IndyKite AuthZEN - batch evaluations

Batch evaluation makes many KBAC decisions in one request. You supply top-level subject / action / resource / context as defaults and an evaluations[] array where each entry overrides only the parts it specifies; the response carries one boolean decision per entry, in order.

This skill covers building and sending the batch request and reading the results. It does not author policies - the 2.0-kbac policies every entry is evaluated against are authored with indykite-authzen-kbac.

When to use

Activate this skill when the user wants to:

• check one subject against many resources (e.g. "of these 20 servers, which can grace PROVISION?");
• check one action across many subjects (e.g. "which of these people can deploy gpu-node-7?");
• evaluate a heterogeneous mix of (subject, action, resource) triples in a single call.

Do not activate this skill to make a single yes/no decision (indykite-authzen-evaluation), to enumerate all instances for one probe (the search skills indykite-authzen-search-action / -search-resource / -search-subject), or to author a policy or read/write graph data (batch evaluation only renders decisions).

Prerequisites

• One or more ACTIVE KBAC policies covering the triples in the batch. If none exist, author them first with indykite-authzen-kbac.
• An AppAgent and its credentials token (the X-IK-ClientKey value).
• The IKG populated with the subject and resource nodes (and any relationships the conditions match).
• Every partial parameter the matched policies reference, ready to pass under context.input_params.

Steps

1. Choose defaults, then vary per entry

Decide which parts are constant across the batch (put them at the top level) and which vary (put them in each evaluations[] entry). An entry inherits every top-level part it does not override.

Running example: one action (PROVISION) and one resource (gpu-node-7) are the defaults; the subject varies per entry, and one entry also overrides the resource.

2. Build the batch request body

{
  "action":   { "name": "PROVISION" },
  "resource": { "type": "Server", "id": "gpu-node-7" },
  "evaluations": [
    { "subject": { "type": "Person", "id": "linus" } },
    { "subject": { "type": "Person", "id": "grace" } },
    { "subject": { "type": "Person", "id": "grace" }, "resource": { "type": "Server", "id": "edge-box-2" } },
    { "subject": { "type": "Person", "id": "dennis" } }
  ],
  "context": { "input_params": { "max_price": 80000 } }
}

subject.id / resource.id are node external_ids; action.name is case-sensitive; context.input_params keys are written without the $ and keep their types. A ready body: assets/evaluations-provision-servers.json.

3. Send the batch

POST <API_URL>/access/v1/evaluations

Authentication:

• Always: X-IK-ClientKey: <AppAgent-credentials-token>.
• Optional: Authorization: Bearer <user-access-token> - applies only in some cases (e.g. a condition references a token claim/scope), where it can flip claim-gated entries.

A runnable shell helper: scripts/evaluate-batch.sh — run with --print to preview the curl (host-pinned; tokens redacted).

4. Read the decisions - one per entry, in order

{
  "evaluations": [
    { "decision": false },
    { "decision": true },
    { "decision": false },
    { "decision": true }
  ]
}

The array is positional: evaluations[i] is the decision for request entry i.

5. Watch the missing-parameter difference

A single /evaluation that omits a required partial parameter returns `422`. A batch call does not fail wholesale - it returns 200, and each entry whose matched policy needed the missing parameter comes back as decision: false with a context.reason:

{ "decision": false, "context": { "reason": "invalid_argument: missing or wrong input params, 'max_price'" } }

So always distinguish a genuine deny (decision: false, no context) from a missing-input deny (decision: false with context.reason) before concluding access is denied.

Outcome

When this skill has been applied successfully:

• POST /access/v1/evaluations returns an evaluations[] array with one decision per request entry, in order, with top-level parts correctly applied as defaults.
• Missing-parameter entries are read as decision: false + context.reason (a 200), not mistaken for a request failure.
• Each batch decision matches what the single-decision skill (indykite-authzen-evaluation) would return for the same triple.

Files in this skill

• references/evaluations-reference.md - /evaluations: request/response shapes, defaults-and-override semantics, the missing-parameter behaviour, error codes.
• assets/evaluations-provision-servers.json - runnable batch request body for the PROVISION example.
• scripts/evaluate-batch.sh - Bash helper that posts a batch request to /access/v1/evaluations (host-pinned; --print to preview).

Agent-specific notes

This skill uses generic markdown instructions and works across all agents listed in the README. The agent needs to be able to issue HTTP requests (curl, an HTTP client, or the IndyKite Terraform provider). No Claude Code hooks, Cursor @-mentions, or Copilot workspace context are required.

References

• AuthZEN guide (developer hub)
• Config API documentation - authorization policies
• Credentials guide