Filter resource listings

This page describes how to use filters when listing resources. This can be used to reduce the returned set of resources when performing a list operation.

Note: This feature is intended to provide a userful service to clients; it does not affect the database queries generated for the operation and as such is not designed to provide greater efficiency.

Starting in Boundary 0.1.8, when running a list action, a filter can be specified. It uses the standard filter syntax used elsewhere in Boundary. Unless otherwise specified for a given list endpoint, the list of items being returned is looped through and the filter is run on the JSON representation of that item. A good way to see what that data looks like is by looking at representative JSON output on the command line; for example, the following is the output of boundary targets list -scope-id p_1234567890 -format json on a dev instance (piped through jq for readability):

[
  {
    "id": "ttcp_1234567890",
    "scope_id": "p_1234567890",
    "scope": {
      "id": "p_1234567890",
      "type": "project",
      "name": "Generated project scope",
      "description": "Provides an initial project scope in Boundary",
      "parent_scope_id": "o_1234567890"
    },
    "name": "Generated target",
    "description": "Provides an initial target in Boundary",
    "created_time": "2021-02-24T22:19:50.640476Z",
    "updated_time": "2021-02-24T22:19:50.640476Z",
    "version": 1,
    "type": "tcp",
    "session_max_seconds": 28800,
    "session_connection_limit": -1,
    "attributes": {
      "default_port": 22
    },
    "authorized_actions": [
      "read",
      "update",
      "delete",
      "add-host-sources",
      "set-host-sources",
      "remove-host-sources",
      "authorize-session"
    ]
  }
]

As the filter tests each entry being returned, it places the data under test within the filter at /item.

On the CLI a filter can be given via -filter.

Tip: Double quotes are part of the filter syntax; when using the CLI, it is likely easier to surround the filter with single quotes than to deal with escaping double quotes.

When using the HTTP API, it is a filter query parameter.

Tip: Ensure that the query parameter is properly escaped! Most HTTP libraries will do this for you. If you're having trouble, try using the -output-curl-string flag with the Boundary CLI:

$ boundary targets list -scope-id p_1234567890 -format json -filter '"authorize-session" in "/item/authorized_actions"' -output-curl-string
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $(boundary config get-token -keyring-type pass -token-name default)" -H "Content-Type: application/json" 'http://127.0.0.1:9200/v1/targets?filter=%22authorize-session%22+in+%22%2Fitem%2Fauthorized_actions%22&scope_id=p_1234567890'

Following are some examples.

Resources in which the user is allowed to run an "update" action: "update" in "/item/authorized_actions"
Resources matching a name pattern, but only those within an organization scope: "/item/name" matches "groupa-*" and "/item/scope/type" == "org"