diff --git a/examples/auth_daemon_python/README.md b/examples/auth_daemon_python/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl-auth-daemon.service b/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl-auth-daemon.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c73b3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl-auth-daemon.service
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Authorization daemon for Muscl
+
+[Service]
+Type=notify
+ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/muscl_auth_daemon.py
+
+# WatchdogSec=15
+
+User=muscl
+Group=muscl
+DynamicUser=yes
+
+; ConfigurationDirectory=muscl
+; RuntimeDirectory=muscl
+
+; # This is required to read unix user/group details.
+; PrivateUsers=false
+
+; # Needed to communicate with MySQL.
+; PrivateNetwork=false
+; PrivateIPC=false
+
+; AmbientCapabilities=
+; CapabilityBoundingSet=
+; DeviceAllow=
+; DevicePolicy=closed
+; LockPersonality=true
+; MemoryDenyWriteExecute=true
+; NoNewPrivileges=true
+; PrivateDevices=true
+; PrivateMounts=true
+; PrivateTmp=yes
+; ProcSubset=pid
+; ProtectClock=true
+; ProtectControlGroups=strict
+; ProtectHome=true
+; ProtectHostname=true
+; ProtectKernelLogs=true
+; ProtectKernelModules=true
+; ProtectKernelTunables=true
+; ProtectProc=invisible
+; ProtectSystem=strict
+; RemoveIPC=true
+; RestrictAddressFamilies=AF_UNIX AF_INET AF_INET6
+; RestrictNamespaces=true
+; RestrictRealtime=true
+; RestrictSUIDSGID=true
+; SocketBindDeny=any
+; SystemCallArchitectures=native
+; SystemCallFilter=@system-service
+; SystemCallFilter=~@privileged @resources
+; UMask=0777
diff --git a/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl-auth-daemon.socket b/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl-auth-daemon.socket
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4e4ba0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl-auth-daemon.socket
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Authorization daemon for Muscl
+WantedBy=sockets.target
+
+[Socket]
+ListenStream=/run/muscl/muscl-auth-daemon.socket
+Accept=no
+SocketMode=0660
diff --git a/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl_auth_daemon.py b/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl_auth_daemon.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a77eca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl_auth_daemon.py
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+# TODO: create pool of workers to handle requests concurrently
+#       the socket should be a listener socket and each worker should accept connections from it
+#       the socket should accept requests as newline-separated JSON objects
+#       there should be a watchdog to monitor worker health and restart them if they die
+#       graceful shutdown should be implemented for the workers
+#       optional logging of requests and responses
+#       use systemd notify to signal readiness and amount of connections handled
+
+import json
+import os
+from socket import AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, SOCK_STREAM, fromfd, socket
+from multiprocessing import Pool
+
+
+def get_listener_from_systemd() -> socket:
+    listen_fds = int(os.getenv("LISTEN_FDS", "0"))
+    listen_pid = int(os.getenv("LISTEN_PID", "0"))
+    if listen_fds != 1 or listen_pid != os.getpid():
+        raise RuntimeError("No socket passed from systemd")
+    assert listen_fds == 1
+    sock = fromfd(3, AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM)
+    sock.setblocking(False)
+    return sock
+
+
+def get_notify_socket_from_systemd() -> socket:
+    notify_socket_path = os.getenv("NOTIFY_SOCKET")
+    if not notify_socket_path:
+        raise RuntimeError("No notify socket path found in environment")
+    sock = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM)
+    sock.connect(notify_socket_path)
+    return sock
+
+
+def run_auth_daemon(sock: socket):
+    sock.listen()
+    print("Auth daemon is running and listening for connections...")
+    with Pool() as worker_pool:
+        with get_notify_socket_from_systemd() as notify_socket:
+            notify_socket.sendall(b"READY=1\n")
+        while True:
+            conn, _ = sock.accept()
+            worker_pool.apply_async(session_handler, args=(conn,))
+
+
+def session_handler(sock: socket):
+    buffer = ""
+    while True:
+        data = sock.recv(4096).decode("utf-8")
+        if not data:
+            print("Connection closed by client")
+            break
+        buffer += data
+        if buffer.endswith("\n"):
+            requests = buffer.strip().split("\n")
+            buffer = ""
+            for request in requests:
+                try:
+                    req_json = json.loads(request)
+                    username = req_json.get("username", "")
+                    groups = req_json.get("groups", [])
+                    resource_type = req_json.get("resource_type", "")
+                    resource = req_json.get("resource", "")
+                    allowed = process_request(username, groups, resource_type, resource)
+                    response = {"allowed": allowed}
+                except json.JSONDecodeError:
+                    response = {"error": "Invalid JSON"}
+                sock.sendall((json.dumps(response) + "\n").encode("utf-8"))
+
+
+def process_request(
+    username: str,
+    groups: list[str],
+    resource_type: str,
+    resource: str,
+) -> bool:
+    ...
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    listener_socket = get_listener_from_systemd()
+    run_auth_daemon(listener_socket)
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 5d04334..e32afe2 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@
         fileset = lib.fileset.unions [
           (craneLib.fileset.commonCargoSources ./.)
           ./assets
+          ./examples
         ];
       };
     in {
diff --git a/nix/default.nix b/nix/default.nix
index 36f04c0..8da7c6c 100644
--- a/nix/default.nix
+++ b/nix/default.nix
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ buildFunction ({
     install -Dm644 assets/systemd/muscl.service -t "$out/lib/systemd/system"
     substituteInPlace "$out/lib/systemd/system/muscl.service" \
       --replace-fail '/usr/bin/muscl' "$out/bin/muscl"
+
+    mkdir -p "$out/share/muscl"
+    cp -r examples "$out/share/muscl"
   '';
 
