Column Allow & Deny

column_allow and column_deny control column visibility by name. Allow policies grant access to specific columns; deny policies remove them. Neither modifies data — they control what exists in the user's schema.

Purpose and when to use

• column_allow — in policy_required mode, this is the only policy type that grants table access. Use it to define which columns each user/role can see. In open mode, allow policies are optional (all columns are visible by default).
• column_deny — removes specific columns from the user's view. The column disappears from query results AND from information_schema. Use it when a column should not exist from the user's perspective (e.g., credit_card, cost_price).

Allow vs. deny vs. mask

Goal	Use
Column must remain queryable but with redacted values	column_mask
Column should not exist at all for this user	column_deny
Only these specific columns should be visible (whitelist)	column_allow

Field reference

column_allow

Field	Value	Notes
policy_type	column_allow
targets.schemas	Required	Supports globs
targets.tables	Required	Supports globs
targets.columns	Required	The columns to make visible. Supports globs.
definition	Not used	Must be absent — API returns 422 if present.

column_deny

Field	Value	Notes
policy_type	column_deny
targets.schemas	Required	Supports globs
targets.tables	Required	Supports globs
targets.columns	Required	The columns to remove. Supports globs.
definition	Not used	Must be absent.

Step-by-step tutorial

Column deny: hide credit card numbers

1. Create the policy:

   • Name: hide-credit-card
   • Type: column_deny
   • Targets: schema public, table customers, column credit_card

2. Assign with scope: All users.

3. Verify:

   psql 'postgresql://alice:[email protected]:5434/demo_ecommerce' \
     -c "SELECT credit_card FROM customers"
   # → ERROR: column "credit_card" does not exist

   The column is gone — not just empty, but absent from the schema entirely.

Column allow: whitelist visible columns (policy_required mode)

1. Set the data source to policy_required mode (edit the data source).

2. Create the policy:

   • Name: analyst-columns
   • Type: column_allow
   • Targets: schema public, table customers, columns id, first_name, last_name, email, org

3. Assign to the analyst role.

4. Verify: analysts see only the allowed columns. ssn, credit_card, phone are invisible.

Patterns and recipes

Glob patterns

Pattern	Matches	Does not match
"*"	All columns	—
"name"	name only	first_name, last_name
"*_name"	first_name, last_name	name, email
"secret_*"	secret_key, secret_token	my_secret

Patterns are case-sensitive.

Deny financial columns across all tables

{
  "targets": [
    {
      "schemas": ["*"],
      "tables": ["*"],
      "columns": ["cost_price", "margin", "wholesale_price"]
    }
  ]
}

Allow baseline + deny override

In policy_required mode, a common pattern is:

1. column_allow with columns: ["*"] → grants full column access (baseline)
2. column_deny on specific sensitive columns → overrides the allow

Deny always wins — the deny removes the column even though the allow includes it.

Composition

Deny always wins over allow

If a column_allow includes salary and a column_deny targets salary, the column is denied. This is the deny-wins invariant — it holds across all scopes and priorities.

Per-table scoping in JOINs

Column policies are scoped per table. Denying email on customers does not affect email on orders in the same JOIN. You must create separate deny targets for each table.

Multiple allow policies → union

If two column_allow policies target the same table, the visible columns are the union of both. User sees all columns that any allow policy grants.

Multiple deny policies → union

If two column_deny policies target the same column, it's still denied (idempotent). If they target different columns, both are removed.

Interaction with access modes

Access mode	column_allow needed?	column_deny behavior
policy_required	Yes — without it, the table is invisible	Removes columns from the allow set
open	No — all columns visible by default	Removes columns from the default-visible set

column_deny does not grant access

In policy_required mode, creating a column_deny without a column_allow leaves the table invisible. The deny has nothing to deny because the table was never granted. You need at least one column_allow to make the table visible first.

Limitations and catches

• Denied columns disappear from information_schema. Users cannot discover that the column exists — this is the visibility-follows-access invariant.
• If all selected columns are denied, the query returns an error (SQLSTATE 42501 — insufficient privilege), not an empty result.
• column_allow with columns: ["*"] in policy_required mode is equivalent to open mode for that table. Use it as a baseline, then layer denies.
• Glob patterns are case-sensitive. "SSN" does not match "ssn".

→ Full list: Known Limitations

Troubleshooting

• Table invisible despite deny policy — in policy_required mode, you need a column_allow first. Deny alone doesn't make the table exist.
• Column still visible after deny — check: policy is_enabled, target schema/table/column match exactly (case-sensitive), policy assigned to the user's data source.
• Unexpected columns visible — check for a column_allow with ["*"] that grants everything, or open access mode.

→ Full diagnostics: Audit & Debugging · Troubleshooting

See also

• Policies overview — when to deny vs. mask, structural shape, validation rules
• Column Masks — for redacting values instead of hiding columns
• Table Deny — for hiding entire tables