mono/packages/acl/README.md

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# @polymech/acl
Role-based access control (RBAC) library inspired by Zend_ACL.
Pure ESM, `async/await`, zero runtime dependencies (except [pino](https://github.com/pinojs/pino) for optional logging).
> **Supabase integration?** See [Supabase RLS Mirror — VFS Guide](docs/supabase-rls-vfs.md)
> **Pure Postgres?** See [Postgres RLS — VFS Guide](docs/postgres-rls-vfs.md)
## Source Layout
```
src/
├── Acl.ts # Core ACL class
├── interfaces.ts # Type definitions & backend interface
├── index.ts # Barrel export
├── data/
│ ├── MemoryBackend.ts # In-memory backend (default)
│ └── FileBackend.ts # JSON file backend (dev/testing)
└── acl.test.ts # Functional tests (vitest)
```
## Concepts
| Term | Description |
|------|-------------|
| **User** | An identifier (string or number) representing a subject |
| **Role** | A named group of permissions assigned to users |
| **Resource** | Something being protected (e.g. `"posts"`, `"settings"`) |
| **Permission** | An action on a resource (e.g. `"read"`, `"write"`, `"delete"`) |
| **Parent** | Roles can inherit permissions from parent roles |
Wildcard `"*"` grants all permissions on a resource.
## Quick Start
```ts
import { Acl, MemoryBackend } from '@polymech/acl';
const acl = new Acl(new MemoryBackend());
// Define permissions
await acl.allow('viewer', 'posts', 'read');
await acl.allow('editor', 'posts', ['read', 'write', 'delete']);
await acl.allow('admin', 'settings', '*');
// Assign roles to users
await acl.addUserRoles('alice', 'editor');
await acl.addUserRoles('bob', 'viewer');
// Check access
await acl.isAllowed('alice', 'posts', 'write'); // true
await acl.isAllowed('bob', 'posts', 'write'); // false
await acl.isAllowed('bob', 'posts', 'read'); // true
```
## Role Hierarchy
Roles can inherit from parents. A child role gets all permissions of its ancestors.
```ts
await acl.allow('viewer', 'docs', 'read');
await acl.allow('editor', 'docs', 'write');
await acl.allow('admin', 'docs', 'admin');
// editor inherits from viewer, admin inherits from editor
await acl.addRoleParents('editor', 'viewer');
await acl.addRoleParents('admin', 'editor');
await acl.addUserRoles('carol', 'admin');
await acl.isAllowed('carol', 'docs', 'read'); // true (from viewer)
await acl.isAllowed('carol', 'docs', 'write'); // true (from editor)
await acl.isAllowed('carol', 'docs', 'admin'); // true (own)
```
## Batch Grants
Use the array syntax to define complex permission sets at once:
```ts
await acl.allow([
{
roles: 'moderator',
allows: [
{ resources: 'posts', permissions: ['read', 'edit', 'flag'] },
{ resources: 'comments', permissions: ['read', 'delete'] },
],
},
{
roles: 'author',
allows: [
{ resources: 'posts', permissions: ['read', 'create'] },
],
},
]);
```
## Querying Permissions
```ts
// All permissions a user has on given resources
const perms = await acl.allowedPermissions('alice', ['posts', 'settings']);
// → { posts: ['read', 'write', 'delete'], settings: [] }
// Which resources does a role have access to?
const resources = await acl.whatResources('editor');
// → { posts: ['read', 'write', 'delete'] }
// Which resources grant a specific permission?
const writable = await acl.whatResources('editor', 'write');
// → ['posts']
```
## Removal
```ts
// Remove specific permissions
await acl.removeAllow('editor', 'posts', 'delete');
// Remove all permissions for a resource from a role
await acl.removeAllow('editor', 'posts');
// Remove a role entirely
await acl.removeRole('editor');
// Remove a resource from all roles
await acl.removeResource('posts');
// Remove a role from a user
await acl.removeUserRoles('alice', 'editor');
```
## File Backend (Dev/Testing)
[`FileBackend`](src/data/FileBackend.ts) extends [`MemoryBackend`](src/data/MemoryBackend.ts) with JSON persistence:
```ts
import { Acl, FileBackend } from '@polymech/acl';
const backend = new FileBackend('./acl-data.json');
backend.read(); // load from disk
const acl = new Acl(backend);
await acl.allow('admin', 'all', '*');
await acl.addUserRoles('root', 'admin');
backend.write(); // persist to disk
```
## Logging
Pass a [pino](https://github.com/pinojs/pino) logger as the second constructor argument:
```ts
import pino from 'pino';
import { Acl, MemoryBackend } from '@polymech/acl';
const logger = pino({ level: 'debug' });
const acl = new Acl(new MemoryBackend(), logger);
await acl.allow('admin', 'posts', '*');
// logs: { roles: ['admin'], resources: ['posts'], permissions: ['*'] } allow
```
## Custom Backend
Implement the [`IBackend`](src/interfaces.ts) interface to plug in any storage:
```ts
import type { IBackend, Value, Values } from '@polymech/acl';
class RedisBackend implements IBackend<RedisTx> {
begin(): RedisTx { /* ... */ }
async end(tx: RedisTx): Promise<void> { /* ... */ }
async clean(): Promise<void> { /* ... */ }
async get(bucket: string, key: Value): Promise<string[]> { /* ... */ }
async union(bucket: string, keys: Value[]): Promise<string[]> { /* ... */ }
async unions(buckets: string[], keys: Value[]): Promise<Record<string, string[]>> { /* ... */ }
add(tx: RedisTx, bucket: string, key: Value, values: Values): void { /* ... */ }
del(tx: RedisTx, bucket: string, keys: Values): void { /* ... */ }
remove(tx: RedisTx, bucket: string, key: Value, values: Values): void { /* ... */ }
}
```
## Real-World Example — VFS Per-User Folder Permissions
Fine-grained, path-scoped access control for a virtual filesystem where each user owns a folder and can grant specific permissions to others — individually or via **groups**.
