Direct Access

In this guide you will learn how to grant a user access to an object (such as a certain document) in OpenFGA.

When to use

Granting access with relationship tuple is a core part of OpenFGA. Without them, any checks will fail. You should use:

authorization model to represent what relations are possible between the users and objects in the system
relationship tuples to represent the facts about the relationships between users and objects in your system.

Before you start

In order to understand this guide correctly you must be familiar with some OpenFGA Concepts and know how to develop the things that we will list below.

Assume that you have the following authorization model.
You have a type called document that can have a viewer and/or an editor.

DSL
JSON

model
  schema 1.1
type user
type document
  relations
    define viewer: [user]
    define editor: [user]

{
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "type_definitions": [
    {
      "type": "user"
    },
    {
      "type": "document",
      "relations": {
        "viewer": {
          "this": {}
        },
        "editor": {
          "this": {}
        }
      },
      "metadata": {
        "relations": {
          "viewer": {
            "directly_related_user_types": [
              {
                "type": "user"
              }
            ]
          },
          "editor": {
            "directly_related_user_types": [
              {
                "type": "user"
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

In addition, you will need to know the following:

OpenFGA Concepts

A Type: a class of objects that have similar characteristics
A User: an entity in the system that can be related to an object
A Relation: is a string defined in the type definition of an authorization model that defines the possibility of a relationship between an object of the same type as the type definition and a user in the system
An Object: represents an entity in the system. Users' relationships to it can be define through relationship tuples and the authorization model
A Relationship Tuple: a grouping consisting of a user, a relation and an object stored in OpenFGA

Step By Step

For our applications to understand that user x has access to document y, we need to provide OpenFGA that information through relationship tuples. Each relationship tuple has three basic parameters, a user, a relation and an object.

01. Create A Relationship Tuple

Let us add a relationship tuple to indicate that bob who is an editor of document:meeting_notes.doc. This is represented by adding the following:

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
// import the SDK
const { OpenFgaApi } = require('@openfga/sdk');

// Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
const fgaClient = new OpenFgaApi({
  apiScheme: process.env.FGA_API_SCHEME, // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
  apiHost: process.env.FGA_API_HOST, // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
  storeId: process.env.FGA_STORE_ID, // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
});

await fgaClient.write({
  writes: {
    tuple_keys: [
      { user: 'user:bob', relation: 'editor', object: 'document:meeting_notes.doc'}
    ]
  },
  authorization_model_id: "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw" 
});

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
import (
    fgaSdk "github.com/openfga/go-sdk"
    "os"
)

func main() {
    // Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
    configuration, err := fgaSdk.NewConfiguration(fgaSdk.UserConfiguration{
        ApiScheme:      os.Getenv("FGA_SCHEME"), // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
        ApiHost:        os.Getenv("FGA_API_HOST"), // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
        StoreId:        os.Getenv("FGA_STORE_ID"), // optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
    })

    if err != nil {
    // .. Handle error
    }

    fgaClient := fgaSdk.NewAPIClient(configuration)
}

body := fgaSdk.WriteRequest{
	Writes:  &fgaSdk.TupleKeys{
		TupleKeys: []fgaSdk.TupleKey { 
			{
				User: fgaSdk.PtrString("user:bob"),
				Relation: fgaSdk.PtrString("editor"),
				Object: fgaSdk.PtrString("document:meeting_notes.doc"),
			}, 
		},
	},
 	AuthorizationModelId: fgaSdk.PtrString("1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw")}

_, response, err := fgaClient.OpenFgaApi.Write(context.Background()).Body(body).Execute()
if err != nil {
    // .. Handle error
}

