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Projects

Organize policies into isolated environments

Projects are isolated policy environments within your organization. Each project has its own set of policies, blueprints, entities, and decision node configuration. Use projects to separate different applications, environments, or use cases.

Overview

A project in Denied represents a complete authorization context:

  • Policies — The authorization rules for this project
  • Blueprints — Saved policy templates and AI-generated outlines
  • Entities — Subjects and resources used in policy evaluation
  • Decision Node — The server that evaluates authorization requests

When you deploy a decision node, it connects to a specific project and only sees that project's policies.

Why Use Projects?

Client Separation

For users managing policies for multiple teams, projects provide isolation while keeping everything in one organization.

Creating a Project

To create a new project:

  1. Go to Settings → Projects
  2. Click Create Project
  3. Enter a project name
  4. Click Create

Your new project will be created with:

  • A unique Decision Node UUID (used to connect decision nodes)
  • Empty policy and blueprint libraries
  • No decision node configured yet

Project names should be descriptive and help team members understand the project's purpose. Use lowercase with hyphens for consistency (e.g., api-production, admin-staging).

Project Settings

Viewing Project Details

To view a project's configuration:

  1. Go to Settings → Projects
  2. Click on the project card

You'll see:

  • Project Name — The display name
  • Decision Node UUID — Unique identifier for connecting decision nodes
  • Decision Node URL — The configured policy server endpoint (if set)
  • Decision Node Status — Whether the connection is active

See Decision Nodes for detailed setup instructions.

Getting the Decision Node URL

The Decision Node URL is needed when using your decision node. To copy it:

  1. Go to Settings → Projects
  2. Find your project
  3. Click the copy icon next to the URL

Switching Projects

The current project is shown in the top navigation. All dashboard features (Policies, Blueprints, Playground, etc.) operate on the selected project.

To switch projects:

  1. Click the project name in the top navigation
  2. Select a different project from the dropdown
  3. The dashboard will reload with that project's data

Make sure you've selected the correct project before creating policies or testing in the Playground. Policies created in the wrong project won't be available where you expect them.

Managing Project Data

Policies

Each project has its own policy library. Go to Governance → Policies to:

  • View all policies in the current project
  • Create, edit, or delete policies
  • Toggle policies on/off

See Policies for details.

Blueprints

Blueprints are saved per-project. Go to Governance → Blueprints to:

  • Generate new blueprints with AI
  • View saved blueprints
  • Create policies from blueprints

See Blueprints for details.

Entities

Entities (subjects and resources) are project-specific. Go to Governance → Entities to:

  • Register subjects and resources
  • Define entity properties
  • Use entities in Playground testing

Monitoring Data

Analytics and Logs show data for the current project only. Switch projects to see different data.

Deleting a Project

Deleting a project is permanent and cannot be undone. All policies, blueprints, entities, and configuration will be permanently deleted.

To delete a project:

  1. Go to Settings → Projects
  2. Select the project
  3. Click Delete Project
  4. Confirm the deletion

Consider exporting important policies before deletion.

Best Practices

Naming Conventions

Use consistent naming across projects:

{application}-{environment}

Examples: api-production, admin-staging, mobile-development

Environment Parity

Keep your environment projects as similar as possible:

  • Same policy structure
  • Same entity types
  • Only necessary differences (like URLs or thresholds)

Documentation

Add descriptions to your policies explaining:

  • What the policy does
  • Why it exists
  • Any environment-specific behavior

Access Control

Consider who needs access to which projects:

  • Developers might only need development
  • DevOps might need staging and production
  • Limit production access to senior team members

Troubleshooting

Policies not showing up?

  • Check you've selected the correct project
  • Verify the policy was saved successfully
  • Refresh the page

Playground not working?

  • Confirm a decision node URL is configured
  • Check the decision node status is Active
  • Verify the decision node is running and accessible

Can't find a project?

  • Check the project switcher in the navigation
  • Verify the project wasn't deleted
  • Ensure you're in the correct organization

Organizations & Teams

Manage your organization and team members

Policies

Create and manage authorization policies

On this page

OverviewWhy Use Projects?Client SeparationCreating a ProjectProject SettingsViewing Project DetailsGetting the Decision Node URLSwitching ProjectsManaging Project DataPoliciesBlueprintsEntitiesMonitoring DataDeleting a ProjectBest PracticesNaming ConventionsEnvironment ParityDocumentationAccess ControlTroubleshootingPolicies not showing up?Playground not working?Can't find a project?Related