Intentions - Connect HTTP API
The /connect/intentions
endpoint provide tools for managing
intentions.
1.9.0 and later: Reading and writing intentions has been
migrated to the
service-intentions
config entry kind.
Upsert Intention by Name
1.9.0+: This API is available in Consul versions 1.9.0 and later.
This endpoint creates a new intention and returns true
if it was created
successfully.
The name and destination pair must be unique. If another intention matches the name and destination, the creation will replace the previous intention.
The intentions created by this endpoint will not be assigned the following
fields: ID
, CreatedAt
, UpdatedAt
. Additionally, the Meta
field cannot
be persisted using this endpoint and will require editing the enclosing
service-intentions
config entry for the destination.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
PUT | /connect/intentions/exact | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
NO | none | none | intentions:write Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention create -replace
.
Query Parameters
source
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the source service according to the source naming conventions.destination
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the destination service according to the destination naming conventions.ns
(string: "")
Enterprise - Specifies the default namespace to use whensource
ordestination
query parameters do not include a namespace as shown in the source and destination naming conventions. You can also specify the namespace through other methods.
JSON Request Body Schema
SourceType
(string: "")
- The type for theSourceName
value. This can be only "consul" today to represent a Consul service. If not provided, this will be defaulted to "consul".Action
(string: "")
- For an L4 intention this is required, and should be set to one of "allow" or "deny" for the action that should be taken if this intention matches a request.This should be omitted for an L7 intention as it is mutually exclusive with the
Permissions
field.Permissions
(array<IntentionPermission>)
- The list of all additional L7 attributes that extend the intention match criteria.Permission precedence is applied top to bottom. For any given request the first permission to match in the list is terminal and stops further evaluation. As with L4 intentions, traffic that fails to match any of the provided permissions in this intention will be subject to the default intention behavior is defined by the default ACL policy.
This should be omitted for an L4 intention as it is mutually exclusive with the
Action
field.Description
(string: "")
- Description for the intention. This is not used by Consul, but is presented in API responses to assist tooling.
Sample Payload
Sample Request
Sample Response
Create Intention with ID
Deprecated - This endpoint is deprecated in Consul 1.9.0 in favor of
upserting by name or editing the
service-intentions
config
entry for the destination.
This endpoint creates a new intention and returns its ID if it was created successfully.
The name and destination pair must be unique. If another intention matches the name and destination, the creation will fail. You must either update the existing intention or delete it prior to creating a new one.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
POST | /connect/intentions | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
NO | none | none | intentions:write Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention create
.
Query Parameters
ns
(string: "")
Enterprise - Specifies the default namespace to use whenSourceNS
orDestinationNS
request body parameters do not include a namespace as shown in the source and destination naming conventions. You can also specify the namespace through other methods.
JSON Request Body Schema
SourceName
(string: <required>)
- The source of the intention. For aSourceType
ofconsul
this is the name of a Consul service. The service does not need to be registered.SourceNS
(string: "")
Enterprise - The namespace for theSourceName
parameter.DestinationName
(string: <required>)
- The destination of the intention. The intention destination is always a Consul service, unlike the source. The service does not need to be registered.DestinationNS
(string: "")
Enterprise - The namespace for theDestinationName
parameter.SourceType
(string: "")
- The type for theSourceName
value. This can be only "consul" today to represent a Consul service. If not provided, this will be defaulted to "consul".Action
(string: <required>)
- This is one of "allow" or "deny" for the action that should be taken if this intention matches a request.Description
(string: "")
- Description for the intention. This is not used by Consul, but is presented in API responses to assist tooling.Meta
(map<string|string>: nil)
- Specifies arbitrary KV metadata pairs.
Sample Payload
Sample Request
Sample Response
Update Intention by ID
Deprecated - This endpoint is deprecated in Consul 1.9.0 in favor of
upserting by name or editing the
service-intentions
config
entry for the destination.
This endpoint updates an intention with the given values.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
PUT | /connect/intentions/:uuid | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
NO | none | none | intentions:write Define intention rules in the |
This endpoint supports the same parameters as the create an intention endpoint. Additional parameters unique to this endpoint include:
Path Parameters
uuid
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the UUID of the intention to update.
Sample Payload
Sample Request
Read Specific Intention by Name
This endpoint reads a specific intention by its unique source and destination.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
GET | /connect/intentions/exact | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
YES | all | none | intentions:read Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention get
.
Query Parameters
source
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the source service according to the source naming conventions.destination
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the destination service according to the destination naming conventions.ns
(string: "")
Enterprise - Specifies the default namespace to use whensource
ordestination
query parameters do not include a namespace as shown in the source and destination naming conventions. You can also specify the namespace through other methods.
