Row-Level Security

Definitions

1. A database feature (notably in PostgreSQL) that enforces access policies on individual rows within a table, so different users or roles only see and modify the rows they are authorized to access. Policies are defined as SQL expressions evaluated on each row during SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE operations.

   In plain English: A database security feature that controls which specific rows each user is allowed to see or change, not just which tables.

   Example: "With RLS enabled, each tenant's API key only returns their own rows — no application-level filtering needed to prevent data leaks."

Related Terms

• query planner
• materialized view
• normalization
• connection pool
• graph database
• Isolation Level
• Partition Key
• Transaction Log