Python Tornado Integration

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) for Tornado using SAPL (Streaming Attribute Policy Language). Provides decorator-driven policy enforcement with a constraint handler architecture for obligations, advice, and response transformation.

The sapl-tornado library integrates SAPL policy enforcement into Tornado applications. It is fully async-native, supports Server-Sent Events streaming for continuous authorization, and works with Tornado’s RequestHandler lifecycle.

What is SAPL?

SAPL is a policy language and Policy Decision Point (PDP) for attribute-based access control. Policies are written in a dedicated language and evaluated by the PDP, which streams authorization decisions based on subject, action, resource, and environment attributes.

Three core concepts:

1. Authorization subscription: your app sends { subject, action, resource, environment } to the PDP.
2. PDP decision: the PDP evaluates policies and returns PERMIT or DENY, optionally with obligations, advice, or a replacement resource.
3. Constraint handlers: registered handlers execute the policy’s instructions (log, filter, transform, cap values, etc.).

A PDP decision looks like this:

{
  "decision": "PERMIT",
  "obligations": [{ "type": "logAccess", "message": "Patient record accessed" }],
  "advice": [{ "type": "notifyAdmin" }]
}

decision is always present (PERMIT, DENY, INDETERMINATE, or NOT_APPLICABLE). The other fields are optional. obligations and advice are arrays of arbitrary JSON objects (by convention with a type field for handler dispatch), and resource (when present) replaces the handler’s return value entirely.

For a deeper introduction to SAPL’s subscription model and policy language, see the SAPL documentation.

Installation

Install the library and the base dependency:

pip install sapl-tornado

This also installs sapl-base, which provides the PDP client, constraint engine, and content filtering. The library requires Python 3.12 or later and Tornado 6.0+.

A complete working demo with constraint handlers, content filtering, and streaming enforcement is available at sapl-python-demos/tornado_demo.

Setup

Configuration at Startup

Configure SAPL before starting the Tornado IOLoop:

import os
import tornado.ioloop
import tornado.web
from sapl_tornado import SaplConfig, configure_sapl, cleanup_sapl

def make_app() -> tornado.web.Application:
    return tornado.web.Application([
        (r"/patient/(?P<patient_id>[^/]+)", PatientHandler),
    ])

def main() -> None:
    config = SaplConfig(
        base_url=os.getenv("SAPL_PDP_URL", "https://localhost:8443"),
        token=os.getenv("SAPL_PDP_TOKEN"),
    )
    configure_sapl(config)

    app = make_app()
    app.listen(3000)
    tornado.ioloop.IOLoop.current().start()

For basic authentication instead of an API key:

config = SaplConfig(
    base_url="https://localhost:8443",
    username="myPdpClient",
    password="myPassword",
)

token (API key) and username/password (Basic Auth) are mutually exclusive. Configure one or the other.

Local Development (HTTP)

For local development without TLS:

config = SaplConfig(
    base_url="http://localhost:8443",
    allow_insecure_connections=True,
)

Cleanup

Call cleanup_sapl() during shutdown to release PDP connections:

import atexit
import asyncio
from sapl_tornado import cleanup_sapl

atexit.register(lambda: asyncio.run(cleanup_sapl()))

What configure_sapl Registers

configure_sapl() creates the module-level singleton PDP client and constraint enforcement service. It automatically registers the built-in ContentFilteringProvider and ContentFilterPredicateProvider for content filtering support. Custom constraint handlers are registered separately via register_constraint_handler().

cleanup_sapl() closes the PDP client and releases HTTP connections. Always call it during shutdown.

Enforcement Decorators

All decorators work on async Tornado RequestHandler methods. The decorator extracts the RequestHandler instance (via self) and its request property to build the authorization subscription. Path parameters are extracted from handler.path_kwargs.