Sample Request
Sample Response
Read Specific Intention by ID
Deprecated - This endpoint is deprecated in Consul 1.9.0 in favor of
reading by name or by viewing the
service-intentions
config entry for the destination.
This endpoint reads a specific intention.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
GET | /connect/intentions/:uuid | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
YES | all | none | intentions:read Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention get
.
Path Parameters
uuid
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the UUID of the intention to read.
Sample Request
Sample Response
List Intentions
This endpoint lists all intentions.
The HTTP response includes the X-Consul-Results-Filtered-By-ACLs: true
header
if the response array excludes results due to ACL policy configuration.
Refer to the HTTP API documentation for more information.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
GET | /connect/intentions | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
YES | all | none | intentions:read Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention list
.
Query Parameters
filter
(string: "")
- Specifies the expression used to filter the queries results prior to returning the data.ns
(string: "")
Enterprise - Specifies the namespace to list intentions from. The*
wildcard may be used to list intentions from all namespaces. You can also specify the namespace through other methods.
Sample Request
Sample Response
Filtering
The filter will be executed against each Intention in the result list with the following selectors and filter operations being supported:
Selector | Supported Operations |
---|---|
Action | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
Description | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
DestinationNS | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
DestinationName | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
ID | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
Meta | Is Empty, Is Not Empty, In, Not In |
Meta.<any> | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
Precedence | Equal, Not Equal |
SourceNS | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
SourceName | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
SourceType | Equal, Not Equal, In, Not In, Matches, Not Matches |
Delete Intention by Name
1.9.0+: This API is available in Consul versions 1.9.0 and later.
This endpoint deletes a specific intention by its unique source and destination.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
DELETE | /connect/intentions/exact | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
NO | none | none | intentions:write Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention delete
.
Query Parameters
source
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the source service according to the source naming conventions.destination
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the destination service according to the destination naming conventions.ns
(string: "")
Enterprise - Specifies the default namespace to use whensource
ordestination
query parameters do not include a namespace as shown in the source and destination naming conventions. You can also specify the namespace through other methods.
Sample Request
Delete Intention by ID
Deprecated - This endpoint is deprecated in Consul 1.9.0 in favor of
deleting by name or editing the
service-intentions
config
entry for the destination.
This endpoint deletes a specific intention.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
DELETE | /connect/intentions/:uuid | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
NO | none | none | intentions:write Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention delete
.
Path Parameters
uuid
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the UUID of the intention to delete.
Sample Request
Check Intention Result
This endpoint evaluates the intentions for a specific source and destination and returns whether the connection would be authorized or not given the current Consul configuration and set of intentions.
Note: This endpoint will always evaluate matching intentions with L7 Permissions
defined as deny intentions because there is no request to check against.
For performance and reliability reasons it is desirable to implement intention enforcement by listing intentions that match the destination and representing them in the native configuration of the proxy itself (such as RBAC for Envoy).
This endpoint will work even if the destination service has
intention = "deny"
specifically set, because the resulting API response
does not contain any information about the intention itself.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
GET | /connect/intentions/check | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
NO | none | none | intentions:read Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention check
.
Query Parameters
source
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the source service according to the source naming conventions.destination
(string: <required>)
- Specifies the destination service according to the destination naming conventions.ns
(string: "")
Enterprise - Specifies the default namespace to use whensource
ordestination
query parameters do not include a namespace as shown in the source and destination naming conventions. You can also specify the namespace through other methods.
Sample Request
Sample Response
Allowed
is true if the connection would be allowed, false otherwise.
List Matching Intentions
This endpoint lists the intentions that match a given source or destination. The intentions in the response are in evaluation order.
Method | Path | Produces |
---|---|---|
GET | /connect/intentions/match | application/json |
The table below shows this endpoint's support for blocking queries, consistency modes, agent caching, and required ACLs.
Blocking Queries | Consistency Modes | Agent Caching | ACL Required |
---|---|---|---|
YES | all | background refresh | intentions:read Define intention rules in the |
The corresponding CLI command is consul intention match
.
Query Parameters
by
(string: <required>)
- Specifies whether to match the "name" value by "source" or "destination".name
(string: <required>)
- Specifies a name to match according to the source and destination naming conventions. You can repeat this parameter for batching multiple matches.ns
(string: "")
Enterprise - Specifies the default namespace to use when thename
query parameter does not include a namespace as shown in the source and destination naming conventions. You can also specify the namespace through other methods.
Sample Request
Sample Response
Methods to Specify Namespace Enterprise
Intention endpoints support several methods for specifying the namespace of intention resources with the following order of precedence:
ns
query parameterX-Consul-Namespace
request header- Namespace is inherited from the namespace of the request's ACL token (if any)
- The
default
namespace