### How It Works
Each user's VFS folder contains a `vfs-settings.json` that declares who can do what:
```json
{
"owner": "3bb4cfbf-318b-44d3-a9d3-35680e738421",
"groups": [
{
"name": "team",
"members": ["aaaaaaaa-...", "cccccccc-..."]
},
{
"name": "viewers",
"members": ["dddddddd-...", "ffffffff-..."]
}
],
"acl": [
{
"group": "team",
"path": "/shared",
"permissions": ["read", "write", "list", "mkdir", "delete"]
},
{
"group": "team",
"path": "/docs",
"permissions": ["read", "list"]
},
{
"group": "viewers",
"path": "/docs",
"permissions": ["read", "list"]
},
{
"userId": "ffffffff-...",
"path": "/shared",
"permissions": ["read", "list"]
}
]
}
```
- **Groups** bundle users — grant once, apply to all members.
- **Direct user grants** coexist with groups for individual overrides.
- **Path scoping** — grants apply to a specific folder and its children (`/shared`, `/docs`).
- The **owner** always gets `*` on `/` (entire tree).
### Permission Model
| Permission | Operations |
|------------|------------|
| `read` | `stat`, `readfile`, `exists` |
| `list` | `readdir` |
| `write` | `writefile`, `mkfile` |
| `mkdir` | `mkdir` |
| `delete` | `rmfile`, `rmdir` |
| `rename` | `rename` |
| `copy` | `copy` |
| `*` | All of the above — auto-granted to the folder owner |
### Path-Scoped Resolution
When a user accesses `/shared/reports/q1.pdf`, the guard walks the **resource chain** upward:
```
vfs:<ownerId>:/shared/reports/q1.pdf ← most specific
vfs:<ownerId>:/shared/reports
vfs:<ownerId>:/shared ← team group matches here ✓
vfs:<ownerId>:/
```
Access is granted if **any** level allows the operation.
### Setup Flow
```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
participant App
participant Bridge as VFS ACL Bridge
participant ACL as Acl Instance
App->>Bridge: loadVfsSettings acl, userDir
Bridge->>Bridge: Read vfs-settings.json
Bridge->>ACL: allow owner role, resource, wildcard
Bridge->>ACL: addUserRoles owner, owner role
loop Each group ACL entry
Bridge->>ACL: allow group role, resource, permissions
loop Each group member
Bridge->>ACL: addUserRoles member, group role
end
end
loop Each direct ACL entry
Bridge->>ACL: allow grant role, resource, permissions
Bridge->>ACL: addUserRoles grantee, grant role
end
Bridge-->>App: Return settings
```
### Code Example
```ts
import { Acl, MemoryBackend, AclVfsClient, loadVfsSettings } from '@polymech/acl';
// 1. Create ACL and load settings from the user's folder
const acl = new Acl(new MemoryBackend());
const userDir = './data/vfs/3bb4cfbf-318b-44d3-a9d3-35680e738421';
await loadVfsSettings(acl, userDir);
// 2. Create a guarded client for a specific caller
const ownerId = '3bb4cfbf-318b-44d3-a9d3-35680e738421';
const callerId = 'aaaaaaaa-1111-2222-3333-bbbbbbbbbbbb'; // team member
const client = new AclVfsClient(acl, ownerId, callerId, {
root: userDir,
});
// 3. Allowed — team has read+list on /docs
const files = await client.readdir('docs'); // ✓ works
const exists = await client.exists('docs/readme.txt'); // ✓ works
// 4. Allowed — team has full access on /shared
await client.writefile('shared/notes.txt', 'hello'); // ✓ works
await client.mkdir('shared/reports'); // ✓ works
// 5. Denied — team has no access on /private
await client.readdir('private'); // ✗ throws EACCES
await client.writefile('private/x.txt', '...'); // ✗ throws EACCES
// 6. Denied — team has read-only on /docs, no write
await client.writefile('docs/hack.txt', '...'); // ✗ throws EACCES
```
### Test Fixtures
```
tests/
├── vfs/root/
│ ├── 3bb4cfbf-…/
│ │ ├── vfs-settings.json # Path-scoped direct grants
│ │ ├── docs/readme.txt
│ │ ├── shared/data.txt
│ │ └── private/secret.txt
│ └── groups-test/
│ └── vfs-settings.json # Group grants + mixed direct
├── vfs-acl.e2e.test.ts # 26 permission boundary tests
├── vfs-acl-fs.e2e.test.ts # 24 real filesystem tests
├── vfs-acl-paths.e2e.test.ts # 34 per-path nested tests
└── vfs-acl-groups.e2e.test.ts # 27 groups e2e tests
```
## Scripts
```bash
npm run build # Compile TypeScript
npm run dev # Watch mode
npm run test:core # Core ACL tests (23)
npm run test:all # Full suite (134 tests)
npm run lint # ESLint
```