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An access rule is a set of business rules that define how other organizations can access data within the Narrative platform. Access rules are a core primitive that give data owners fine-grained governance over their datasets.

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What access rules control

Access rules let you define three key aspects of data access: Who can access your data. Specify which organizations can run queries against your datasets. You can grant access to specific companies, make data available to all platform participants, or restrict access to a closed group of partners. What data they can access. Control which records and fields are available through filtering conditions. You might expose only certain date ranges, geographic regions, or record types to different partners. How much access costs. Set pricing for data access on a per-record basis. Prices can vary by record type, buyer, or any other criteria you define. For non-commercial collaborations, set the price to zero.

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Why access rules exist

Without access rules, datasets in Narrative cannot be queried by other organizations. This is by design—data remains private by default, and you must explicitly create access rules to enable collaboration. This approach ensures:
  • Data owners stay in control. No one can access your data without your explicit permission
  • Flexible monetization. Charge different rates for different data or different buyers
  • Governance compliance. Audit exactly who has access to what data and under what terms

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How access rules work

Access rules are defined using NQL (Narrative Query Language) and are enforced at query execution time. When another organization queries data you own:
  1. Rule matching — The control plane identifies which access rules apply to the requested data
  2. Permission verification — The query is checked against the access rule’s constraints
  3. Price calculation — If the rule includes pricing, costs are calculated based on matching records
  4. Query execution — Only records that pass the access rule’s filters are included in results
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Query Submitted                           │
└───────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  Access Rules Evaluated                          │
│   • Which rules match the requested datasets?                   │
│   • Does the requester have permission?                          │
│   • What are the pricing terms?                                  │
└───────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                                │
                   ┌────────────┴────────────┐
                   │                         │
                   ▼                         ▼
        ┌──────────────────┐      ┌──────────────────┐
        │  Rules Match     │      │  No Match        │
        │  Query Executes  │      │  Query Fails     │
        └──────────────────┘      └──────────────────┘

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Common use cases

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Make data available to a specific partner

Grant a single organization access to your dataset: 
-- Access rule granting Partner Corp access to customer segments
SELECT
    segment_id,
    segment_name,
    audience_size
FROM company."customer_segments"
Configure the rule to be visible only to the partner’s organization, and set pricing (or $0 for a data share).

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Set different prices for different data

Create multiple access rules with different pricing tiers: 
-- Premium access rule: recent data at higher price
SELECT
    user_id,
    event_type,
    event_timestamp
FROM company."user_events"
WHERE event_timestamp > CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '30' DAY

-- Standard access rule: older data at lower price
SELECT
    user_id,
    event_type,
    event_timestamp
FROM company."user_events"
WHERE event_timestamp <= CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '30' DAY

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Restrict fields for certain buyers

Expose different columns to different partners by creating separate access rules: 
-- Full access for premium partners
SELECT
    user_id,
    email,
    purchase_history,
    lifetime_value
FROM company."customers"

-- Limited access for standard partners (no PII)
SELECT
    user_id,
    purchase_history
FROM company."customers"

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Enable non-commercial data sharing

Share data at no cost for research, partnerships, or data exchanges: 
SELECT
    anonymized_id,
    survey_responses,
    demographic_category
FROM company."research_data"
Set the price to $0 CPM when creating the rule.

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Access rules and datasets

Every dataset can have multiple access rules, and a single access rule can reference multiple datasets. This flexibility supports complex governance scenarios:
  • One dataset, many rules — Different pricing tiers, different partner access levels
  • Many datasets, one rule — Bundle related datasets for partners who need comprehensive access
If a dataset has no access rules, it cannot be queried by other organizations. You always retain access to your own datasets regardless of access rules.

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Pricing with access rules

Access rule pricing uses CPM (cost per thousand)—the cost per 1,000 records. When a query matches an access rule with pricing:
  1. The number of matching records is counted
  2. The total cost is calculated: (matching_records / 1000) × CPM
  3. The buyer is charged and the data owner receives payment
Pricing is enforced at the data plane level, meaning costs are calculated based on actual query results, not estimates.

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Related content

Data Planes

Where your data lives and access rules are enforced

Control Plane

How Narrative orchestrates permissions and query coordination

Security Model

The broader security architecture including access controls

Access Rules API

Manage access rules programmatically