casbin-caddy-authz

casbin-caddy-authz is an authorization middleware for Caddy, based on Apache Casbin. It controls access to your web resources by enforcing authorization policies defined with Apache Casbin.

Installation

go get github.com/apache/casbin-caddy-authz/v2

Simple Example

package main

import (
    "github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2"
    _ "github.com/apache/casbin-caddy-authz/v2"
)

func main() {
    caddy.Run(&caddy.Config{})
}

Caddyfile Syntax

localhost {
    route {
        authz "/path/to/authz_model.conf" "/path/to/authz_policy.csv"
    }
    respond "Hello, world!"
}

Or using global options to control directive ordering:

{
    order authz before respond
}

localhost {
    authz "/path/to/authz_model.conf" "/path/to/authz_policy.csv"
    respond "Hello, world!"
}

The authz directive takes two arguments:

1. Path to the Apache Casbin model file (.conf) — describes the access control model (ACL, RBAC, ABAC, etc.)
2. Path to the Apache Casbin policy file (.csv) — describes the authorization rules

For how to write these files, refer to the Apache Casbin documentation.

Security: Authentication vs Authorization

⚠️ Important: This plugin handles authorization only — it does NOT validate passwords or verify user identity.

You must place an authentication middleware before this plugin to verify credentials. Without it, anyone can set an arbitrary Authorization header and impersonate any user.

This plugin is designed to be used alongside a dedicated authentication layer:

localhost:8080 {
    route {
        basicauth {                                      # ← Step 1: Authentication (validates credentials)
            alice $2a$14$Zkx19XLiW6VYouLHR5NmfOFU0z2GTNmpkT/5qqR7hx4IjWJPDhjvG
        }
        authz "authz_model.conf" "authz_policy.csv"    # ← Step 2: Authorization (checks permissions)
        respond "Hello, world!"
    }
}

Caddy's built-in basicauth directive is recommended for HTTP Basic Authentication. For other schemes (OAuth, JWT, LDAP, etc.), use the appropriate authentication plugin and ensure it runs before authz.

If you need to validate credentials programmatically, set the CredentialValidator hook before the server starts:

import authz "github.com/apache/casbin-caddy-authz/v3"

func init() {
    authz.CredentialValidator = func(username, password string) bool {
        // query your database or LDAP here
        return myDB.CheckPassword(username, password)
    }
}

How Access Control Works

Authorization is determined based on {subject, object, action}:

Working Example

1. Build Caddy with this plugin using xcaddy:

   bash xcaddy build --with github.com/apache/casbin-caddy-authz/v2

2. Place your Apache Casbin model file authz_model.conf and policy file authz_policy.csv in a known directory.

3. Add the authz directive to your Caddyfile:

   localhost:8080 { route { authz "authz_model.conf" "authz_policy.csv" } respond "Hello, world!" }

4. Run caddy and enjoy.

Getting Help

• Apache Casbin

License

This project is under Apache 2.0 License. See the LICENSE file for the full license text.