@pre_enforce

Authorizes before the handler method executes. The method only runs on PERMIT.

import tornado.web
from sapl_tornado import pre_enforce


class PatientHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
    @pre_enforce(action="readPatient", resource="patient")
    async def get(self, patient_id: str):
        self.write({"id": patient_id, "name": "Jane Doe", "ssn": "123-45-6789"})

Use @pre_enforce for handlers with side effects (database writes, emails) that should not execute when access is denied. On denial, Tornado’s HTTPError(403) is raised.

When the decorated method returns a value (dict, list, or string), the decorator automatically writes it to the response. You can also write directly to self inside the handler as usual.

@post_enforce

Authorizes after the handler method executes. The method always runs; its return value is available to the subscription builder via the return_value field of the SubscriptionContext.

from sapl_tornado import post_enforce


class RecordHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
    @post_enforce(
        action="read",
        resource=lambda ctx: {"type": "record", "data": ctx.return_value},
    )
    async def get(self, record_id: str):
        return {"id": record_id, "value": "sensitive-data"}

Use @post_enforce when the policy needs to see the actual return value to make its authorization decision (e.g., deny based on the data’s classification). On denial, the return value is discarded and HTTPError(403) is raised.

Building the Authorization Subscription

Each decorator accepts keyword arguments to customize the authorization subscription fields: subject, action, resource, environment, and secrets.

Default Values

When not explicitly provided, the subscription fields are derived from the Tornado HTTPServerRequest and RequestHandler:

Field	Default
subject	handler.current_user or "anonymous"
action	{"method": request.method, "handler": function_name}
resource	{"path": request.path, "params": handler.path_kwargs}
environment	{"ip": request.remote_ip} (when available)
secrets	Not sent unless explicitly specified

The subject default integrates with Tornado’s get_current_user() method. If you override get_current_user() on your handler, its return value is automatically used as the subject.

Static Values

Pass a string or dict directly:

@pre_enforce(action="read", resource="patient")

Dynamic Values (Callables)

Pass a callable that receives a SubscriptionContext and returns the field value. The context provides request, return_value (None for @pre_enforce), params (path kwargs), query (query arguments), and args (resolved function arguments):

@pre_enforce(
    subject=lambda ctx: ctx.request.remote_ip if ctx.request else "anonymous",
    resource=lambda ctx: {"pilotId": ctx.params.get("pilot_id")},
)

Secrets

The secrets field carries sensitive data (tokens, API keys) that the PDP needs for policy evaluation but that must not appear in logs. It is excluded from debug logging automatically. Use it when a policy needs to inspect credentials, for example passing a raw JWT so the PDP can read its claims:

@pre_enforce(
    action="exportData",
    resource=lambda ctx: {"pilotId": ctx.params.get("pilot_id")},
    secrets=lambda ctx: {"jwt": _extract_bearer_token(ctx.request)} if ctx.request else None,
)

Custom Deny Handling

Add on_deny to any @pre_enforce or @post_enforce to return a custom response instead of raising HTTPError(403):

@pre_enforce(
    action="exportData",
    on_deny=lambda decision: {
        "error": "access_denied",
        "decision": decision.decision.value,
    },
)

@enforce_till_denied

Streaming enforcement that terminates permanently on the first non-PERMIT decision. The decorated method must return an async generator. Writes SSE events directly to the Tornado response via handler.write() and handler.flush().

import asyncio
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from sapl_tornado import enforce_till_denied


class HeartbeatHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
    @enforce_till_denied(
        action="stream:heartbeat",
        resource="heartbeat",
        on_stream_deny=lambda decision: {"type": "ACCESS_DENIED"},
    )
    async def get(self):
        seq = 0
        while True:
            yield {"seq": seq, "ts": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()}
            seq += 1
            await asyncio.sleep(2)

The decorator sets Content-Type: text/event-stream and Cache-Control: no-cache headers automatically. The on_stream_deny callback receives the PDP decision and can return a final data item that is sent to the client before the stream terminates. The decorator calls handler.finish() when the stream ends.

