Implementation:BerriAI Litellm Policy Templates Backup

Overview

Description

The litellm/policy_templates_backup.json file is a local backup copy of the primary policy templates file (policy_templates.json at the repository root). It is bundled within the LiteLLM Python package and used as a fallback by the proxy server's policy management endpoints when the remote GitHub-hosted version cannot be fetched.

Policy templates are pre-configured combinations of guardrails designed to address common security and compliance requirements. Each template bundles multiple guardrail definitions (PII protection, NSFW content filtering, credential blocking, etc.) into a single deployable policy. The templates are displayed in the LiteLLM Proxy UI to enable one-click policy deployment.

Usage

This file is loaded by the _load_policy_templates_from_local_backup() function in litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/policy_endpoints.py. It is used in two scenarios:

1. When the environment variable LITELLM_LOCAL_POLICY_TEMPLATES=true is set
2. When fetching from GitHub fails (network error, non-200 response, etc.)

# Loading path:
# litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/policy_endpoints.py
backup_path = os.path.join(
    os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "..", "policy_templates_backup.json"
)
with open(path, "r") as f:
    return json.load(f)

Data Schema

Top-Level Structure

The file is a JSON array of policy template objects.

[
    {
        "id": "advanced-au-pii-protection",
        "title": "Advanced PII Protection (Australia)",
        "description": "...",
        "icon": "ShieldCheckIcon",
        "iconColor": "text-purple-500",
        "iconBg": "bg-purple-50",
        "guardrails": ["au-pii-tax-identifiers", ...],
        "complexity": "High",
        "guardrailDefinitions": [ ... ],
        "templateData": { ... }
    },
    ...
]

Schema Fields

Policy Template Object

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	String	Yes	Unique identifier for the template (e.g., "advanced-au-pii-protection")
title	String	Yes	Human-readable display title for the UI
description	String	Yes	Detailed description of what the template protects against
icon	String	Yes	Icon component name for UI rendering (e.g., "ShieldCheckIcon", "ShieldExclamationIcon")
iconColor	String	Yes	Tailwind CSS color class for the icon (e.g., "text-purple-500")
iconBg	String	Yes	Tailwind CSS background class for the icon container (e.g., "bg-purple-50")
guardrails	Array[String]	Yes	List of guardrail names included in this template
complexity	String	Yes	Complexity level: "Low", "Medium", or "High"
guardrailDefinitions	Array[Object]	Yes	Full guardrail configuration objects for each guardrail
templateData	Object	Yes	Data used to create the policy when the template is applied

Guardrail Definition Object

Each entry in guardrailDefinitions defines a single guardrail:

Field	Type	Description
guardrail_name	String	Unique name of the guardrail (e.g., "au-pii-tax-identifiers")
litellm_params	Object	LiteLLM configuration parameters for the guardrail
guardrail_info	Object	Metadata about the guardrail

litellm_params Object

Field	Type	Description
guardrail	String	Guardrail engine (always "litellm_content_filter" in templates)
mode	String	When the guardrail runs: "pre_call" (before LLM call) or "post_call"
patterns	Array[Object]	Pattern matching rules (for PII-type guardrails)
categories	Array[Object]	Category matching rules (for content filter-type guardrails)
pattern_redaction_format	String	Format string for redacted content (e.g., "[{pattern_name}_REDACTED]")

Pattern Object

Field	Type	Description
pattern_type	String	Type of pattern: "prebuilt" (built-in recognizer) or "custom"
pattern_name	String	Name of the pattern (e.g., "us_ssn", "email", "visa", "aws_access_key")
action	String	Action to take on match: "MASK" (redact the data) or "BLOCK" (reject the request)

templateData Object

Field	Type	Description
policy_name	String	Name for the created policy
description	String	Description for the created policy
guardrails_add	Array[String]	Guardrails to add when applying the template
guardrails_remove	Array[String]	Guardrails to remove (typically empty)

Known Templates

Template ID	Complexity	Description
advanced-au-pii-protection	High	Australian PII, international identifiers, financial data, credentials, protected class information
baseline-pii-protection	Low	Minimal protection focused on credentials and high-risk identifiers only
nsfw-content-filter-australia	Medium	Profanity, sexual content, self-harm, child safety violations with Australian-specific patterns

Prebuilt Pattern Types

The templates reference numerous prebuilt patterns:

PII Identifiers: us_ssn, us_ssn_no_dash, au_tfn, au_abn, au_medicare, br_cpf, br_rg, br_cnpj, nl_bsn_contextual

Passports: passport_us, passport_uk, passport_germany, passport_france, passport_netherlands, passport_china, passport_india, passport_japan, passport_canada, passport_australia

Contact Information: email, us_phone, br_phone_landline, br_phone_mobile, street_address, br_cep

Financial: visa, mastercard, amex, discover, credit_card, iban

Credentials: aws_access_key, aws_secret_key, github_token, slack_token, generic_api_key

Infrastructure: ipv4, ipv6

Protected Classes: gender_sexual_orientation, race_ethnicity_national_origin, religion, age_discrimination, disability, marital_family_status, military_status, public_assistance

Usage Examples

How Templates are Served via the API

# From litellm/proxy/management_endpoints/policy_endpoints.py:

POLICY_TEMPLATES_GITHUB_URL = (
    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BerriAI/litellm/main/policy_templates.json"
)

@router.get("/policy/templates", tags=["policy management"])
async def get_policy_templates(request: Request, ...):
    """
    Fetches from GitHub with automatic fallback to local backup on failure.
    Set LITELLM_LOCAL_POLICY_TEMPLATES=true to skip GitHub and use local backup only.
    """
    use_local = os.getenv("LITELLM_LOCAL_POLICY_TEMPLATES", "").strip().lower() in (
        "true", "1", "yes"
    )
    if use_local:
        return _load_policy_templates_from_local_backup()

    try:
        response = await async_client.get(POLICY_TEMPLATES_GITHUB_URL)
        if response.status_code == 200:
            return response.json()
    except Exception:
        pass

    return _load_policy_templates_from_local_backup()

Related Pages

• Policy Templates - The primary root-level version of this file
• Callback Configs - Related configuration for callback integrations