SpiceDb is an open-source, Zanzibar-inspired authorization system that provides a robust and scalable solution for managing fine-grained permissions across distributed systems. Its implementation closely follows the principles set out in Google’s Zanzibar paper, adapting them into a practical and deployable system.
SpiceDb was created by AuthZed and documentation specifically for SpiceDb can be found on their site.
SpiceDb.net was created by Michael Tanczos and has contributions from Pavel Akimov, Mahesh Bailwal, Vinícius Gajo, and others. Documentation for SpiceDb.net is in progress and can be found here: https://jalexsocial.github.io/spicedb.docs/
1.6.0
- Dropped .NET 7 dependency and introduced new targets for .NET 8 and .NET 9
1.5.3
- BREAKING CHANGE: The constructors for
SpiceDbClientnow accept a nullableschemaPrefixinstead of a required string. If not provided, it defaults to null. - @williamgraver added empty schema prefix handling for dedicated version of SpiceDb
- @dystopiandev exposed ReadSchemaAsync method
1.5.2
- BREAKING CHANGE: ReadRelationships now accepts a SubjectFilter (thanks to @epbensimpson) for the second parameter along with an optional relationship limit and cursor
- BREAKING CHANGE: DeleteRelationshipsAsync utilizes an optional SubjectFilter (thanks to @epbensimpson) instead of a RelationshipFilter
- BREAKING CHANGE: DeleteRelationshipsAsync returns a DeleteRelationshipsResponse object with the ZedToken and deletion progress instead of just the ZedToken
1.5.1
- @nexthash added caveat handling for relationship creation
- added WriteSchemaAsync method to client
- added additional unit tests
Available on Nuget at https://www.nuget.org/packages/SpiceDb
Install the package using NuGet
Install-Package SpiceDb
Example Using UserSecrets
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using SpiceDb.Example;
using SpiceDb.Example.MyObjects;
using SpiceDb.Models;
// This is just to keep the server address and token private
var builder = new ConfigurationBuilder()
.AddUserSecrets(typeof(Secrets).Assembly)
.AddEnvironmentVariables();
var configurationRoot = builder.Build();
var secrets = configurationRoot.GetSection("AuthZed").Get<Secrets>();
if (secrets is null)
throw new ArgumentException("Invalid secrets configuration");
// var serverAddress = "https://grpc.authzed.com";
// Create a new client with a prefix of "arch" for all defined objects
var client = new SpiceDbClient(secrets.ServerAddress, secrets.Token, "arch");
// Add relationship where user:bob is a reader of document:firstdoc
// Note that because the schema prefix is set in the client it is not necessary to always prefix every resource definition
client.AddRelationship("arch/document:firstdoc#reader@arch/user:bob");
// This also works
client.AddRelationship("document:firstdoc#reader@user:kevin");
// Second approach to adding relationships
client.AddRelationship(new Relationship("arch/document:firstdoc", "reader", "arch/user:jacob"));
// This approach uses a little syntactic sugar to define each of the relations
client.AddRelationship(ZedUser.WithId("carmella").CanRead(ZedDocument.WithId("firstdoc")));
// Check to see if user:bob is in fact now a reader of document:firstdoc
var bobCanRead = client.CheckPermission(new Permission("arch/document:firstdoc#reader@arch/user:bob"));
Console.WriteLine($"Can user bob read document:firstdoc? {bobCanRead.HasPermission}");
// true
// This is a similar check but without adding prefixes
var kevinCanRead = client.CheckPermission(new Permission("document:firstdoc#reader@user:bob"));
Console.WriteLine($"Can user kevin read document:firstdoc? {kevinCanRead.HasPermission}");
// true
// Check to see if user:carmella is in fact now a reader of document:firstdoc
var carmellaCanRead = client.CheckPermission(ZedUser.WithId("carmella").CanRead(ZedDocument.WithId("firstdoc")));
Console.WriteLine($"Can user carmella read document:firstdoc? {carmellaCanRead.HasPermission}");
// true
| authzed.api.v1 method | Implemented |
|---|---|
| ReadRelationships | Yes |
| WriteRelationships | Yes |
| DeleteRelationships | Yes |
| CheckPermission | Yes |
| ExpandPermissionTree | Yes |
| LookupResources | Yes |
| LookupSubjects | Yes |
| ReadSchema | Yes |
| WriteSchema | Yes, as Import* methods |
| Watch | Yes |
The SpiceDbClient class provides a client for interacting with Authzed's SpiceDb, offering methods to manipulate permission systems efficiently.
