Permission-aware retrieval

Preserve source authority, user access, freshness, and deletion through the retrieval path.

DIRECT ANSWER

Retrieval must apply the requesting user’s effective access before returning a source. Indexing cannot flatten permissions, and generation must distinguish useful evidence from stale, conflicting, restricted, or absent evidence.

SYSTEM FLOW

Make every boundary visible.

01identity
02policy
03query
04retrieve
05filter
06cite
07answer

DESIGN DECISIONS

Three decisions carry the architecture.

Resolve identity first

Bind every request to an authenticated principal and a current authorization decision.

Carry source metadata

Keep owner, authority, updated date, classification, and deletion state beside every chunk.

Answer from visible evidence

Return citations and decline when permitted evidence is missing or contradictory.

FAILURE MODES

What breaks the boundary.

Document permissions disappear during chunking
Deleted content remains in an index or cache
The model answers from prior knowledge when retrieval is empty

VERIFICATION

Evidence before release.

Restricted-source test
Deletion propagation test
Stale-source test
Missing-answer test