role-based-access

Role-based access control in FastAPI uses decorators and middleware to enforce permissions on endpoints. Apply a require_role decorator to endpoints specifying which roles (admin, lead, member) can access them, combined with middleware that validates user tokens and attaches role information to requests before reaching your endpoint handlers.

Admin roles have full system access and can manage users and permissions. Lead roles manage content and team resources with limited user administration. Member roles have read and basic write access to assigned resources only. Each role tier has progressively restricted capabilities aligned to typical content, user management, and audit workflows.

Protect endpoints by attaching permission decorators that specify required roles, using endpoint dependencies to validate tokens and extract role claims, and implementing resource-level checks to ensure users can only modify their own or assigned resources. Test with tokens from users holding different roles to verify authorization behavior.

Yes, FastAPI middleware can enforce RBAC by intercepting requests, validating tokens, and attaching role information to the request context before it reaches endpoint handlers. This centralized approach applies role checks across all protected endpoints without repeating authorization logic in individual route handlers.

Frontend role checks improve user experience by hiding unauthorized UI elements, but backend endpoint protection is mandatory for security. Frontend hooks display or hide options based on roles, while backend decorators and middleware enforce actual access control and prevent unauthorized requests from succeeding.

Public resources require no role validation. Private resources enforce role-based access: admins access all resources, leads access team resources, members access only assigned content. Implement resource-level permission rules that check both the user's role and their ownership or assignment to the specific resource being accessed.