Metadata-Version: 2.4
Name: awbac
Version: 0.1.0
Summary: Role-based access control that fails closed and explains itself — segment-aware permissions, because prefix matching grants what it should refuse.
License: Apache-2.0
Project-URL: Homepage, https://github.com/Aitherium/awbac
Project-URL: Documentation, https://github.com/Aitherium/awbac#readme
Project-URL: Repository, https://github.com/Aitherium/awbac.git
Project-URL: Issues, https://github.com/Aitherium/awbac/issues
Requires-Python: >=3.10
Description-Content-Type: text/markdown
License-File: LICENSE
Provides-Extra: dev
Requires-Dist: pytest>=7.0; extra == "dev"
Dynamic: license-file

# awbac

<!-- aither-header:start GENERATED from the ecosystem registry. Edits here are overwritten; change the registry instead. -->

**[Docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awbac/)**  ·  [Source](https://github.com/Aitherium/awbac)  ·  `pip install awbac`  ·  [The Aither World](https://aitherium.github.io/)

> **The Aither World** is an operating system for agents — a Linux you can hand to one, the runtimes it works in, and the tools it works with. [awnix](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnix) is the Linux underneath it; **awbac** is one of its 33 bricks — each installs on its own, runs offline, and needs no account.
>
> **Start here:** Gate one endpoint and read the explanation it gives for a denial.

<!-- aither-header:end -->

Role-based access control that **fails closed** and **explains itself**.

```bash
pip install awbac
```

```python
from awbac import Policy

p = (Policy()
     .role("reader", ["doc:read:*"])
     .role("editor", ["doc:write:*"], inherits=["reader"])
     .assign("david", "editor"))

d = p.check("david", "doc:read:handbook")
if d:
    ...
print(d.reason)     # granted by 'doc:read:*'
```

```bash
awbac check   policy.json david doc:read:handbook   # 0 allow · 1 deny · 2 could not judge
awbac explain policy.json david doc:write:secret
# DENY: none of 2 grant(s) cover 'doc:write:secret'
```

## The bug this package is shaped around

Permissions are colon-separated: `workspace:read:*`. The obvious matcher is
`granted.startswith(requested)`, and it **fails open**:

```python
"workspace:readwrite".startswith("workspace:read")   # True
```

A grant of `workspace:read` silently covers `workspace:readwrite`. Nothing
raises, no happy-path test notices, and it stays invisible until someone writes
to something they could only read.

So matching is on **segments**, never characters. `*` matches exactly one
segment; `**` matches one or more trailing segments and is **refused anywhere
but last**, because a mid-position `**` reads as a typo far more often than as
intent.

| granted | requested | result |
|---|---|---|
| `workspace:read` | `workspace:readwrite` | **deny** |
| `doc:read:*` | `doc:read:handbook` | allow |
| `doc:*` | `doc:read:handbook` | **deny** — `*` is one segment |
| `doc:**` | `doc:read:handbook` | allow |
| `doc:read` | `doc:read:handbook` | **deny** — grant is narrower |

## Fails closed on every path

Unknown role, unknown subject, anonymous caller, empty permission, malformed
policy, inheritance cycle, an exception mid-evaluation — **every one denies**,
with the cause named:

- an **unknown role contributes nothing**, not everything
- an **inheritance cycle** resolves what it can rather than raising (one bad
  role must not take down all authorization) or looping forever
- an exception returns a denial that says so, instead of propagating to a caller
  who might treat a raise as an allow
- an **unreadable policy file** exits **2**, not 1 — "denied" is routine and
  would be shrugged off, so a missing policy has to look different from a
  refused request

## Every decision carries a reason

A deny nobody can explain gets worked around. An allow nobody can attribute
cannot be audited. So `Decision` carries `reason`, and an allow also carries
`via` — the exact grant that permitted it.

## Tests

15 tests, and they run in **both directions**: a suite that only asserts denials
passes on a policy that denies everything, and one that only asserts allows
passes on a policy that allows everything. There is a test whose whole job is to
fail if the policy were replaced by a deny-all.

```bash
pip install -e ".[dev]" && pytest
```

## Where it sits

| package | question |
|---|---|
| `awiam` | who is this caller? |
| **`awbac`** | **may this subject do X to Y?** |
| [`awseal`](https://github.com/Aitherium/awseal) | what proves it? |

Deliberately three packages. An identity service that also owns authorization
has nobody to check it, and one that owns its own key material has nobody to
attest it.

Apache-2.0.

<!-- aither-ecosystem:start GENERATED from the ecosystem registry. Edits here are overwritten; change the registry instead. -->

## The aw family

Standalone tools that share one idea: **replace something you would otherwise have to _trust_ with something you can _check_.**

Each installs on its own, works offline, and needs no account.

| | instead of trusting | you check |
|---|---|---|
| [awdk](https://github.com/Aitherium/awdk) | a framework's idea of how your agents should run | one loop you can read, pointed at a backend you already pay for |
| [awskills](https://github.com/Aitherium/awskills) | that an agent knows your procedure | the procedure written down, versioned, and loadable by any agent |
| [awm](https://github.com/Aitherium/awm) | that memory stayed in its lane | tenant:user:project scopes, so a write cannot cross a boundary |
| [awnode](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnode) | a vendor's cloud with every prompt | a local gateway routing to backends you chose |
| [awgraph](https://github.com/Aitherium/awgraph) | that grep found everything | an AST + tree-sitter call graph an agent can traverse |
| [awgit](https://github.com/Aitherium/awgit) | that no one else is editing this file | a lease, refused at commit time if you do not hold it |
| [awseal](https://github.com/Aitherium/awseal) | that the artifact came from who you think | an Ed25519 seal — the key that verifies is not the key that forges |
| [awshare](https://github.com/Aitherium/awshare) | that the download is intact | content-addressed bundles, verified on fetch |
| [awnest](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnest) | that there is a person on the other end | a verdict with evidence, where "we could not tell" is not "yes" |
| [awnboard](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnboard) | a share link anyone who sees it can use | an invitation addressed to one person, for one gate, revocable |
| [awnix](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnix) | that the box is what you left it as | an immutable image you built, with atomic rollback |
| [awrecover](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrecover) | that the restore worked | a restore that fully lands or does not land at all |
| [awrelay](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrelay) | a SaaS in the middle of your agents | findings, alerts and coordination over your own transport |
| [awmail](https://github.com/Aitherium/awmail) | a mailbox somebody else can read | mail your agents send and receive over your own server |
| [awfind](https://github.com/Aitherium/awfind) | one vendor's idea of the web | results from whichever providers you configured |
| [awbrowse](https://github.com/Aitherium/awbrowse) | that the page said what you were told | the render, the DOM and the requests it made |
| [aitherkvcache](https://github.com/Aitherium/aitherkvcache) | a vendor's quantisation defaults | sub-byte KV cache kernels you can benchmark yourself |
| [AitherZero](https://github.com/Aitherium/AitherZero) | a pile of scripts nobody has numbered | numbered, discoverable automation with declarative playbooks |
| [AitherConnect](https://github.com/Aitherium/AitherConnect) | what a page tells your browser to do | a federated search and desktop bridge you host |
| [awreason](https://github.com/Aitherium/awreason) | a confident paragraph | the phases it went through, and every tool call it made to get there |
| [awrecurse](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrecurse) | that everything you pasted in was actually read | which slices it opened, and what it concluded from each |
| [awprism](https://github.com/Aitherium/awprism) | the first explanation that fits | the ranked alternatives, and the observation that separates them |
| [awrepl](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrepl) | what the agent believes the value is | the value, printed from the live session |
| [awresearch](https://github.com/Aitherium/awresearch) | a summary of pages nobody opened | every claim against the source it came from |
| [awpredict](https://github.com/Aitherium/awpredict) | a model because it trained without erroring | its prediction against a self-updating lookup, on the rows that are actually novel |
| [awkno](https://github.com/Aitherium/awkno) | that the docs site is up, or that you remember the family | the whole ecosystem in your terminal, with no network at all |

[**awnix**](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnix) is the ground floor — A Linux you can hand to an agent — immutable base, capabilities included.

## The Aitherium ecosystem

Every repository here is public. Each publishes an `aither-manifest.json` beside its page, so any surface can read every sibling's — the network is browsable from any node in it.

| repo | what it is | pages |
|---|---|---|
| [awdk](https://github.com/Aitherium/awdk) | Build AI agent fleets — 3 lines, any backend, local or cloud | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awdk/) |
| [awskills](https://github.com/Aitherium/awskills) | Portable agent skills — self-contained procedures an agent loads on demand | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awskills/) |
| [awm](https://github.com/Aitherium/awm) | A portable, scoped agent memory | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awm/) |
| [awnode](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnode) | A lightweight local gateway — bridges your apps to the AI backends you chose | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awnode/) |
| [awrun](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrun) | A priority-aware queue and dispatcher for agentic runs and ad-hoc CI builds | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awrun/) |
| [awgraph](https://github.com/Aitherium/awgraph) | A semantic code graph for agents — AST + tree-sitter, call graphs | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awgraph/) |
| [awgit](https://github.com/Aitherium/awgit) | Semantic version control on top of git — edit-ops and leases | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awgit/) |
| [awseal](https://github.com/Aitherium/awseal) | Sign an artifact so a stranger can verify it | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awseal/) |
| [awshare](https://github.com/Aitherium/awshare) | Publish an artifact and fetch it back verified | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awshare/) |
| [awdit](https://github.com/Aitherium/awdit) | An append-only audit trail whose gaps are DETECTABLE | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awdit/) |
| **awbac** _(you are here)_ | Role-based access control that fails closed and explains itself | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awbac/) |
| [awiam](https://github.com/Aitherium/awiam) | Who is this caller? A directory and session store that fails honestly | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awiam/) |
| [awtunnel](https://github.com/Aitherium/awtunnel) | Reach a service that has no public address | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awtunnel/) |
| [awnest](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnest) | Prove there is a human before you let them into the nest | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awnest/) |
| [awnboard](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnboard) | A front gate you can put in front of anything, and hand someone the key to | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awnboard/) |
| [awnix](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnix) | A Linux you can hand to an agent — immutable base, capabilities included | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awnix/) |
| [awrecover](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrecover) | Labelled snapshots with an all-or-nothing restore | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awrecover/) |
| [awrelay](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrelay) | Portable agent messaging — findings, alerts, coordination | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awrelay/) |
| [awmail](https://github.com/Aitherium/awmail) | Give an agent an email address — send, and actually receive | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awmail/) |
| [awnet](https://github.com/Aitherium/awnet) | The agentic web — agents host a mesh, and agents join one | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awnet/) |
| [awfind](https://github.com/Aitherium/awfind) | A portable search client — query, results, ranking | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awfind/) |
| [awbrowse](https://github.com/Aitherium/awbrowse) | A portable browser client — navigate, console, network, DOM, screenshot | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awbrowse/) |
| [awknowledge](https://github.com/Aitherium/awknowledge) | How to run a coding agent so the result survives — the laws, with evidence | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awknowledge/) |
| [aitherkvcache](https://github.com/Aitherium/aitherkvcache) | Near-optimal KV cache quantization for LLM inference — sub-byte compression | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/aitherkvcache/) |
| [AitherZero](https://github.com/Aitherium/AitherZero) | PowerShell 7+ automation framework — numbered, self-describing scripts | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/AitherZero/) |
| [AitherConnect](https://github.com/Aitherium/AitherConnect) | Browser extension — federated AI search, page context, and the Living OS overlay | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/AitherConnect/) |
| [awreason](https://github.com/Aitherium/awreason) | A portable reasoning client — sessions, phases, thoughts, and the chain that produced the answer | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awreason/) |
| [awrecurse](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrecurse) | Answer a question over a context far larger than the window — recursively, with the trace kept | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awrecurse/) |
| [awprism](https://github.com/Aitherium/awprism) | Turn a failure into ranked hypotheses — and say what would confirm each one | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awprism/) |
| [awrepl](https://github.com/Aitherium/awrepl) | A REPL an agent can actually use — state that survives between turns | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awrepl/) |
| [awresearch](https://github.com/Aitherium/awresearch) | Ask a research question, get a cited report you can check | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awresearch/) |
| [awpredict](https://github.com/Aitherium/awpredict) | Predict what your environment does next, and how surprised you were | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awpredict/) |
| [awkno](https://github.com/Aitherium/awkno) | The man page for the Aither World — every brick, stack and law, offline | [docs](https://aitherium.github.io/awkno/) |

<div id="aither-constellation" data-self="awbac"></div>
<script src="aither-constellation.js"></script>

<!-- aither-ecosystem:end -->
