Internal permission groups

Internal permission groups are YAML-based configuration files that define logical groupings of permissions which are activated or deactivated together based on internal resource state. They allow you to centrally manage sets of permissions that should be collectively prevented (or enabled) when a specific condition is met, such as a group being archived.

How they work

Internal permission groups are defined as YAML files under config/authz/permission_groups/internal/. Each file contains a description and a list of permission names. At runtime, the Authz::PermissionGroups::Internal class loads these files and provides a lookup API to retrieve a group by its identifier.

Naming convention

The identifier for an internal permission group is derived from its file path relative to the config/authz/permission_groups/internal/ directory:

  • Directory names become colon-separated prefixes.
  • The file name (without extension) becomes the final segment.

For example, config/authz/permission_groups/internal/group/archived.yml produces the identifier group:archived.

YAML file structure

Each YAML file must contain:

  • description: A human-readable explanation of when these permissions apply.
  • permissions: A list of permission (ability) names as strings.

Example (config/authz/permission_groups/internal/group/archived.yml):

description: Permissions that are disabled when a group is archived
permissions:
  - activate_group_member
  - admin_build
  - create_projects
  - push_code
  # ... additional permissions

Using an internal permission group in a policy

To use an internal permission group in a DeclarativePolicy policy, call Authz::PermissionGroups::Internal.get with the group identifier and splat the returned permissions into a prevent rule:

# app/policies/group_policy.rb

condition(:archived, scope: :subject) { @subject.self_or_ancestors_archived? }

rule { archived }.policy do
  prevent(*Authz::PermissionGroups::Internal.get('group:archived').permissions)
end

This prevents all listed permissions when the archived condition is true, replacing the need to maintain a long inline list of prevent calls.

Creating a new internal permission group

  1. Create the YAML file. Add a new .yml file under config/authz/permission_groups/internal/. Use directories to namespace by resource type:

    config/authz/permission_groups/internal/<resource>/<subresource>/<name>.yml

    For example, to define permissions to prevent when a project is locked:

    # config/authz/permission_groups/internal/project/locked.yml
description: Permissions that are disabled when a project is locked
permissions:
  - push_code
  - create_merge_request_from
  - admin_merge_request

  2. Reference it in a policy. Use the identifier derived from the file path (project:locked in this example):

    # app/policies/project_policy.rb

condition(:locked, scope: :subject) { @subject.locked? }

rule { locked }.policy do
  prevent(*Authz::PermissionGroups::Internal.get('project:locked').permissions)
end

When to use internal permission groups

Use internal permission groups when:

  • A resource state change (such as archiving or locking) should disable many permissions at once.
  • The same set of permissions needs to be referenced from multiple places (policies, specs, or shared examples).
  • You want a single source of truth for which permissions a condition affects, rather than scattering prevent calls throughout policy files.

Do not use internal permission groups for: