Make local missing permissions a hard error rather than a warning

[evansd]

A permissions system was added to ehrQL in:

• Add a permissions system #2543

The plan is for local ehrQL runs to fail immediately and loudly when a table or feature is used which requires special permission. The error message should provide clear instructions on what to do next so this shouldn't be a blocker for the user. But the aim is that no user should get to the stage of trying to run something for real and only then discover that the thing they are trying to do requires extra permissions.

However, to allow for a smooth rollout of the permissions changes we have initially only made this a warning – which is easy to miss if you're not looking at your ehrQL logs.

At some appropriate point we should change this warning to an error. We'll need to decide exactly what counts as "appropriate" here. But Will suggests that we don't need to be too anxious here:

However, i wouldn't be too worried about giving everyone a chance to update their code without being suddenly forced to do so. It would be a quick fix and it's easy to support the relatively small number of users affected by this

[evansd]

Here are a list of the repositories which would need updating, ordered by when they last ran a job.

I think we can ignore anything last run before the start of the year, so there's only a small handful which need updating.

Of course, this doesn't include projects which are still in development and haven't yet run any real jobs. But I think we can afford to let those users do the update themselves.

Last Ran	Repo	Permissions
2025‑10‑01	https://github.com/opensafely/post-covid-respiratory	claim_permissions("appointments")
2025-10-01	https://github.com/opensafely/post-covid-cvd	claim_permissions("appointments")
2025-10-01	https://github.com/opensafely/post-covid-neurodegenerative	claim_permissions("appointments")
2025-09-30	https://github.com/opensafely/WinterPressuresDescriptive	claim_permissions("appointments")
2025-09-23	https://github.com/opensafely/metformin_covid	claim_permissions("appointments")
2025-09-17	https://github.com/opensafely/post-covid-cvd-methods	claim_permissions("appointments")
2025-09-16	https://github.com/opensafely/post-covid-renal	claim_permissions("appointments")
2025-09-03	https://github.com/opensafely/winter-pressures-phase-II	claim_permissions("appointments")
2025-06-12	https://github.com/opensafely/wp3_predicting_pressures	claim_permissions("appointments")
2024-12-31	https://github.com/opensafely/uom_pregnancy_tx_pathways_166	claim_permissions("appointments")
2024-09-06	https://github.com/opensafely/ckd-healthcare-use	claim_permissions("appointments", "ukrr")
2024-06-30	https://github.com/opensafely/post-covid-kidney-outcomes	claim_permissions("appointments")
2024-06-28	https://github.com/opensafely/sotrovimab-and-molnupiravir	claim_permissions("ukrr")
2024-06-17	https://github.com/opensafely/waiting-list	claim_permissions("waiting_list")
2024-06-13	https://github.com/opensafely/end-of-life-carequality	claim_permissions("appointments")
2024-05-01	https://github.com/opensafely/digital-access-to-primary-care	claim_permissions("appointments")
2024-04-16	https://github.com/opensafely/opioids-covid-research	claim_permissions("waiting_list")
2024-03-06	https://github.com/opensafely/openprompt-hrqol	claim_permissions("open_prompt")
2024-01-19	https://github.com/opensafely/renal-short-data-report	claim_permissions("ukrr")
2023-12-14	https://github.com/opensafely/Safety-Sotrovimab-Paxlovid-Molnupiravir	claim_permissions("ukrr")
2023-10-23	https://github.com/opensafely/isaric-exploration	claim_permissions("isaric")
2023-07-28	https://github.com/opensafely/winter-pressures	claim_permissions("appointments")
2023-05-03	https://github.com/opensafely/hdruk-os-covid-paeds	claim_permissions("isaric")
2023-03-14	https://github.com/opensafely/deaths-at-home-covid19	claim_permissions("appointments")
2023-02-16	https://github.com/opensafely/appointments-short-data-report	claim_permissions("appointments")
2022-12-19	https://github.com/opensafely/ckd-coverage-ve	claim_permissions("ukrr")

[evansd]

I've opened PRs against all the "2025" repos above and written a thread in #opensafely-users.

Once these PRs are merged I think we're OK to proceed:

• Add permissions declaration opensafely/post-covid-respiratory#218
• https://github.com/opensafely/post-covid-cvd/pull/30
• Add permissions declaration opensafely/post-covid-neurodegenerative#127
• https://github.com/opensafely/WinterPressuresDescriptive/pull/31
• Add permissions declaration opensafely/metformin_covid#41
• Add permissions declaration opensafely/post-covid-cvd-methods#14
• Add permissions declaration opensafely/post-covid-renal#48
• https://github.com/opensafely/winter-pressures-phase-II/pull/140
• https://github.com/opensafely/wp3_predicting_pressures/pull/2