Collections
A comprehensive guide to creating collections in R2R
Introduction
A collection in R2R is a logical grouping of users and documents that allows for efficient access control and organization. Collections enable you to manage permissions and access to documents at a group level, rather than individually.
R2R provides robust document collection management, allowing developers to implement efficient access control and organization of users and documents. This cookbook will guide you through the collection capabilities in R2R.
For user authentication, please refer to the User Auth Cookbook.
Collection permissioning in R2R is still under development and as a result the is likely to API continue evolving in future releases.
A diagram showing user and collection management across r2r
Basic Usage
Collections currently follow a flat hierarchy wherein superusers are responsible for management operations. This functionality will expand as development on R2R continues.
Collection CRUD operations
Let’s start by creating a new collection:
To retrieve details about a specific collection:
You can update a collection’s name or description:
Lastly, you can delete a collection
Listing Collections
To get a list of all collections:
User Management in Collections
Adding a User to a Collection
To add a user to a collection, you need both the user’s ID and the collections’s ID:
Removing a User from a Collections
Similarly, to remove a user from a collection:
Listing Users in a Collection
To get a list of all users in a specific collection:
Getting Collections for a User
To get all collections that a user is a member of:
Document Management in Collections
Assigning a Document to a Collection
To assign a document to a collection:
Removing a Document from a Collection
To remove a document from a collection:
Listing Documents in a Collection
To get a list of all documents in a specific collection:
Getting Collections for a Document
To get all collections that a document is assigned to:
Advanced Collection Management
Generating Synthetic Descriptions
To have an LLM generate a description for a collection, you can run:
This is particularly helpful when building graphs as the summary provides high-quality context in the prompt, resulting in better descriptions.
Collection Overview
To get an overview of collection, including user and document counts:
Deleting a Collection
To delete a collection:
Pagination and Filtering
Many of the collection-related methods support pagination and filtering. Here are some examples:
Security Considerations
When implementing collection permissions, consider the following security best practices:
- Least Privilege Principle: Assign the minimum necessary permissions to users and collections.
- Regular Audits: Periodically review collection memberships and document assignments.
- Access Control: Ensure that only authorized users (e.g., admins) can perform collection management operations.
- Logging and Monitoring: Implement comprehensive logging for all collection-related actions.
Customizing Collection Permissions
While R2R’s current collection system follows a flat hierarchy, you can build more complex permission structures on top of it:
- Custom Roles: Implement application-level roles within collections (e.g., collection admin, editor, viewer).
- Hierarchical Collections: Create a hierarchy by establishing parent-child relationships between collections in your application logic.
- Permission Inheritance: Implement rules for permission inheritance based on collection memberships.
Troubleshooting
Here are some common issues and their solutions:
- Unable to Create/Modify Collections: Ensure the user has superuser privileges.
- User Not Seeing Collection Content: Verify that the user is correctly added to the collection and that documents are properly assigned.
- Performance Issues with Large Collections: Use pagination when retrieving users or documents in large collections.
Conclusion
R2R’s collection permissioning system provides a foundation for implementing sophisticated access control in your applications. As the feature set evolves, more advanced capabilities will become available. Stay tuned to the R2R documentation for updates and new features related to collection permissions.
For user authentication and individual user management, refer to the User Auth Cookbook. For more advanced use cases or custom implementations, consult the R2R documentation or reach out to the community for support.