Glossary

RuleGate Glossary

Term	Meaning
ABAC	Attribute-based access control; decisions based on typed subject, resource, or context attributes
Action	Stable business verb being authorized, such as read or approve
Authentication	Establishing and validating who or what is calling
Authorization	Deciding whether a subject may perform an action on a resource in the current context
Authorization context	Trusted evaluation time and request-specific attributes
Authorization route	Exact resourceType + action pair used to select a policy
CBAC	Context-based access control; decisions based on request/session/environment circumstances
Context age	Maximum accepted age of authentication or MFA evidence
Decision	Final allowed or denied engine result with structured failures for denied outcomes
Default deny	Absence of a matching policy or grant results in denial
Enrichment	ASP.NET Core pipeline that adds trusted subject, resource, and context attributes before evaluation
Fail closed	Missing, malformed, incompatible, cancelled, or failed input cannot become access
Frontend projection	UI-only set of permission, policy, and role identifiers; never backend authority
Identity provider	System that authenticates callers and issues identity/session evidence, such as Keycloak
Indeterminate	A requirement could not be evaluated safely; protected operations remain denied
Manifest	YAML schema that declares RuleGate policies and requirements
MFA	Multi-factor authentication
PBAC	Permission-based access control; decisions based on exact capabilities
Policy	Unique ID, resource type, action, and one requirement tree
Policy source	Local component that supplies complete policy definitions for a snapshot
RBAC	Role-based access control; decisions based on stable responsibilities
Requirement	One permission, role, attribute, time, context, custom, or logical condition
Resource	Business object or collection being protected, with type, optional ID, and trusted attributes
Resource-based authorization	Decision using the actual protected object's identity and state
Satisfied	Requirement conclusively passed
Snapshot	Complete immutable active policy set, or UI grant projection depending on context
Subject	Authenticated actor with ID, roles, permissions, and trusted attributes
Trusted source	Server-side component whose data is validated and authorized for use in a decision

For the conceptual model, read Authorization foundations. For complete contract detail, read the authorization model.

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