Public Access

Model public document access using FGA policies.

This guide is also available as an example in the FGA Playground, where you can interact with the schema, warrants, and queries in real-time!

Public access allows users to view resources without requiring a direct relationship or explicit grant. This is useful for cases where content is meant to be openly accessible but still requires a basic set of conditions, such as being published or flagged as public.

Example Applications

Document Management: Public reports or documents.

Education Platforms: Make certain course materials or syllabus open access.

Media & Publishing: Allow public access to some articles while gating premium ones.

E-Commerce: Public product listings with private admin dashboards or private draft listings.

Schema

 version 0.3

type user

type document
  relation viewer [user]

  inherit viewer if
    policy is_public_document

policy is_public_document(document_attributes map) {
  document_attributes.public == true && document_attributes.status == "published"
}

Note: Public access can also be modeled with wildcard warrants. This example focuses on using policies for more control over access conditions.

Example

1. Apply the schema

Create a file called schema.txt containing the schema definition from above. Then use the CLI to apply this schema to your WorkOS FGA environment.

Note: make sure to select the correct environment with the CLI

 workos fga schema apply schema.txt

2. Check access

With our environment setup, we can check the user’s permission to view a document.

Check if a user can view a document

 curl "https://api.workos.com/fga/v1/check" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_example_123456789" \
  --data-raw \
  '{
    "checks": [
      {
        "resource_type": "document",
        "resource_id": "doc-1",
        "relation": "viewer",
        "subject": {
          "resource_type": "user",
          "resource_id": "user_2oDscjroNWtzxzYEnEzT9P7VYEe"
        },
        "context": {
          "document_attributes": {
            "id": "doc-1",
            "public": true,
            "status": "published"
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }'