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Roles

Roles define the identity-based access permissions for principals in your system. They are the primary mechanism for determining what actions a user or service can perform and are evaluated during Phase 2 (Identity Phase) of Policy Conjunction.

Overview

Roles serve a dual purpose in the PolicyEngine:

1. Policy Selection: A role links a principal's identity to a policy. When a principal is assigned a role, the role's associated policy is evaluated to determine access.

2. Policy Parameterization: A role can carry annotations that flow into the PORC, allowing generic policies to make context-specific decisions based on the role's configuration.

When a principal is assigned a role, the role's associated policy is evaluated to determine whether the principal can perform the requested operation. Roles answer the question: "Based on who this principal is, what are they allowed to do?"

Key Characteristics

• Identity-Centric: Roles are assigned to principals (users, services) to define their capabilities
• Policy-Backed: Each role references exactly one policy that contains the access logic
• Annotation-Enabled: Roles can carry annotations that parameterize policy evaluation (see Parameterizing Policies)
• Mandatory Phase: The identity phase (Phase 2) must contribute at least one GRANT for access to be allowed
• Additive Permissions: A principal can have multiple roles, and only one needs to grant access

How Roles Work

Phase 2 Evaluation

Roles are evaluated in Phase 2 (Identity Phase) of Policy Conjunction. When a request arrives:

1. The principal's roles are extracted from their JWT claims (mroles)
2. Each role's associated policy is evaluated against the request
3. If any role policy grants access, the identity phase votes GRANT

Principal with roles: [editor, viewer]

Identity Phase Evaluation:
├── editor role policy → GRANT (can edit documents)
├── viewer role policy → DENY (read-only)

Identity Phase Result: GRANT (at least one role granted)

Multiple Roles

When a principal has multiple roles, the policies are evaluated with OR semantics within the phase:

Role Evaluations	Phase Result
All DENY
At least one GRANT

This means permissions are effectively additive—a principal gains the union of all their roles' permissions.

Defining Roles

Roles are defined in the PolicyDomain under spec.roles:

spec:
  roles:
    - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:admin"
      name: admin
      description: "Full administrative access"
      policy: "mrn:iam:policy:allow-all"

    - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:editor"
      name: editor
      description: "Can create and modify content"
      policy: "mrn:iam:policy:editor-access"

    - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:viewer"
      name: viewer
      description: "Read-only access"
      policy: "mrn:iam:policy:read-only"

Each role requires:

• mrn: A unique identifier following the MRN format
• name: Human-readable name
• policy: MRN of the policy to evaluate when this role is present

Assigning Roles to Principals

Roles are assigned to principals via JWT claims. The PolicyEngine expects roles in the mroles claim:

# PORC expression showing role assignment
principal:
  sub: "user123"
  mroles:
    - "mrn:iam:role:editor"
    - "mrn:iam:role:viewer"

The integration layer (PEP) is responsible for extracting role information from the authentication token and including it in the PORC.

Direct Assignment vs. Groups

Roles can be assigned to principals in two ways:

1. Direct Assignment: Roles listed directly in the mroles JWT claim
2. Group Membership: Roles inherited through Groups via the mgroups claim

Using groups simplifies management when many principals share the same set of roles.

Common Role Patterns

Hierarchical Roles

Create roles with increasing levels of access:

roles:
  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:viewer"
    name: viewer
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:read-only"

  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:editor"
    name: editor
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:read-write"

  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:admin"
    name: admin
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:full-access"

Functional Roles

Organize roles by business function:

roles:
  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:finance-user"
    name: finance-user
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:finance-access"

  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:hr-user"
    name: hr-user
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:hr-access"

  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:engineering-user"
    name: engineering-user
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:engineering-access"

Service Roles

Define roles for service accounts and automated processes:

roles:
  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:batch-processor"
    name: batch-processor
    description: "Automated batch processing service"
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:batch-operations"