@enforce_drop_while_denied

Silently drops data during DENY periods. The stream stays alive and resumes forwarding when a new PERMIT decision arrives.

from sapl_tornado import enforce_drop_while_denied


class DataStreamHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
    @enforce_drop_while_denied(action="stream:heartbeat", resource="heartbeat")
    async def get(self):
        seq = 0
        while True:
            yield {"seq": seq}
            seq += 1
            await asyncio.sleep(2)

The client sees gaps in sequence numbers but the connection remains open. No signals are sent during DENY periods.

@enforce_recoverable_if_denied

Sends in-band suspend/resume signals on policy transitions. Edge-triggered: on_stream_deny fires on PERMIT-to-DENY transitions, on_stream_recover fires on DENY-to-PERMIT transitions.

from sapl_tornado import enforce_recoverable_if_denied


class RecoverableStreamHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
    @enforce_recoverable_if_denied(
        action="stream:heartbeat",
        resource="heartbeat",
        on_stream_deny=lambda decision: {"type": "ACCESS_SUSPENDED"},
        on_stream_recover=lambda decision: {"type": "ACCESS_RESTORED"},
    )
    async def get(self):
        seq = 0
        while True:
            yield {"seq": seq}
            seq += 1
            await asyncio.sleep(2)

Scenario	Strategy
Access loss is permanent (revoked credentials)	@enforce_till_denied
Client does not need to know about gaps	@enforce_drop_while_denied
Client should show suspended/restored status	@enforce_recoverable_if_denied

How Enforcement Works

The decorators above are convenient, but to use them well it helps to understand what actually happens behind the scenes. This section walks through the enforcement lifecycle so you can reason about behavior.

The Deny Invariant

Only PERMIT grants access. The PDP can return four possible decisions (PERMIT, DENY, INDETERMINATE, NOT_APPLICABLE), and only PERMIT ever results in your handler running or your stream forwarding data. Everything else means denial.

A PERMIT with obligations is not a free pass. The PEP checks that every obligation in the decision has a registered handler. If even one obligation cannot be fulfilled, the PEP treats the decision as a denial. If a handler accepts responsibility but fails during execution, that also results in denial. Advice is softer: if an advice handler fails, the PEP logs the failure and moves on. Advice never causes denial.

Aspect	Obligation	Advice
All handled?	Required. Unhandled obligations deny access (HTTPError 403).	Optional. Unhandled advice is silently ignored.
Handler failure	Denies access (HTTPError 403).	Logs a warning and continues.

This means you can always trust that if your handler runs, every obligation attached to the decision has been successfully enforced.

Enforcement Locations

Depending on the decorator, constraint handlers can intervene at different points in the lifecycle of a request or stream.

For request-response handlers (@pre_enforce and @post_enforce), constraints can run at four points:

Location	When it happens	What constraints do here
On decision	Authorization decision arrives	Side effects like logging, audit, or notification
Pre-method invocation	Before the protected handler executes	Modify handler arguments (@pre_enforce only)
On return value	After the handler returns	Transform, filter, or replace the result
On error	If the handler throws	Transform or observe the error

For streaming handlers (@enforce_till_denied, @enforce_drop_while_denied, @enforce_recoverable_if_denied), constraints can run at five points:

Location	When it happens	What constraints do here
On decision	Each new decision from the PDP stream	Side effects like logging, audit
On each data item	Each element yielded by the async generator	Transform, filter, or replace items
On stream error	Generator produces an error	Transform or observe the error
On stream complete	Generator finishes normally	Cleanup and finalization
On cancel	Client disconnects or enforcement terminates	Release resources and close connections

This is why the handler interfaces have different shapes. A RunnableConstraintHandlerProvider fires at a lifecycle point like “on decision”. A ConsumerConstraintHandlerProvider processes each data item. A MethodInvocationConstraintHandlerProvider only exists in @pre_enforce because it modifies arguments before the handler runs, which makes no sense after the handler has already executed.

PreEnforce Lifecycle

When you decorate a handler method with @pre_enforce, here is what happens step by step.

First, the PEP builds an authorization subscription from the decorator options (or from defaults if you left them out) and sends it to the PDP as a one-shot request. The PDP evaluates the subscription against all matching policies and returns a single decision.

If the decision is anything other than PERMIT, the PEP raises HTTPError(403) immediately. Your handler never runs.

If the decision is PERMIT, the PEP resolves all constraint handlers. It walks through the obligations and advice attached to the decision and checks which registered handlers claim responsibility for each one. If any obligation has no matching handler, the PEP denies access right there, because it cannot guarantee the obligation will be enforced.

With all handlers resolved, execution proceeds through the enforcement locations in order. On-decision handlers run first (logging, audit). Then method-invocation handlers run, which can modify handler arguments if the policy requires it. Then your actual handler executes. After the handler returns, the PEP applies return-value handlers: resource replacement if the decision included one, filter predicates, mapping handlers, and consumer handlers. If any obligation handler fails at any stage, the PEP denies access.

PostEnforce Lifecycle

@post_enforce inverts the order. Your handler runs first, regardless of the authorization outcome. Only after it returns does the PEP build the authorization subscription (now including the return value) and consult the PDP.

This means the PDP can make decisions based on the actual data your handler produced. For example, a policy might permit access to a record only if its classification level is below a threshold, something that can only be checked after loading the record.

If the decision is not PERMIT, the PEP discards the return value and raises HTTPError(403).

If the decision is PERMIT, constraint handlers proceed through the same stages as @pre_enforce, minus the method-invocation handlers (since the handler has already run). Return-value handlers can still transform the result before it reaches the caller.

Because the handler runs before the PDP is consulted, if the handler itself raises an exception, that exception propagates directly. The PDP is never called, because there is no return value to include in the subscription.

For a complete formal specification of all enforcement modes, including state machines, teardown invariants, and handler resolution timing, see the PEP Implementation Specification.

Constraint Handlers

When the PDP returns a decision with obligations or advice, the constraint enforcement service resolves and executes all matching handlers.

When to Use Which Handler

You want to…	Use this handler type
Log or notify on a decision	RunnableConstraintHandlerProvider
Record/inspect the response (side-effect)	ConsumerConstraintHandlerProvider
Transform the response	MappingConstraintHandlerProvider
Filter array elements from the response	FilterPredicateConstraintHandlerProvider
Modify request or handler arguments	MethodInvocationConstraintHandlerProvider
Log/notify on errors (side-effect)	ErrorHandlerProvider
Transform errors	ErrorMappingConstraintHandlerProvider

Handler Types Reference

Type	Protocol	Handler Signature	When It Runs
runnable	RunnableConstraintHandlerProvider	() -> None	On decision (side effects)
method_invocation	MethodInvocationConstraintHandlerProvider	(context: MethodInvocationContext) -> None	Before handler (@pre_enforce only)
consumer	ConsumerConstraintHandlerProvider	(value: Any) -> None	After handler, inspects response
mapping	MappingConstraintHandlerProvider	(value: Any) -> Any	After handler, transforms response
filter_predicate	FilterPredicateConstraintHandlerProvider	(element: Any) -> bool	After handler, filters list elements
error_handler	ErrorHandlerProvider	(error: Exception) -> None	On error, inspects
error_mapping	ErrorMappingConstraintHandlerProvider	(error: Exception) -> Exception	On error, transforms

MappingConstraintHandlerProvider and ErrorMappingConstraintHandlerProvider also require get_priority() -> int. When multiple mapping handlers match the same constraint, they execute in descending priority order (higher number runs first).

Registering Custom Handlers

Register handlers during application startup (after calling configure_sapl()):

from sapl_tornado import configure_sapl, register_constraint_handler, SaplConfig
from sapl_base.constraint_types import Signal


class LogAccessHandler:
    def is_responsible(self, constraint) -> bool:
        return isinstance(constraint, dict) and constraint.get("type") == "logAccess"

    def get_signal(self) -> Signal:
        return Signal.ON_DECISION

    def get_handler(self, constraint):
        message = constraint.get("message", "Access logged")

        def handler() -> None:
            print(f"[POLICY] {message}")

        return handler


configure_sapl(SaplConfig(base_url="https://localhost:8443"))
register_constraint_handler(LogAccessHandler(), "runnable")

The seven handler type strings for register_constraint_handler are: "runnable", "consumer", "mapping", "filter_predicate", "method_invocation", "error_handler", "error_mapping".

MethodInvocationContext

The MethodInvocationContext provides:

Field	Type	Description
args	list[Any]	Positional arguments. Handlers can mutate or replace entries.
kwargs	dict[str, Any]	Keyword arguments. Handlers can add, modify, or remove keys.
function_name	str	The intercepted handler method name
class_name	str	Qualified class name (empty for plain functions)
request	Any	The Tornado HTTPServerRequest, or None for service-layer calls

Handlers can modify context.kwargs to change what arguments the handler receives. This enables patterns like policy-driven transfer limits:

from sapl_base.constraint_types import MethodInvocationContext


class CapTransferHandler:
    def is_responsible(self, constraint) -> bool:
        return isinstance(constraint, dict) and constraint.get("type") == "capTransferAmount"

    def get_handler(self, constraint):
        max_amount = constraint.get("maxAmount", 0)
        arg_name = constraint.get("argName", "amount")

        def handler(context: MethodInvocationContext) -> None:
            if arg_name in context.kwargs:
                requested = float(context.kwargs[arg_name])
                if requested > max_amount:
                    context.kwargs[arg_name] = max_amount

        return handler

Built-in Constraint Handlers

ContentFilteringProvider

Constraint type: filterJsonContent

Registered automatically by configure_sapl(). Transforms response values by deleting, replacing, or blackening fields.

A policy can attach this obligation:

policy "permit-read-patient"
permit
  action == "readPatient";
  resource == "patient";
obligation
  {
    "type": "filterJsonContent",
    "actions": [
      { "type": "blacken", "path": "$.ssn", "discloseRight": 4 },
      { "type": "delete", "path": "$.internalNotes" },
      { "type": "replace", "path": "$.classification", "replacement": "REDACTED" }
    ]
  }

The blacken action supports these options:

Option	Type	Default	Description
path	string	(required)	Dot-notation path to a string field
replacement	string	"\u2588" (block character)	Character used for masking
discloseLeft	number	0	Characters to leave unmasked from the left
discloseRight	number	0	Characters to leave unmasked from the right
length	number	(masked section length)	Override the length of the masked section

ContentFilterPredicateProvider

Constraint type: jsonContentFilterPredicate

Registered automatically by configure_sapl(). Filters array elements or nullifies single values that do not meet conditions.

{
  "type": "jsonContentFilterPredicate",
  "conditions": [
    { "path": "$.classification", "type": "!=", "value": "top-secret" }
  ]
}

ContentFilter Limitations

The built-in content filter supports simple dot-notation paths only ($.field.nested). Recursive descent ($..ssn), bracket notation ($['field']), array indexing ($.items[0]), wildcards ($.users[*].email), and filter expressions ($.books[?(@.price<10)]) are not supported.

Streaming Authorization

For SSE endpoints returning async generators, the three streaming decorators provide continuous authorization where the PDP streams decisions over time. Access may flip between PERMIT and DENY based on time, location, or context changes.

Tornado streaming responses are written directly to the response via handler.write() and handler.flush(). The decorators automatically set SSE headers (Content-Type: text/event-stream, Cache-Control: no-cache) and call handler.finish() when the stream ends. Each yielded item from the async generator is formatted as an SSE data: event (dicts are JSON-serialized).

A time-based policy that cycles between PERMIT and DENY:

policy "streaming-heartbeat-time-based"
permit
  action == "stream:heartbeat";
  resource == "heartbeat";
  var second = time.secondOf(<time.now>);
  second >= 0 && second < 20 || second >= 40;

Connect with curl to observe streaming behavior:

curl -N http://localhost:3000/api/streaming/heartbeat/till-denied

Manual PDP Access

For cases where decorators are not suitable, access the PDP client directly:

import tornado.web
from sapl_tornado import get_pdp_client
from sapl_base.types import AuthorizationSubscription, Decision


class HelloHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
    async def get(self):
        pdp_client = get_pdp_client()
        subscription = AuthorizationSubscription(
            subject="anonymous",
            action="read",
            resource="hello",
        )
        decision = await pdp_client.decide_once(subscription)

        if decision.decision == Decision.PERMIT and not decision.obligations:
            self.write({"message": "hello"})
        else:
            raise tornado.web.HTTPError(403)

When using the PDP client directly, you are responsible for checking the decision, enforcing obligations, and handling resource replacement.

Service Layer Enforcement

The same @pre_enforce and @post_enforce decorators work at any layer, not just on Tornado RequestHandler methods. When used on a service method without a RequestHandler, the decorator automatically translates denial into Tornado’s HTTPError(403):

from sapl_tornado import pre_enforce, post_enforce


@pre_enforce(action="listPatients", resource="patients")
async def list_patients() -> list[dict]:
    return [dict(p) for p in PATIENTS]


@post_enforce(
    action="getPatientDetail",
    resource=lambda ctx: {"type": "patientDetail", "data": ctx.return_value},
)
async def get_patient_detail(patient_id: str) -> dict | None:
    return next((dict(p) for p in PATIENTS if p["id"] == patient_id), None)

The calling handler does not need any special error handling. Tornado’s default write_error handles the HTTPError(403) and returns an appropriate error response:

import json
import tornado.web
from services import patient_service


class PatientDetailHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
    async def get(self, patient_id):
        result = await patient_service.get_patient_detail(patient_id)
        self.set_header("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=UTF-8")
        self.write(json.dumps(result))

Service-layer decorators accept the same subscription field options (subject, action, resource, environment, secrets) as when used on handler methods. When no RequestHandler is available, subject defaults to "anonymous" and environment is empty.

Demo Application

A complete working demo is available at sapl-python-demos/tornado_demo. It includes:

• Manual PDP access (no decorators)
• @pre_enforce and @post_enforce with content filtering
• Service-layer enforcement using the same decorators on plain async functions
• All 7 constraint handler types (runnable, consumer, mapping, filter predicate, method invocation, error handler, error mapping)
• SSE streaming with all three enforcement strategies (till-denied, drop-while-denied, recoverable-if-denied)
• JWT-based ABAC with secrets

Configuration Reference

All options are set via the SaplConfig dataclass passed to configure_sapl():

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
base_url	str	"https://localhost:8443"	PDP server URL
token	str	None	Bearer token / API key for authentication
username	str	None	Basic auth username (mutually exclusive with token)
password	str	None	Basic auth password
timeout	float	5.0	PDP request timeout in seconds
allow_insecure_connections	bool	False	Allow HTTP connections (never use in production)
streaming_max_retries	int	0	Maximum reconnection attempts for streaming connections
streaming_retry_base_delay	float	1.0	Base delay in seconds for exponential backoff on retry
streaming_retry_max_delay	float	30.0	Maximum delay in seconds for exponential backoff

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
All decisions are INDETERMINATE	PDP unreachable	Check base_url and that PDP is running
403 despite PERMIT decision	Unhandled obligation	Check handler is_responsible() matches the obligation type
Handler not firing	Missing registration	Call register_constraint_handler() after configure_sapl()
Subject is "anonymous"	No get_current_user() override	Override get_current_user() on your handler or set subject explicitly
Content filter throws	Unsupported path syntax	Only simple dot paths supported ($.field.nested)
RuntimeError: SAPL not configured	Missing configure_sapl()	Call configure_sapl() before starting the IOLoop
Streaming response not SSE	Missing headers	Use streaming decorators; they set headers automatically
Stream not finishing	Handler already finished	Decorators call handler.finish(). Do not call it manually.

License

Apache-2.0