Convex adapter

The @cerbos/orm-convex package converts a Cerbos PlanResources response into a Convex filter function. Authorization conditions are split between a database-level filter and an optional JavaScript post-filter for operators that Convex cannot express natively.

Requirements

• Cerbos >= v0.16

• @cerbos/http or @cerbos/grpc client

• Convex 1.x

• Node.js >= 20.0.0

Installation

npm install @cerbos/orm-convex

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Supported operators

Database-level operators

Post-filter operators

The following operators cannot be expressed as Convex database filters. When encountered, the adapter returns a postFilter function that evaluates them in JavaScript:

For and(…​) expressions with mixed operator types, the adapter splits the tree: database-pushable children go to filter, the rest go to postFilter. For or(…​) with any unsupported child, the entire expression goes to postFilter to avoid missing results.

allowPostFilter opt-in

By default, queryPlanToConvex throws when the query plan requires a postFilter. This is because post-filter operators cause data to be fetched before authorization filtering is fully applied. To opt in:

const { kind, filter, postFilter } = queryPlanToConvex({
  queryPlan,
  mapper,
  allowPostFilter: true,
});

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If your policies only use operators that Convex supports natively, filter alone enforces the full policy at the database level and this flag is not needed.

Usage

import { queryPlanToConvex, PlanKind } from "@cerbos/orm-convex";

const queryPlan = await cerbos.planResources({
  principal: { id: "user1", roles: ["USER"] },
  resource: { kind: "document" },
  action: "view",
});

const { kind, filter, postFilter } = queryPlanToConvex({
  queryPlan,
  mapper,
  allowPostFilter: true,
});

if (kind === PlanKind.ALWAYS_DENIED) return [];

if (kind === PlanKind.ALWAYS_ALLOWED && !postFilter) {
  return await ctx.db.query("documents").collect();
}

let query = ctx.db.query("documents");
if (filter) query = query.filter(filter);
let results = await query.collect();
if (postFilter) results = results.filter(postFilter);
return results;

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Field mapper

const mapper = {
  "request.resource.attr.title": { field: "title" },
  "request.resource.attr.status": { field: "status" },
};

// Or as a function:
const mapper = (path) => ({
  field: path.replace("request.resource.attr.", ""),
});

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The field property rewrites a Cerbos path to a Convex document field. Dot notation is supported for nested fields. If the mapper is omitted, the adapter uses query plan paths as-is.

Limitations

• String and collection operators are evaluated as a JavaScript postFilter after the database query returns. These conditions do not reduce the number of documents read from the database.

• For or(…​) expressions where any child uses an unsupported operator, the entire OR is evaluated via postFilter.

• The in operator is composed as multiple eq comparisons joined with or, which may be less efficient for large value lists.

Source code

cerbos/query-plan-adapters/convex