  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:monitoring-agent"
    name: monitoring-agent
    description: "System monitoring service"
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:monitoring-read"

Roles vs. Scopes

Understanding the difference between roles and scopes is important:

Aspect	Roles (Identity Phase)	Scopes (Scope Phase)
Purpose	Define what a principal can do	Constrain how access is exercised
Assignment	Assigned to principals	Associated with access method
Effect	Grant permissions	Limit permissions
Mandatory	Yes (Phase 2)	No (Phase 4)
Default	DENY if missing	GRANT if missing

Example: Role and Scope Interaction

Principal: admin role (can read, write, delete)
Access Token Scope: read-only

Identity Phase (roles): GRANT (admin can delete)
Scope Phase: DENY (read-only forbids delete)

Final Decision: DENY (scope constrains identity)

Roles define the maximum permissions; scopes can only restrict, never expand.

Using Role Information in Policies

Access role information in Rego via input.principal.mroles:

package authz

default allow = false

# Allow if principal has admin role
allow {
    "mrn:iam:role:admin" in input.principal.mroles
}

# Allow read operations for viewers
allow {
    "mrn:iam:role:viewer" in input.principal.mroles
    input.operation.method == "read"
}

# Check for any of multiple roles
allow {
    allowed_roles := {"mrn:iam:role:editor", "mrn:iam:role:admin"}
    some role in input.principal.mroles
    role in allowed_roles
}

Best Practices

1. Follow Least Privilege

Assign the minimum roles necessary for each principal to perform their function. Start with restrictive roles and expand based on observed needs using AccessRecords:

# Good: Specific role for specific function
- mrn: "mrn:iam:role:report-viewer"
  policy: "mrn:iam:policy:reports-read"

# Avoid: Overly broad role
- mrn: "mrn:iam:role:super-user"
  policy: "mrn:iam:policy:allow-all"

The PolicyEngine's observable architecture makes least privilege practical:

1. Start strict: Assign minimal roles when onboarding principals
2. Observe denials: Monitor AccessRecords for legitimate access being blocked
3. Expand precisely: Add only the specific roles demonstrated necessary
4. Validate with replay: Use policy replay to preview changes before deployment

See Iterative Policy Refinement for a detailed workflow.

2. Use Descriptive Names

Name roles based on their purpose, not their technical implementation:

# Good: Describes the business role
- name: content-editor
- name: billing-admin

# Avoid: Technical or generic names
- name: role1
- name: policy-evaluator

3. Document Role Purpose

Include descriptions to clarify what each role is for:

roles:
  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:data-steward"
    name: data-steward
    description: "Can manage data classifications and retention policies"
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:data-governance"

4. Consider Role Granularity

Balance between too many fine-grained roles and too few coarse roles:

• Too fine: Hundreds of roles become unmanageable
• Too coarse: Principals get more access than needed
• Just right: Roles align with business functions and responsibilities

5. Use Groups for Common Role Sets

When multiple principals need the same set of roles, use Groups instead of assigning roles individually.

6. Leverage Annotations for Metadata

Roles can carry annotations that flow to the principal during evaluation:

roles:
  - mrn: "mrn:iam:role:regional-admin"
    name: regional-admin
    policy: "mrn:iam:policy:regional-access"
    annotations:
      - name: "region"
        value: "\"us-west\""
      - name: "access_level"
        value: "\"admin\""

Role annotations have the lowest precedence in the identity annotation hierarchy (Roles → Groups → Scopes → Principal). This makes them ideal for establishing default metadata that can be overridden by more specific sources.

Related Concepts

• Groups: Organize multiple roles for easier assignment
• Annotations: Metadata that can be attached to roles (lowest precedence in identity hierarchy)
• Policy Conjunction: How roles fit into multi-phase evaluation
• Policies: Writing the Rego policies that roles reference
• Scopes: Additional constraints beyond identity-based access

For schema details, see the Roles Schema Reference.