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Enable Cognee’s permission system for data isolation and access control. For detailed concepts, see Cognee Permissions System.

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Enable Permission System

Set the environment variable to enable access control: 
ENABLE_BACKEND_ACCESS_CONTROL=true # this is set to true by default
REQUIRE_AUTHENTICATION=true

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Database Setup

Choose your relational database:
  • SQLite — Local development (auto-creates files)
  • Postgres — Production (requires manual setup)
See Relational Databases for detailed configuration.

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Authentication

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API Server

Start the server with authentication: 
uvicorn cognee.api.client:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
Default credentials (development only):
  • Username: default_user@example.com
  • Password: default_password

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Programmatic Access

See Permission Snippets for complete programmatic examples.

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Data Organization

Data is automatically organized by user and dataset. Each user gets isolated storage: 
.cognee_system/databases/<user_uuid>/
├── <dataset_uuid>.pkl         # Kùzu graph database
└── <dataset_uuid>.lance.db/   # LanceDB vector database

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Troubleshooting

Permission Denied: Verify user has required permission on the dataset. Data Isolation: Check per-user database files exist: 
ls -la .cognee_system/databases/<user_uuid>/
Database Conflicts: Custom providers are ignored in permission mode.

Permission System

Learn about users, tenants, roles, and ACL

Usage Guide

How to use permission features