Initializes a new instance of the SpiceDbClient class using the default Authzed server address.
Parameters
token- Token with admin privileges for manipulating the desired permission system.schemaPrefix- Schema prefix used for the permission system.
Initializes a new instance of the SpiceDbClient class with the specified server address, token, and schema prefix.
Parameters
serverAddress- The server address of the Authzed server.token- The token with admin privileges for manipulating the desired permission system.schemaPrefix- The schema prefix used for the permission system.
Exceptions
Exception- Thrown when the server address or token is null or empty, or if the schema prefix does not meet the required format.
Asynchronously reads a set of relationships matching one or more filters.
Parameters
resource- The filter to apply to the resource part of the relationships.subject(optional) - An optional filter to apply to the subject part of the relationships.excludePrefix(optional) - Indicates whether the prefix should be excluded from the response.zedToken(optional) - An optional ZedToken for specifying a version of the data to read.cacheFreshness(optional) - Specifies the acceptable freshness of the data to be read from the cache.
Returns
- An async enumerable of
ReadRelationshipsResponseobjects matching the specified filters.
Atomically writes and/or deletes a set of specified relationships, with optional preconditions.
Parameters
relationships- A list of relationship updates to apply.optionalPreconditions(optional) - An optional list of preconditions that must be satisfied for the operation to commit.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
ZedToken?indicating the version of the data after the write operation.
Atomically bulk deletes all relationships matching the provided filters, with optional preconditions.
Parameters
resourceFilter- The filter to apply to the resource part of the relationships. The resourceFilter.Type is required; all other fields are optional.optionalSubjectFilter(optional) - An optional additional filter for the subject part of the relationships.optionalPreconditions(optional) - An optional list of preconditions that must be satisfied for the operation to commit.allowPartialDeletions(optional) - If true and a limit is specified, will delete matching found relationships up to the count specified in limit, and no more.limit(optional) if non-zero, specifies the limit on the number of relationships to be deleted. If there are more matching relationships found to be deleted than the limit specified here, the deletion call will fail with an error to prevent partial deletion. If partial deletion is needed, specify below that partial deletion is allowed. Partial deletions can be used in a loop to delete large amounts of relationships in a non-transactional manner.deadline(optional) - An optional deadline for the call. The operation will be cancelled if the deadline is reached.cancellationToken(optional) - An optional token for cancelling the call.
Returns
- DeleteRelationshipsResponse object that contains a ZedToken representing the point of deletion and an indicator of deletion progress
Checks permissions for a given resource and subject, optionally considering additional context.
Parameters
permission- The permission relationship to evaluate.context(optional) - An optional dictionary providing additional context information for evaluating caveats.zedToken(optional) - An optional ZedToken for specifying a version of the data to consider.cacheFreshness(optional) - Specifies the acceptable freshness of the data to be considered from the cache.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
PermissionResponseindicating the result of the permission check.
Expands the permission tree for a resource's permission or relation, revealing the graph structure. This method may require multiple calls to fully unnest a deeply nested graph.
Parameters
resource- The resource reference for which to expand the permission tree.permission- The name of the permission or relation to expand.zedToken(optional) - An optional ZedToken for specifying a version of the data to consider.cacheFreshness(optional) - Specifies the acceptable freshness of the data to be considered from the cache.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with an
ExpandPermissionTreeResponse?indicating the result of the expansion operation.
Adds or updates multiple relationships as a single atomic update.