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
// import the SDK
using OpenFga.Sdk.Api;
using OpenFga.Sdk.Configuration;
using Environment = System.Environment;

namespace ExampleApp;

class MyProgram {
    static async Task Main() {
        // Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
        var configuration = new Configuration() {
          ApiScheme = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_API_SCHEME"), // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
          ApiHost = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_API_HOST"), // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
          StoreId = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_STORE_ID"), // optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
        };
        var fgaClient = new OpenFgaApi(configuration);
    }
}

await fgaClient.Write(new WriteRequest{
  Writes = new TupleKeys(new List<TupleKey>() {
    new() { User = "user:bob", Relation = "editor", Object = "document:meeting_notes.doc" }
  }),
  AuthorizationModelId = "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw"
});

Initialize the SDK

# ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.

import os
import json
import openfga_sdk
from openfga_sdk.api import open_fga_api

configuration = openfga_sdk.Configuration(
    api_scheme = os.environ.get('FGA_API_SCHEME'), # Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
    api_host = os.environ.get('FGA_API_HOST'), # required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
    store_id = os.environ.get('FGA_STORE_ID') # optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
)

# Create an instance of the API class
fga_client_instance = open_fga_api.OpenFgaApi(openfga_sdk.ApiClient(configuration))

# from openfga_sdk.models.tuple_key import TupleKey
# from openfga_sdk.models.tuple_keys import TupleKeys
# from openfga_sdk.models.write_request import WriteRequest

async def write():
    body = WriteRequest(
        writes=TupleKeys(
            tuple_keys=[
                TupleKey(
                    user="user:bob",
                    relation="editor",
                    object="document:meeting_notes.doc",
                ),
            ],
        ),
 	authorization_model_id="1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw",
    )
    await fga_client_instance.write(body)

Get the Bearer Token and set up the FGA_API_URL environment variable

Set FGA_API_URL according to the service you are using

curl -X POST $FGA_API_URL/stores/$FGA_STORE_ID/write \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FGA_BEARER_TOKEN" \ # Not needed if service does not require authorization
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"writes": { "tuple_keys" : [{"user":"user:bob","relation":"editor","object":"document:meeting_notes.doc"}] }, "authorization_model_id": "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw"}'

write([
    {
      "user":"user:bob",
      "relation":"editor",
      "object":"document:meeting_notes.doc"
    }
], authorization_model_id="1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw")

02. Check That The Relationship Exists

Once that relationship tuple is added to OpenFGA, we can check if the relationship is valid by asking the following: "is bob an editor of document:meeting_notes.doc?"

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
// import the SDK
const { OpenFgaApi } = require('@openfga/sdk');

// Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
const fgaClient = new OpenFgaApi({
  apiScheme: process.env.FGA_API_SCHEME, // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
  apiHost: process.env.FGA_API_HOST, // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
  storeId: process.env.FGA_STORE_ID, // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
});

// Run a check
const { allowed } = await fgaClient.check({
  authorization_model_id: '1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw',
  tuple_key: {
    user: 'user:bob',
    relation: 'editor',
    object: 'document:meeting_notes.doc',
  },
});

// allowed = true

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
import (
    fgaSdk "github.com/openfga/go-sdk"
    "os"
)

func main() {
    // Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
    configuration, err := fgaSdk.NewConfiguration(fgaSdk.UserConfiguration{
        ApiScheme:      os.Getenv("FGA_SCHEME"), // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
        ApiHost:        os.Getenv("FGA_API_HOST"), // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
        StoreId:        os.Getenv("FGA_STORE_ID"), // optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
    })

    if err != nil {
    // .. Handle error
    }

    fgaClient := fgaSdk.NewAPIClient(configuration)
}

body := fgaSdk.CheckRequest{
	AuthorizationModelId: fgaSdk.PtrString("1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw"),
	TupleKey: fgaSdk.TupleKey{
		User: "user:bob",
		Relation: "editor",
		Object: "document:meeting_notes.doc",
	},
}
data, response, err := fgaClient.OpenFgaApi.Check(context.Background()).Body(body).Execute()

