
        },
        attribute: "is_private",
        value: value,
    }]
}).then((response) => {
    // handle response
})

boolean_value = BooleanValue.from_json({"data": True})

value = Any.from_json({
    "typeUrl": 'type.googleapis.com/base.v1.BooleanValue',
    "value": BooleanValue.encode(boolean_value).finish()
})

with permify.ApiClient(configuration) as api_client:
    api_instance = permify.DataApi(api_client)
    tenant_id = 't1'

    body = permify.DataWriteRequest(
        tenant_id=tenant_id,
        metadata={"schemaVersion": ""},
        tuples=[{
            "entity": {
                "type": "document",
                "id": "1"
            },
            "relation": "editor",
            "subject": {
                "type": "user",
                "id": "1"
            },
        }],
        attributes=[{
            "entity": {
                "type": "document",
                "id": "1"
            },
            "attribute": "is_private",
            "value": value,
        }]
    )

</Tab>
<Tab title="cURL">

```curl
curl --location --request POST 'localhost:3476/v1/tenants/{tenant_id}/data/write' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
{
    "metadata": {
        "schema_version": ""
    },
    "tuples": [
      {
        "entity": {
          "type": "document",
          "id": "1"
        },
        "relation": "editor",
        "subject": {
          "type": "user",
          "id": "1"
        }
    }
    ],
    "attributes": [
        {
            "entity": {
                "type": "document",
                "id": "1"
            },
            "attribute": "is_private",
            "value": {
                "@type": "type.googleapis.com/base.v1.BooleanValue",
                "data": true
            }
        }
    ]
}
}'

Suggested Workflow

The most of the data that should written in Permify also needs to be write or engage with applications database as well. So where and how to write relationships into both applications database and Permify ?

Two Phase Commit Approach

In a standard relational based databases, the suggested place to write relationships to Permify is sending the write request in database transaction of the client action: such as storing the owner of the document when an user creates a document. To give more concurrent example of this action, let’s take a look at below createDocument function

func CreateDocuments(db *gorm.DB) error {

  tx := db.Begin()
  defer func() {
    if r := recover(); r != nil {
      tx.Rollback()
      // if transaction fails, then delete malformed relation tuple
      permify.DeleteData(...)
    }
  }()

  if err := tx.Error; err != nil {
    return err
  }

  if err := tx.Create(docs).Error; err != nil {
     tx.Rollback()
     // if transaction fails, then delete malformed relation tuple
     permify.DeleteData(...)
     return err
  }

  // if transaction successful, write relation tuple to Permify
  permify.WriteData(...)

  return tx.Commit().Error
}

The key point to take way from above approach is if the transaction fails for any reason, the relation will also be deleted from Permify to provide maximum consistency.

Data That Not Stored In Application Database

Although ownership generally stored in application databases, there are some data that not needed to be stored in your actual database. Such as defining organizational roles, group members, project editors etc. For example, you can model a simple project management authorization in Permify as follows,

entity user {}

entity team {

    relation owner @user
    relation member @user
}

entity project {

    relation team @team
    relation owner @user

    action view = team.member or team.owner or project.owner
    action edit = project.owner or team.owner
    action delete = project.owner or team.owner

}

This team member relation won’t need to be stored in the application database. Storing it only in Permify - preferred database - is enough. In that situation, WriteData can be performed in any logical place in your stack.

Parameters & Properties

Path Parameters

tenant_id

string

required

Identifier of the tenant, if you are not using multi-tenancy (have only one tenant) use pre-inserted tenant t1 for this field. Required, and must match the pattern \“[a-zA-Z0-9-,]+\“, max 64 bytes.

Body

application/json

DataWriteRequest defines the structure of a request for writing data. It contains the necessary information such as tenant_id, metadata, tuples and attributes for the write operation.

metadata

object

DataWriteRequestMetadata defines the structure of metadata for a write request. It includes the schema version of the data to be written.

Show child attributes

metadata.schema_version

string

schema_version represents the version of the schema for the data being written.

tuples

object[]

tuples contains the list of tuples (entity-relation-entity triples) that need to be written.

Show child attributes

tuples.entity

object

Entity represents an entity with a type and an identifier.

Show child attributes

tuples.entity.type

string

tuples.entity.id

string

tuples.relation

string

tuples.subject

object

Subject represents an entity subject with a type, an identifier, and a relation.

Show child attributes

tuples.subject.type

