How to GRANT Permissions in PostgreSQL

Galaxy Glossary

How do I grant permissions on ParadeDB tables in PostgreSQL?

GRANT assigns specific privileges on database objects to roles or users.

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Description

Example H2

Example H3

What does GRANT do in PostgreSQL?

GRANT attaches privileges—SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, TRIGGER, USAGE, and more—to roles or individual users. PostgreSQL checks these privileges on every statement, so a correct GRANT is mandatory before your ParadeDB users can read vectors or insert data.

How do I grant read-only access to ParadeDB tables?

Create a role, then grant SELECT on each ParadeDB table (or the entire schema) to that role. Finally, assign the role to your analysts.This isolates read access and keeps write privileges locked down.

-- create a role CREATE ROLE analyst; -- apply read access to the whole parade schema GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA parade TO analyst; GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA parade TO analyst; ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA parade GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO analyst;.

What is the safest way to allow inserts on Orders?

Grant INSERT on the Orders table only to the role that owns order-processing services. Keep UPDATE and DELETE separate to minimize accidental data changes.

Why use roles instead of user-level GRANTs?

Roles centralize permission management. When new users join, you simply grant them the role; you never revisit every table. This pattern also plays nicely with ParadeDB’s schema-level USAGE permission.

Best practices for GRANT in ParadeDB projects

Use schema-level GRANTs

ParadeDB often stores vectors in a dedicated schema (e.g., parade). Grant USAGE and SELECT at the schema level to simplify onboarding.

Pair GRANT with REVOKE

Audit permissions periodically. REVOKE removes privileges immediately and helps comply with least-privilege principles.

How to check current permissions?

Query the catalog view information_schema.role_table_grants or run \dp in psql. This lists every object and its privilege string, revealing gaps or excess permissions.

Common mistakes and quick fixes

Granting to individual users bloats admin time—always wrap users in roles. Forgetting DEFAULT PRIVILEGES means new tables stay private; fix by altering default privileges right after the first GRANT.

Why How to GRANT Permissions in PostgreSQL is important

How to GRANT Permissions in PostgreSQL Example Usage


-- Allow the 'checkout_service' role to insert new orders and order items
grant insert on table Orders, OrderItems to checkout_service;
-- Enable analysts to read customers and products
grant select on table Customers, Products to analyst;

How to GRANT Permissions in PostgreSQL Syntax


GRANT { { SELECT | INSERT | UPDATE | DELETE | TRIGGER | USAGE | ALL } [, ...] }
ON { TABLE table_name | ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA schema_name | SCHEMA schema_name | SEQUENCE seq_name }
TO { role_name | PUBLIC } [WITH GRANT OPTION];

Common Mistakes

Granting privileges directly to every user increases admin overhead and risks missing revocations. Fix: create roles (e.g., analyst, service) and assign privileges to those roles only.
Omitting ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES causes new tables to be inaccessible to existing roles. Fix: run ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES right after initial GRANT to preserve future access.