// data = { allowed: true }

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
// import the SDK
using OpenFga.Sdk.Api;
using OpenFga.Sdk.Configuration;
using Environment = System.Environment;

namespace ExampleApp;

class MyProgram {
    static async Task Main() {
        // Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
        var configuration = new Configuration() {
          ApiScheme = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_API_SCHEME"), // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
          ApiHost = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_API_HOST"), // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
          StoreId = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_STORE_ID"), // optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
        };
        var fgaClient = new OpenFgaApi(configuration);
    }
}

// Run a check
var response = await fgaClient.Check(new CheckRequest
{
TupleKey = new TupleKey() {
  User = "user:bob",
  Relation = "editor",
  Object = "document:meeting_notes.doc"
}, AuthorizationModelId = "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw"});

// response.Allowed = true

Initialize the SDK

# ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.

import os
import json
import openfga_sdk
from openfga_sdk.api import open_fga_api

configuration = openfga_sdk.Configuration(
    api_scheme = os.environ.get('FGA_API_SCHEME'), # Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
    api_host = os.environ.get('FGA_API_HOST'), # required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
    store_id = os.environ.get('FGA_STORE_ID') # optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
)

# Create an instance of the API class
fga_client_instance = open_fga_api.OpenFgaApi(openfga_sdk.ApiClient(configuration))

# from openfga_sdk.models.check_request import CheckRequest
# from openfga_sdk.models.tuple_key import TupleKey
# from openfga_sdk.models.contextual_tuple_keys import ContextualTupleKeys

# Run a check
async def check():
    body = CheckRequest(
        tuple_key=TupleKey(
            user="user:bob",
            relation="editor",
            object="document:meeting_notes.doc",
        ), 
        authorization_model_id="1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw",
    )
    response = await fga_client_instance.check(body)
    # response.allowed = true

Get the Bearer Token and set up the FGA_API_URL environment variable

Set FGA_API_URL according to the service you are using

curl -X POST $FGA_API_URL/stores/$FGA_STORE_ID/check \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FGA_BEARER_TOKEN" \ # Not needed if service does not require authorization
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"authorization_model_id": "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw", "tuple_key":{"user":"user:bob","relation":"editor","object":"document:meeting_notes.doc"}}'

# Response: {"allowed":true}

check(
  user = "user:bob", // check if the user `user:bob`
  relation = "editor", // has an `editor` relation
  object = "document:meeting_notes.doc", // with the object `document:meeting_notes.doc`
   authorization_id = "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw"
);

Reply: true

If we were to check the following: "is bob a viewer of document:meeting_notes.doc?" it would return false since that relationship tuple does not exist within OpenFGA yet.

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
// import the SDK
const { OpenFgaApi } = require('@openfga/sdk');

// Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
const fgaClient = new OpenFgaApi({
  apiScheme: process.env.FGA_API_SCHEME, // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
  apiHost: process.env.FGA_API_HOST, // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
  storeId: process.env.FGA_STORE_ID, // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
});

// Run a check
const { allowed } = await fgaClient.check({
  authorization_model_id: '1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw',
  tuple_key: {
    user: 'user:bob',
    relation: 'viewer',
    object: 'document:meeting_notes.doc',
  },
});

// allowed = false

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
import (
    fgaSdk "github.com/openfga/go-sdk"
    "os"
)

func main() {
    // Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
    configuration, err := fgaSdk.NewConfiguration(fgaSdk.UserConfiguration{
        ApiScheme:      os.Getenv("FGA_SCHEME"), // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
        ApiHost:        os.Getenv("FGA_API_HOST"), // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
        StoreId:        os.Getenv("FGA_STORE_ID"), // optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
    })

    if err != nil {
    // .. Handle error
    }

    fgaClient := fgaSdk.NewAPIClient(configuration)
}

body := fgaSdk.CheckRequest{
	AuthorizationModelId: fgaSdk.PtrString("1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw"),
	TupleKey: fgaSdk.TupleKey{
		User: "user:bob",
		Relation: "viewer",
		Object: "document:meeting_notes.doc",
	},
}
data, response, err := fgaClient.OpenFgaApi.Check(context.Background()).Body(body).Execute()