string

tuples.subject.id

string

tuples.subject.relation

string

attributes

object[]

attributes contains the list of attributes (entity-attribute-value triples) that need to be written.

Show child attributes

attributes.entity

object

Entity represents an entity with a type and an identifier.

Show child attributes

attributes.entity.type

string

attributes.entity.id

string

attributes.attribute

string

attributes.value

object

Any contains an arbitrary serialized protocol buffer message along with a URL that describes the type of the serialized message.

Protobuf library provides support to pack/unpack Any values in the form of utility functions or additional generated methods of the Any type.

Example 1: Pack and unpack a message in C++.

Foo foo = ...;
Any any;
any.PackFrom(foo);
...
if (any.UnpackTo(&foo)) {
  ...
}

Example 2: Pack and unpack a message in Java.

Foo foo = ...;
Any any = Any.pack(foo);
...
if (any.is(Foo.class)) {
  foo = any.unpack(Foo.class);
}
// or ...
if (any.isSameTypeAs(Foo.getDefaultInstance())) {
  foo = any.unpack(Foo.getDefaultInstance());
}

Example 3: Pack and unpack a message in Python.

foo = Foo(...)
any = Any()
any.Pack(foo)
...
if any.Is(Foo.DESCRIPTOR):
  any.Unpack(foo)
  ...

Example 4: Pack and unpack a message in Go

foo := &pb.Foo{...}
 any, err := anypb.New(foo)
 if err != nil {
   ...
 }
 ...
 foo := &pb.Foo{}
 if err := any.UnmarshalTo(foo); err != nil {
   ...
 }

The pack methods provided by protobuf library will by default use 'type.googleapis.com/full.type.name' as the type URL and the unpack methods only use the fully qualified type name after the last '/' in the type URL, for example "foo.bar.com/x/y.z" will yield type name "y.z".

JSON

The JSON representation of an Any value uses the regular representation of the deserialized, embedded message, with an additional field @type which contains the type URL. Example:

package google.profile;
message Person {
  string first_name = 1;
  string last_name = 2;
}

{
  "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.profile.Person",
  "firstName": <string>,
  "lastName": <string>
}

If the embedded message type is well-known and has a custom JSON representation, that representation will be embedded adding a field value which holds the custom JSON in addition to the @type field. Example (for message [google.protobuf.Duration][]):

{
  "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.protobuf.Duration",
  "value": "1.212s"
}

Show child attributes

attributes.value.@type

string

A URL/resource name that uniquely identifies the type of the serialized protocol buffer message. This string must contain at least one "/" character. The last segment of the URL's path must represent the fully qualified name of the type (as in path/google.protobuf.Duration). The name should be in a canonical form (e.g., leading "." is not accepted).

In practice, teams usually precompile into the binary all types that they expect it to use in the context of Any. However, for URLs which use the scheme http, https, or no scheme, one can optionally set up a type server that maps type URLs to message definitions as follows:

If no scheme is provided, https is assumed.
An HTTP GET on the URL must yield a [google.protobuf.Type][] value in binary format, or produce an error.
Applications are allowed to cache lookup results based on the URL, or have them precompiled into a binary to avoid any lookup. Therefore, binary compatibility needs to be preserved on changes to types. (Use versioned type names to manage breaking changes.)

Note: this functionality is not currently available in the official protobuf release, and it is not used for type URLs beginning with type.googleapis.com. As of May 2023, there are no widely used type server implementations and no plans to implement one.

Schemes other than http, https (or the empty scheme) might be used with implementation specific semantics.

attributes.value.{key}

object

Response

A successful response.

DataWriteResponse defines the structure of the response after writing data. It contains the snap_token generated after the write operation.

snap_token

string

The snap token to avoid stale cache, see more details on Snap Tokens.

API Documentation

Schema Service

Data Service

Permission Service

Tenancy Service

Bundle Service

Watch Service

Write Authorization Data

Content

Example Relationship Creation

Example Attribute Creation

Creating Attributes and Relationship In Single Request

Suggested Workflow

Two Phase Commit Approach

Data That Not Stored In Application Database

Parameters & Properties

Path Parameters

Body

JSON

Response

API Documentation

Schema Service

Data Service

Permission Service

Tenancy Service

Bundle Service

Watch Service

​Content

​Example Relationship Creation

​Example Attribute Creation

​Creating Attributes and Relationship In Single Request

​Suggested Workflow

​Two Phase Commit Approach

​Data That Not Stored In Application Database

​Parameters & Properties

Path Parameters

Body

JSON

Response

Content

Example Relationship Creation

Example Attribute Creation

Creating Attributes and Relationship In Single Request

Suggested Workflow

Two Phase Commit Approach

Data That Not Stored In Application Database

Parameters & Properties