⚒️ Access control for AI agents (RBAC) using Airtable and Telegram

⚡ 1,635 views · ⚒️ Engineering

Description

This workflow allows granular control over the access to tools connected to AI Agents (including Multi-Agent setups) using Role Based Access Control.

User permissions are managed in Airtable where every restricted AI tool is listed by name and connected via roles to users
Requests to the Main Agent can be sent through a Telegram message (can be replaced by Whatsapp, IMAP or similar)
On every request the Telegram username is used to query a list of all allowed tools which are linked in Airtable
A LangChain Code node is used to compare that list against the connected tools
Every tool which is not permitted to be used is being replaced by a tool, which has a status response, telling the Agent to return a message to the user, that he is not authorized to use the tool
Otherwise allowed tools are passed through to the Agent, as if they were connected directly to the Agent
The parameters can also be passed to a sub-agent called as a sub-workflow where permissions can be checked the same way
Every response is sent back to the same Telegram conversation

Clone the workflow and select the belonging credentials. You’ll need an OpenAI and Airtable Account as well as a Telegram Bot (refer to the docs for the Telegram credentials).
Copy this Airtable Template into your workspace
Follow the instructions given in the yellow sticky notes
Activate the workflow

Try this example:

Create a new line in Airtable under “Users” containing your Telegram username and your full name
Set the roles “basic” and “info”
Consider temporarily disconnecting or resetting the chat memories so they do not remember previous confirmations
Start a new chat, asking about your permitted roles - you should get a list of those
Ask about the current weather in your city - you should be informed, that you do not have permission to access that information
Back in Airtable add the role “weather” to your user
Now ask the Agent the same question again - It should give you a proper answer this time

From here on you can add tools and create roles to your likings.

Please note, that this workflow can only run on self-hosted n8n instances, since it requires the LangChain Code Node.

Airtable, Telegram, Telegram Trigger, Execute Workflow Trigger, AI Agent, LangChain Code

Download workflow.json and import into n8n: Workflow menu → Import from File