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Quick Start

Get up and running with Django RLS in 5 minutes.

1. Install Django RLS​

pip install django-rls

2. Configure Django Settings​

Add to your settings.py:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... your apps
    'django_rls',
]

MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ... other middleware
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django_rls.middleware.RLSContextMiddleware',  # Add after auth
]

3. Create Your First RLS Model​

from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django_rls.models import RLSModel
from django_rls.policies import UserPolicy

class Task(RLSModel):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    description = models.TextField()
    owner = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    
    class Meta:
        rls_policies = [
            UserPolicy('owner_policy', user_field='owner'),
        ]

4. Run Migrations​

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

5. Use Your Model​

Your views work normally - RLS filtering is automatic:

from django.shortcuts import render
from .models import Task

def task_list(request):
    # Users automatically see only their own tasks
    tasks = Task.objects.all()
    return render(request, 'tasks/list.html', {'tasks': tasks})

That's It!​

Users will only see their own tasks. No need to filter querysets manually:

  • ✅ Task.objects.all() returns only the current user's tasks
  • ✅ Task.objects.create() automatically sets the owner
  • ✅ Updates and deletes are restricted to owned tasks
  • ✅ Works with all QuerySet methods

Next Steps​

Common Patterns​

Multi-Tenant Application​

class TenantModel(RLSModel):
    tenant = models.ForeignKey('Tenant', on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    # ... other fields
    
    class Meta:
        rls_policies = [
            TenantPolicy('tenant_policy', tenant_field='tenant'),
        ]

Public/Private Data​

class Document(RLSModel):
    is_public = models.BooleanField(default=False)
    owner = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    
    class Meta:
        rls_policies = [
            CustomPolicy(
                'visibility_policy',
                expression="is_public = true OR owner_id = current_setting('rls.user_id')::integer"
            ),
        ]

Group-Based Access​

class GroupDocument(RLSModel):
    group = models.ForeignKey('auth.Group', on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    
    class Meta:
        rls_policies = [
            CustomPolicy(
                'group_policy',
                expression="""
                    group_id IN (
                        SELECT group_id FROM auth_user_groups 
                        WHERE user_id = current_setting('rls.user_id')::integer
                    )
                """
            ),
        ]