diff --git a/engine/graphqueryable.go b/engine/graphqueryable.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f720204a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/graphqueryable.go
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Mgmt
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2019+ James Shubin and the project contributors
+// Written by James Shubin <james@shubin.ca> and the project contributors
+//
+// This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+package engine
+
+// GraphQueryableRes is the interface that must be implemented if you want your
+// resource to be allowed to be queried from another resource in the graph. This
+// is done as a form of explicit authorization tracking so that we can consider
+// security aspects more easily. Ultimately, all resource code should be
+// trusted, but it's still a good idea to know if a particular resource is even
+// able to access information about another one, and if your resource doesn't
+// add the trait supporting this, then it won't be allowed.
+type GraphQueryableRes interface {
+	Res // implement everything in Res but add the additional requirements
+
+	// GraphQueryAllowed returns nil if you're allowed to query the graph.
+	GraphQueryAllowed(...GraphQueryableOption) error
+}
+
+// GraphQueryableOption is an option that can be used to specify the
+// authentication.
+type GraphQueryableOption func(*GraphQueryableOptions)
+
+// GraphQueryableOptions represents the different possible configurable options.
+type GraphQueryableOptions struct {
+	// Kind is the kind of the resource making the access.
+	Kind string
+	// Name is the name of the resource making the access.
+	Name string
+	// TODO: add more options if needed
+}
+
+// Apply is a helper function to apply a list of options to the struct. You
+// should initialize it with defaults you want, and then apply any you've
+// received like this.
+func (obj *GraphQueryableOptions) Apply(opts ...GraphQueryableOption) {
+	for _, optionFunc := range opts { // apply the options
+		optionFunc(obj)
+	}
+}
+
+// GraphQueryableOptionKind tells the GraphQueryAllowed function what the
+// resource kind is.
+func GraphQueryableOptionKind(kind string) GraphQueryableOption {
+	return func(gqo *GraphQueryableOptions) {
+		gqo.Kind = kind
+	}
+}
+
+// GraphQueryableOptionName tells the GraphQueryAllowed function what the
+// resource name is.
+func GraphQueryableOptionName(name string) GraphQueryableOption {
+	return func(gqo *GraphQueryableOptions) {
+		gqo.Name = name
+	}
+}
diff --git a/engine/traits/graphqueryable.go b/engine/traits/graphqueryable.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..62cf9288
--- /dev/null
+++ b/engine/traits/graphqueryable.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// Mgmt
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2019+ James Shubin and the project contributors
+// Written by James Shubin <james@shubin.ca> and the project contributors
+//
+// This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+package traits
+
+import (
+	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/engine"
+)
+
+// GraphQueryable contains a general implementation with some of the properties
+// and methods needed to implement the graph query permission for resources.
+type GraphQueryable struct {
+	// TODO: we could add more fine-grained permission logic here
+	//allow bool
+	//allowedResourceKinds []string
+
+	// Bug5819 works around issue https://github.com/golang/go/issues/5819
+	Bug5819 interface{} // XXX: workaround
+}
+
+// GraphQueryAllowed returns nil if you're allowed to query the graph. This
+// function accepts information about the requesting resource so we can
+// determine the access with some form of fine-grained control.
+func (obj *GraphQueryable) GraphQueryAllowed(opts ...engine.GraphQueryableOption) error {
+	options := &engine.GraphQueryableOptions{ // default options
+		//kind: "",
+		//name: "",
+		// TODO: add more options if needed
+	}
+	options.Apply(opts...) // apply the options
+
+	// By default if you just add this trait, it does the "all allow" so
+	// that you don't need to implement this function, but if you want to,
+	// you can add it and implement your own auth.
+	return nil
+}