// data = { allowed: false }

Initialize the SDK

// ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.
// import the SDK
using OpenFga.Sdk.Api;
using OpenFga.Sdk.Configuration;
using Environment = System.Environment;

namespace ExampleApp;

class MyProgram {
    static async Task Main() {
        // Initialize the SDK with no auth - see "How to setup SDK client" for more options
        var configuration = new Configuration() {
          ApiScheme = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_API_SCHEME"), // Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
          ApiHost = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_API_HOST"), // required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
          StoreId = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FGA_STORE_ID"), // optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
        };
        var fgaClient = new OpenFgaApi(configuration);
    }
}

// Run a check
var response = await fgaClient.Check(new CheckRequest
{
TupleKey = new TupleKey() {
  User = "user:bob",
  Relation = "viewer",
  Object = "document:meeting_notes.doc"
}, AuthorizationModelId = "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw"});

// response.Allowed = false

Initialize the SDK

# ApiTokenIssuer, ApiAudience, ClientId and ClientSecret are optional.

import os
import json
import openfga_sdk
from openfga_sdk.api import open_fga_api

configuration = openfga_sdk.Configuration(
    api_scheme = os.environ.get('FGA_API_SCHEME'), # Either "http" or "https", defaults to "https"
    api_host = os.environ.get('FGA_API_HOST'), # required, define without the scheme (e.g. api.openfga.example instead of https://api.openfga.example)
    store_id = os.environ.get('FGA_STORE_ID') # optional, not needed for `CreateStore` and `ListStores`, required before calling for all other methods
)

# Create an instance of the API class
fga_client_instance = open_fga_api.OpenFgaApi(openfga_sdk.ApiClient(configuration))

# from openfga_sdk.models.check_request import CheckRequest
# from openfga_sdk.models.tuple_key import TupleKey
# from openfga_sdk.models.contextual_tuple_keys import ContextualTupleKeys

# Run a check
async def check():
    body = CheckRequest(
        tuple_key=TupleKey(
            user="user:bob",
            relation="viewer",
            object="document:meeting_notes.doc",
        ), 
        authorization_model_id="1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw",
    )
    response = await fga_client_instance.check(body)
    # response.allowed = false

Get the Bearer Token and set up the FGA_API_URL environment variable

Set FGA_API_URL according to the service you are using

curl -X POST $FGA_API_URL/stores/$FGA_STORE_ID/check \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FGA_BEARER_TOKEN" \ # Not needed if service does not require authorization
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"authorization_model_id": "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw", "tuple_key":{"user":"user:bob","relation":"viewer","object":"document:meeting_notes.doc"}}'

# Response: {"allowed":false}

check(
  user = "user:bob", // check if the user `user:bob`
  relation = "viewer", // has an `viewer` relation
  object = "document:meeting_notes.doc", // with the object `document:meeting_notes.doc`
   authorization_id = "1uHxCSuTP0VKPYSnkq1pbb1jeZw"
);

Reply: false

caution

Note: When creating relationship tuples for OpenFGA make sure to use unique ids for each object and user within your application domain. We're using first names and simple ids to just illustrate an easy-to-follow example.

OpenFGA Concepts

Learn about the OpenFGA Concepts.

Modeling: Getting Started

Learn about how to get started with modeling.

Configuration Language

Learn about OpenFGA Configuration Language.

Direct Access

Before you start​

OpenFGA Concepts​

Step By Step​

01. Create A Relationship Tuple​

02. Check That The Relationship Exists​

Related Sections​

Before you start

OpenFGA Concepts

Step By Step

01. Create A Relationship Tuple

02. Check That The Relationship Exists

Related Sections