Parameters
relationships- List of relationships to add or update.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
ZedToken?indicating the version of the data after the operation.
Adds or updates a single relationship.
Parameters
relation- The relationship to add or update.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
ZedTokenindicating the version of the data after the operation.
Removes an existing relationship (if it exists).
Parameters
relation- The relationship to remove.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
ZedTokenindicating the version of the data after the relationship is removed.
Returns all the subjects of a given type that have access, whether via a computed permission or relation membership.
Parameters
resource- Resource is the resource for which all matching subjects for the permission or relation will be returned.permission- Permission is the name of the permission (or relation) for which to find the subjects.subjectType- SubjectType is the type of subject object for which the IDs will be returned.optionalSubjectRelation(optional) - OptionalSubjectRelation is the optional relation for the subject.context(optional) - Context consists of named values that are injected into the caveat evaluation context.zedToken(optional) - An optional ZedToken for specifying a version of the data to consider.cacheFreshness(optional) - Specifies the acceptable freshness of the data to be considered from the cache.
Returns
- An async enumerable of
LookupSubjectsResponseobjects representing the subjects with access to the specified resource.
Returns all the resources of a given type that a subject can access, whether via a computed permission or relation membership.
Parameters
resourceType- The type of resource object for which the IDs will be returned.permission- The name of the permission or relation for which the subject must check.subject- The subject with access to the resources.context(optional) - Dictionary of values that are injected into the caveat evaluation context.zedToken(optional) - An optional ZedToken for specifying a version of the data to consider.cacheFreshness(optional) - Specifies the acceptable freshness of the data to be considered from the cache.
Returns
- An async enumerable of
LookupResourcesResponseobjects representing the resources accessible to the specified subject.
Listens for changes to specified subjects and returns updates as they occur.
Parameters
optionalSubjectTypes(optional) - A list of subject types to watch for changes.zedToken(optional) - An optional ZedToken for specifying a version of the data to watch.deadline(optional) - An optional deadline for the call. The operation will be cancelled if the deadline is reached.cancellationToken(optional) - An optional token for cancelling the call.
Returns
- An async enumerable of
WatchResponseobjects representing the updates to the watched subjects.
Retrieves the list of permissions for a specified resource, permission, and subject.
Parameters
resourceType- The type of the resource.permission- The name of the permission.subject- The subject for which permissions are being checked.zedToken(optional) - An optional ZedToken for specifying a version of the data to consider.cacheFreshness(optional) - Specifies the acceptable freshness of the data to be considered from the cache.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a list of string indicating the permissions for the specified resource.
Reads the current schema in use by the SpiceDB.
Returns
- A
stringrepresenting the current schema as defined in the SpiceDB.
Imports a schema into SpiceDB from a specified file.
Parameters
filePath- The path to the file containing the schema to import.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation of importing the schema.
Imports a schema into SpiceDB from a provided string.
Parameters
schema- The schema to import, provided as a string.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation of importing the schema.
Imports relationships into SpiceDB from a specified file.
Parameters
filePath- The path to the file containing the relationships to import.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
ZedToken?indicating the version of the data after the import operation.
Imports relationships into SpiceDB from a provided string.
Parameters
content- The relationships to import, provided as a string.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
ZedToken?indicating the version of the data after the import operation.
Checks multiple permissions in bulk for a specified list of permission identifiers.
Parameters
permissions- An enumerable of permission identifiers to check.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
CheckBulkPermissionsResponse?indicating the results of the bulk permission checks.
Checks multiple permissions in bulk for a specified list of Permission objects.
Parameters
permissions- An enumerable ofPermissionobjects to check.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
CheckBulkPermissionsResponse?indicating the results of the bulk permission checks.
Checks multiple permissions in bulk for a specified list of CheckBulkPermissionsRequestItem objects.
Parameters
items- An enumerable ofCheckBulkPermissionsRequestItemobjects to check.
Returns
- A task representing the asynchronous operation, with a
CheckBulkPermissionsResponse?indicating the results of the bulk permission checks.