Building Custom RAG Authorization vs. Using Gateco

Teams that decide they need proper RAG authorization face a build-vs-buy decision. The "build" option seems straightforward at first — you already have a vector database and an auth system, so you just need to connect them. But the scope expands quickly once you dig into the requirements.

Component 1: Policy engine. You need a system that evaluates access rules against requesting identities and target resources. RBAC is the starting point, but real-world requirements quickly demand attribute-based conditions (ABAC) — access based on resource classification, sensitivity, department, and principal attributes. Building a policy engine that handles both RBAC and ABAC with proper precedence rules is a significant engineering effort.

Component 2: Metadata resolution. Policies need metadata to evaluate against — classification, sensitivity, domain, ownership for each resource. Where does this metadata come from? You need at least one resolution strategy (sidecar registry, inline from vector payloads, or a SQL view), and ideally a fallback hierarchy. Each strategy has different tradeoffs for granularity, maintenance, and performance.

Component 3: Audit logging. Every retrieval decision needs to be recorded with full context: who requested it, what was evaluated, which policies matched, what was allowed or denied. This means a structured event system with at least a dozen event types, storage, querying, and export capabilities. Compliance teams will want date-range exports and event-type filtering.

Component 4: Connector adapters. Your policy layer needs to work with your vector database. If you're only using one database, this is manageable. But teams often use multiple vector stores or switch providers. Supporting multiple connectors means abstracting search, ingestion, health checks, and metadata operations across different APIs.

Component 5: Identity sync. Policies reference principals (users, groups, roles). These need to come from your identity provider — Okta, Azure Entra ID, AWS IAM, GCP. Each provider has a different API, different group structures, and different attribute models. Building and maintaining these integrations is ongoing work.

Our estimate: building a production-quality RAG authorization system takes 3-6 engineering months and ongoing maintenance. Gateco provides all five components out of the box, with 9 connector adapters, 4 identity provider integrations, and 25 audit event types. The free tier lets you validate the approach before committing.