spicedb-embedded 0.6.0

Embedded SpiceDB for Python — embedded authorization using the standard gRPC API

spicedb-embedded (Python)

Sometimes you need a simple way to run access checks without spinning up a new service. This library provides an embedded version of SpiceDB in various languages. Each implementation is based on a C-shared library (compiled from the SpiceDB source code) with a very thin FFI binding on top of it. This means that it runs the native SpiceDB code within your already-running process.

from spicedb_embedded import EmbeddedSpiceDB
from authzed.api.v1 import (
    CheckPermissionRequest,
    CheckPermissionResponse,
    Consistency,
    ObjectReference,
    Relationship,
    SubjectReference,
)

schema = """
definition user {}

definition document {
    relation reader: user
    permission read = reader
}
"""

rel = Relationship(
    resource=ObjectReference(object_type="document", object_id="readme"),
    relation="reader",
    subject=SubjectReference(object=ObjectReference(object_type="user", object_id="alice")),
)

with EmbeddedSpiceDB.start(schema, [rel]) as spicedb:
    req = CheckPermissionRequest(
        consistency=Consistency(fully_consistent=True),
        resource=ObjectReference(object_type="document", object_id="readme"),
        permission="read",
        subject=SubjectReference(object=ObjectReference(object_type="user", object_id="alice")),
    )
    resp = spicedb.permissions().CheckPermission(req)
    allowed = resp.permissionship == CheckPermissionResponse.PERMISSIONSHIP_HAS_PERMISSION

Who should consider using this?

If you want to spin up SpiceDB, but don't want the overhead of managing another service, this might be for you.

If you want an embedded server for your unit tests and don't have access to Docker / Testcontainers, this might be for you.

If you have a schema and set of permissions that are static / readonly, this might be for you.

Who should avoid using this?

If you live in a world of microservices that each need to perform permission checks, you should almost certainly spin up a centralized SpiceDB deployment.

If you want visibility into metrics for SpiceDB, you should avoid this.

How does storage work?

The default datastore is "memory" (memdb). If you use this datastore, keep in mind that it will reset on each app startup. This is a great option if you can easily provide your schema and relationships at runtime. This way, there are no external network calls to check relationships at runtime.

If you need a longer term storage, you can use any SpiceDB-compatible datastores.

from spicedb_embedded import EmbeddedSpiceDB, StartOptions

# Run migrations first: spicedb datastore migrate head --datastore-engine postgres --datastore-conn-uri "postgres://..."
schema = """
definition user {}

definition document {
    relation reader: user
    permission read = reader
}
"""

options = StartOptions(
    datastore="postgres",
    datastore_uri="postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/spicedb",
)

with EmbeddedSpiceDB.start(schema, [], options=options) as spicedb:
    # Use full Permissions API (writeRelationships, checkPermission, etc.)
    pass

Running code written in Go compiled to a C-shared library within my service sounds scary

It is scary! Using a C-shared library via FFI bindings introduces memory management in languages that don't typically have to worry about it.

That being said, the SpiceDB code still runs in a Go runtime with garbage collection, which is where the vast majority of time is spent. To help mitigate some of the risk, the FFI layer is kept as straightforward as possible. protobuf is marshalled and unmarshalled at the FFI <--> language runtime boundary in a standardized way. After unmarshalling, requests are sent directly to the SpiceDB server, and responses are returned directly back to the language runtime (after marshalling).

Installation

pip install spicedb-embedded

Or from source:

cd python && pip install -e .

Prerequisites: Go 1.23+ with CGO enabled. Build the shared library first:

cd shared/c && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build -buildmode=c-shared -o libspicedb.dylib .  # macOS
cd shared/c && CGO_ENABLED=1 go build -buildmode=c-shared -o libspicedb.so .      # Linux

The library looks for libspicedb.dylib (macOS) or libspicedb.so (Linux) in SPICEDB_LIBRARY_PATH or relative to the working directory (shared/c, ../shared/c, etc.). Override with SPICEDB_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/shared/c.

Usage

from spicedb_embedded import EmbeddedSpiceDB
from authzed.api.v1 import (
    CheckPermissionRequest,
    CheckPermissionResponse,
    Consistency,
    ObjectReference,
    Relationship,
    SubjectReference,
)

schema = """
definition user {}

definition document {
    relation reader: user
    permission read = reader
}
"""

rel = Relationship(
    resource=ObjectReference(object_type="document", object_id="readme"),
    relation="reader",
    subject=SubjectReference(object=ObjectReference(object_type="user", object_id="alice")),
)

with EmbeddedSpiceDB.start(schema, [rel]) as spicedb:
    stub = spicedb.permissions()
    req = CheckPermissionRequest(
        consistency=Consistency(fully_consistent=True),
        resource=ObjectReference(object_type="document", object_id="readme"),
        permission="read",
        subject=SubjectReference(object=ObjectReference(object_type="user", object_id="alice")),
    )
    resp = stub.CheckPermission(req)
    allowed = resp.permissionship == CheckPermissionResponse.PERMISSIONSHIP_HAS_PERMISSION

API

• EmbeddedSpiceDB.start(options=) — Start an instance without bootstrapping schema or relationships. Supports context manager (with).
• EmbeddedSpiceDB.start(schema, relationships, options=) — Start an instance and bootstrap it with schema and optional relationships. Supports context manager (with).
• permissions() — Permissions service stub (CheckPermission, WriteRelationships, ReadRelationships, etc.).
• schema() — Schema service stub (ReadSchema, WriteSchema, ReflectSchema, etc.).
• watch() — Watch service stub for relationship changes.
• channel() — Underlying gRPC channel for custom usage.
• close() — Dispose the instance and close the channel.

Use types from authzed.api.v1 (ObjectReference, SubjectReference, Relationship, etc.).

StartOptions

from spicedb_embedded import EmbeddedSpiceDB, StartOptions

options = StartOptions(
    datastore="memory",           # or "postgres", "cockroachdb", "spanner", "mysql"
    datastore_uri="postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/spicedb",  # required for remote
    spanner_credentials_file="/path/to/key.json",  # Spanner only
    spanner_emulator_host="localhost:9010",       # Spanner emulator
    mysql_table_prefix="spicedb_",                 # MySQL only (optional)
    metrics_enabled=False,                         # default; set True to enable Prometheus metrics
)

with EmbeddedSpiceDB.start(schema, [], options=options) as spicedb:
    ...

Building & Testing

mise run shared-c-build
cd python
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

Or from the repo root: mise run python-test