Notion Policy & Guardrails

Overview

Governance framework for Notion integrations at scale. Covers integration naming standards, page sharing policy enforcement, property naming conventions, database schema validation, and access audit scripts. Uses Client from @notionhq/client for programmatic enforcement.

Prerequisites

• @notionhq/client v2.x installed (npm install @notionhq/client)
• Python: notion-client installed (pip install notion-client)
• NOTION_TOKEN environment variable set (admin-level integration recommended for audits)
• CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions examples provided)

Authentication

All scripts authenticate with a Notion internal integration token read from the NOTION_TOKEN environment variable — never hardcode it. Create the token at notion.so/my-integrations, share the target pages/databases with the integration, and inject the token via CI secrets (e.g. secrets.NOTION_AUDIT_TOKEN). Audit scripts want a broadly-shared admin integration; runtime bots want the narrowest sharing scope that works. Token rotation is tracked in Step 1 (max 90 days).

Instructions

The workflow has three stages. Each stage's full enforcement code (TypeScript + Python) lives in references/implementation.md — the skeletons below show the shape; drill into the reference for the complete functions.

Step 1: Integration Naming Standards and Token Management

Establish a {team}-{env}-{purpose} naming convention (e.g. eng-prod-sync) so teams can identify which bot accessed what, validate it at startup, and track token rotation (max 90 days). Core check:

// Must match: /^[a-z]+-[a-z]+-[a-z]+$/  →  eng-prod-sync
function validateIntegrationName(name: string): string[] { /* ... */ }

Full IntegrationConfig, startup validation, and checkTokenExpiry registry: references/implementation.md § Step 1.

Step 2: Page Sharing Policies and Property Naming Conventions

Standardize property names across databases (PascalCase titles, Date/At suffixes on dates, plural multi-selects, a banned-name list) and audit which pages are shared publicly. Core check:

async function auditDatabaseSchema(notion, databaseId):
  Promise<{ violations: string[]; recommendations: string[] }> { /* ... */ }

Full PROPERTY_NAMING_RULES, auditPageAccess, and the Python port: references/implementation.md § Step 2.

Step 3: Access Audit Scripts and Database Schema Standards

Run a paginated, rate-limited workspace audit of everything the integration can reach, and gate schema drift in CI. Core check:

async function workspaceAccessAudit(notion: Client): Promise<void> { /* ... */ }
// Flags integrations with access to >1000 items; enumerates every database.

Full validateSchemaInCI, the GitHub Actions workflow (weekly cron + token scan), and the Python port: references/implementation.md § Step 3.

Output

• Integration naming standards validated at startup
• Token rotation tracking with expiry warnings
• Property naming conventions audited against database schemas
• Access audit showing all content visible to the integration
• CI workflow enforcing schema standards and secret scanning
• Violation report with actionable recommendations

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Audit shows too many pages	Integration shared at workspace level	Narrow sharing to specific pages/databases
Schema validation fails	Property renamed in Notion UI	Update schema config to match
Token scan false positive	Test fixtures contain example tokens	Add --exclude for test directories
object_not_found during audit	Page unshared since last audit	Expected — log and continue
Naming convention too strict	Legacy integrations don't match	Add exceptions list with migration deadline

Examples

A one-line CI secret scan and the .env-not-committed guard:

grep -rn "ntn_\|secret_" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" src/ && echo "FAIL: Token found" || echo "PASS: No tokens"
git ls-files | grep -E "^\.env" && echo "FAIL: .env committed" || echo "PASS"

For the full SCHEMA_REGISTRY (per-database required-property maps that feed CI validation) and more, see references/examples.md.

Resources

• Notion Integration Best Practices
• Notion Authorization Guide
• ESLint Custom Rules
• Pre-commit Framework

Next Steps

For architecture blueprints, see notion-architecture-variants. For common mistakes to avoid, see notion-known-pitfalls.