User-based Access Control with RAG in Python

An example Python app that demonstrates integrating Pangea's AuthZ service to apply user-based authorization to control access to files for a RAG workflow.

Prerequisites

• Python v3.12 or greater.
• pip v24.2 or uv v0.4.29.
• A Pangea account with AuthZ enabled.
• An OpenAI API key.

Setup

Pangea AuthZ

The setup in AuthZ should look something like this:

Resource types

Name	Permissions
engineering	read
finance	read

Roles & access

Tip

At this point you need to create 2 new Roles under the Roles & Access tab in the Pangea console named engineering and finance.

Role: engineering

Resource type	Permissions (read)
engineering	✔️
finance	❌

Role: finance

Resource type	Permissions (read)
engineering	❌
finance	✔️

Assigned roles & relations

Subject type	Subject ID	Role/Relation
user	alice	engineering
user	bob	finance

Repository

git clone https://github.com/pangeacyber/python-rag-authz.git
cd python-rag-authz

If using pip:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install .

Or, if using uv:

uv sync
source .venv/bin/activate

The sample can then be executed with:

python -m rag_authz --user alice "How much does John Doe make?"

Usage

Usage: python -m rag_authz [OPTIONS] PROMPT

Options:
  --user TEXT              Unique username to simulate retrieval as.
                           [required]
  --authz-token SECRET     Pangea AuthZ API token. May also be set via the
                           `PANGEA_AUTHZ_TOKEN` environment variable.
                           [required]
  --pangea-domain TEXT     Pangea API domain. May also be set via the
                           `PANGEA_DOMAIN` environment variable.  [default:
                           aws.us.pangea.cloud; required]
  --model TEXT             OpenAI model.  [default: gpt-4o-mini; required]
  --openai-api-key SECRET  OpenAI API key. May also be set via the
                           `OPENAI_API_KEY` environment variable.  [required]
  --help                   Show this message and exit.

Assuming user "alice" has permission to see engineering documents, they can query the LLM on information regarding those documents:

$ python -m rag_authz --user alice "What is the software architecture of the company?"

The software architecture of the company includes a frontend built with React.js
and Redux, utilizing Axios for API requests and Material-UI for design
components. The backend is developed with Node.js and Express.js, and the
database used is MongoDB. For authentication and authorization, the company
employs JSON Web Tokens (JWT) and OAuth 2.0.

But they cannot query finance information:

$ python -m rag_authz --user alice "What is the top salary in the Engineering department?"

I don't know, and you may not be authorized to know the answer.

And vice versa for "bob", who is in finance but not engineering.