Permission-Aware Retrieval
RAG that respects source-system access controls instead of surfacing content the user cannot read.
What is Permission-Aware Retrieval?
Without permission-aware retrieval, the RAG layer becomes a permissions bypass: it indexes content the user would not be allowed to open in the source system and serves it back through the chat surface. See Private RAG.
What is an example of Permission-Aware Retrieval?
Two employees ask the same question. The retriever returns public policy documents to both, but only the manager receives the restricted compensation file because the source-system permission is enforced at query time.
How is Permission-Aware Retrieval different from related concepts?
Security trimming removes results a user may not see. Permission-aware retrieval is the broader architecture that carries authorization through ingestion, indexing, retrieval, caching, generation, and citation.
What should enterprises evaluate for Permission-Aware Retrieval?
- Preserve stable source identities and access-control metadata for every chunk and derived representation.
- Test revoked, nested-group, cross-tenant, cached, and newly granted permissions—not only normal access.
- Fail closed when authorization data is missing or stale, and audit both allowed and denied retrieval decisions.
Related terms
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