   meta = with lib; {
diff --git a/nix/module.nix b/nix/module.nix
index 9b13c6c..ec5ef18 100644
--- a/nix/module.nix
+++ b/nix/module.nix
@@ -27,6 +27,31 @@ in
       }.${level};
     };
 
+    authHandler = lib.mkOption {
+      type = with lib.types; nullOr lines;
+      default = null;
+      description = "Custom authentication handler, written in python";
+      example = ''
+        def process_request(
+            username: str,
+            groups: list[str],
+            resource_type: str,
+            resource: str,
+        ) -> bool:
+            if resource_type == "database":
+                if resource.startswith(username) or any(
+                    resource.startswith(group) for group in groups
+                ):
+                    return True
+            elif resource_type == "user":
+                if resource.startswith(username) or any(
+                    resource.startswith(group) for group in groups
+                ):
+                    return True
+            return False
+      '';
+    };
+
     settings = lib.mkOption {
       default = { };
       type = lib.types.submodule {
@@ -149,5 +174,72 @@ in
           ++ (lib.optionals (cfg.settings.mysql.host != null) [ "AF_INET" "AF_INET6" ]);
       };
     };
+
+    systemd.sockets."muscl-auth-daemon" = lib.mkIf (cfg.authHandler != null) {
+      description = "Authorization daemon for Muscl";
+      wantedBy = [ "sockets.target" ];
+      socketConfig = {
+        ListenStream = "/run/muscl/muscl-auth-daemon.sock";
+        Accept = "no";
+      };
+    };
+
+    systemd.services."muscl-auth-daemon" = lib.mkIf (cfg.authHandler != null) {
+      description = "Authorization daemon for Muscl";
+      requires = [ "muscl-auth-daemon.socket" ];
+      serviceConfig = {
+        Type = "notify";
+        ExecStart = let
+          authScript = lib.pipe ../examples/auth_daemon_python/muscl_auth_daemon.py [
+            lib.fileContents
+            (lib.replaceString ''
+              def process_request(
+                  username: str,
+                  groups: list[str],
+                  resource_type: str,
+                  resource: str,
+              ) -> bool:
+                  ...
+            '' cfg.authHandler)
+            (pkgs.writers.writePyPy3Bin "muscl-auth-handler.py" { })
+          ];
+        in lib.getExe authScript;
+
+        User = "muscl-auth-daemon";
+        Group = "muscl-auth-daemon";
+        DynamicUser = true;
+
+        AmbientCapabilities = [ "" ];
+        CapabilityBoundingSet = [ "" ];
+        DeviceAllow = [ "" ];
+        LockPersonality = true;
+        NoNewPrivileges = true;
+        PrivateDevices = true;
+        PrivateMounts = true;
+        PrivateTmp = "yes";
+        ProcSubset = "pid";
+        ProtectClock = true;
+        ProtectControlGroups = "strict";
+        ProtectHome = true;
+        ProtectHostname = true;
+        ProtectKernelLogs = true;
+        ProtectKernelModules = true;
+        ProtectKernelTunables = true;
+        ProtectProc = "invisible";
+        ProtectSystem = "strict";
+        RemoveIPC = true;
+        UMask = "0777";
+        RestrictNamespaces = true;
+        RestrictRealtime = true;
+        RestrictSUIDSGID = true;
+        SystemCallArchitectures = "native";
+        SocketBindDeny = [ "any" ];
+        SystemCallFilter = [
+          "@system-service"
+          "~@privileged"
+          "~@resources"
+        ];
+      };
+    };
   };
 }
diff --git a/nix/nixos-configurations/vm.nix b/nix/nixos-configurations/vm.nix
index 11c8b2a..82726d2 100644
--- a/nix/nixos-configurations/vm.nix
+++ b/nix/nixos-configurations/vm.nix
@@ -55,6 +55,25 @@ nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
         enable = true;
         logLevel = "trace";
         createLocalDatabaseUser = true;
+        authHandler = ''
+          def process_request(
+              username: str,
+              groups: list[str],
+              resource_type: str,
+              resource: str,
+          ) -> bool:
+              if resource_type == "database":
+                  if resource.startswith(username) or any(
+                      resource.startswith(group) for group in groups
+                  ):
+                      return True
+              elif resource_type == "user":
+                  if resource.startswith(username) or any(
+                      resource.startswith(group) for group in groups
+                  ):
+                      return True
+              return False
+        '';
       };
 
       programs.vim = {