Skip to Content
SpiceDB is 100% open source. [Star us on GitHub]
Managed MaterializeGetting StartedOverview (Needs Review)

What is Materialize?

AuthZed Materialize takes inspiration from the Leopard index component described in the Zanzibar paper . Much like the concept of a materialized view in relational databases, AuthZed Materialize is a service that you configure with a list of permissions that you want it to precompute, and it will calculate how those permissions change after relationships are written (specifically, when those relationships affect a subject’s membership in a permission set or a set’s permission on a specific resource), or when a new schema is written.

Materialize puts that precomputed data to work in two ways: Accelerated Queries and Event Streams, both currently in early access. Every other piece of Materialize content belongs to one of these two features. Look for badges at the top of the page, which link back to the feature it belongs to.

AUTHZED MATERIALIZESPICEDBYOUR SYSTEMSHydratorcomputes permission setsfor watched permissionsCache Serverserves hydratedpermission setsSnapshotterperiodic snapshots ofschema + relationshipsEvent Logpersists permissionset changesSpiceDBthe serviceDatastoreunderlying storageYour Applicationcalls SpiceDB exactly asit always hasEvent Processorbackfills + watchespermission setsYour Databaseor search index(colocated permissions)snapshothydratedpermission setspermission setchangesreads / writesschema + relationshipsAcceleratedQuerieswatches datastoredirectly (real-time)checks + lookupsEvent Streamsstores permission sets

Accelerated Queries

Accelerated Queries is available to users of AuthZed Dedicated  as part of an early access program. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with your AuthZed account team if you would like to participate.

Accelerated Queries use Materialize’s precomputed permissions cache to answer the SpiceDB queries your application already makes, without changing how you call SpiceDB:

  • Speed up CheckPermission and CheckBulkPermissions.
  • Speed up LookupResources and LookupSubjects, especially when there is a large number of resources.

Event Streams

Event Streams is available to users of AuthZed Dedicated  as part of an early access program. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with your AuthZed account team if you would like to participate.

Event Streams let you take Materialize’s precomputed permission data out of SpiceDB and keep your own copy of it — either colocated alongside the data it protects in your application database, or in a secondary index like a search engine, a pattern known as colocated permissions.

  • Download the current state of every permission set with LookupPermissionSets, then keep it current in real time with WatchPermissionSets. See The Permission Set Lifecycle.
  • Build authorization-aware UIs — sort, filter, and paginate over many thousands of authorized objects natively in your own database by colocating computed permissions next to your application data.
  • Perform ACL filtering in secondary indexes too, like a search index (e.g. Elasticsearch) — authorization-aware UIs and search-index filtering are the same idea (ACL filtering) applied to different stores.
Limitations