diff --git a/doc.go b/doc.go
index 3ade8ca..0ad0959 100644
--- a/doc.go
+++ b/doc.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 //
 //   - expanding user-facing paths that start with ~ or contain $HOME
 //   - checking whether paths exist and whether they are regular files or directories
+//   - checking whether a regular file is marked readable or writable by its owner
 //   - confirming that a path remains inside a base directory after normalization
 //   - matching file extensions case-insensitively
 //   - writing files atomically by replacing the destination with a temporary file
@@ -16,6 +17,13 @@
 // replaces $HOME references with the HOME environment variable. If the home
 // directory cannot be determined, the original path is returned unchanged.
 //
+// # Permission Predicates
+//
+// [IsReadable] and [IsWritable] inspect the file mode, not the effective access of the calling process.
+// That is the portable answer the standard library can give: os.Stat exposes mode bits everywhere, while
+// asking "can I open this?" needs access(2) or an attempted open. A caller that must be certain should
+// open the file and handle the error — the answer can change between any check and the open regardless.
+//
 // # Atomic Writes
 //
 // [WriteFileAtomic] writes data to a temporary file in the destination directory,
diff --git a/example_test.go b/example_test.go
index cca76c1..a566d9b 100644
--- a/example_test.go
+++ b/example_test.go
@@ -67,3 +67,36 @@ func ExampleWriteFileAtomic() {
 	// Output:
 	// ready
 }
+
+func ExampleIsWritable() {
+	dir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "fsx-example-*")
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Println("error:", err)
+
+		return
+	}
+	defer os.RemoveAll(dir)
+
+	writable := filepath.Join(dir, "writable.yaml")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(writable, []byte("a: 1\n"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		fmt.Println("error:", err)
+
+		return
+	}
+
+	readOnly := filepath.Join(dir, "readonly.yaml")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(readOnly, []byte("a: 1\n"), 0o400); err != nil {
+		fmt.Println("error:", err)
+
+		return
+	}
+
+	fmt.Println(fsx.IsWritable(writable))
+	fmt.Println(fsx.IsWritable(readOnly))
+	fmt.Println(fsx.IsReadable(readOnly))
+
+	// Output:
+	// true
+	// false
+	// true
+}
diff --git a/fsx.go b/fsx.go
index 98b650b..6b0e753 100644
--- a/fsx.go
+++ b/fsx.go
@@ -110,6 +110,56 @@ func IsWithin(base, target string) bool {
 	return rel != ".." && !strings.HasPrefix(rel, ".."+string(filepath.Separator))
 }
 
+// Owner permission bits inspected by [IsReadable] and [IsWritable].
+const (
+	ownerRead  = 0o400
+	ownerWrite = 0o200
+)
+
+// IsReadable reports whether path is a regular file whose owner-read bit is set.
+//
+// The check is on the file mode, not on the effective access of the calling process. That is the
+// portable answer the standard library can give: os.Stat exposes mode bits on every platform, while
+// asking "can *I* open this?" requires access(2) or an attempted open, neither of which is available
+// portably without cgo or a platform build tag.
+//
+// So this answers "is this file marked readable by its owner?" — which is what a tool validating a
+// configuration path it created wants to know. A caller that must be certain it can read the file should
+// open it and handle the error; a predicate cannot promise more than the mode bits it read, and the
+// answer can change between the check and the open regardless.
+//
+// An empty path, a missing path, and a path that is not a regular file all report false.
+func IsReadable(path string) bool {
+	return hasOwnerBits(path, ownerRead)
+}
+
+// IsWritable reports whether path is a regular file whose owner-write bit is set.
+//
+// The same mode-bit semantics as [IsReadable] apply, and for the same reason. The case this exists for is
+// a tool that will later rewrite a file it was handed — a configuration file, a lock file — and would
+// rather refuse at validation time than fail halfway through a write.
+//
+// An empty path, a missing path, and a path that is not a regular file all report false.
+func IsWritable(path string) bool {
+	return hasOwnerBits(path, ownerWrite)
+}
+
+// hasOwnerBits reports whether path is a regular file with all of the given mode bits set.
+func hasOwnerBits(path string, bits os.FileMode) bool {
+	if path == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	info, err := os.Stat(ExpandPath(path))
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	mode := info.Mode()
+
+	return mode.IsRegular() && mode&bits == bits
+}
+
 // HasExtension reports whether path has one of the provided extensions.
 //
 // Extension matching is case-insensitive. Extensions may be passed with or
diff --git a/fsx_test.go b/fsx_test.go
index decdff0..0a5fc08 100644
--- a/fsx_test.go
+++ b/fsx_test.go
@@ -481,3 +481,141 @@ func BenchmarkWriteFileAtomic(b *testing.B) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestIsReadable(t *testing.T) {
+	tmpDir := t.TempDir()
+
+	readable := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "readable.txt")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(readable, []byte("content"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("os.WriteFile() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	unreadable := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "unreadable.txt")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(unreadable, []byte("content"), 0o200); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("os.WriteFile() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		path string
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "empty path",
+			path: "",
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "readable file",
+			path: readable,
+			want: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "write-only file",
+			path: unreadable,
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "directory",
+			path: tmpDir,
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "missing path",
+			path: filepath.Join(tmpDir, "missing.txt"),
+			want: false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			if got := IsReadable(tt.path); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("IsReadable(%q) = %t, want %t", tt.path, got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestIsWritable(t *testing.T) {
+	tmpDir := t.TempDir()
+
+	writable := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "writable.txt")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(writable, []byte("content"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("os.WriteFile() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	readOnly := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "readonly.txt")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(readOnly, []byte("content"), 0o400); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("os.WriteFile() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		path string
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "empty path",
+			path: "",
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "writable file",
+			path: writable,
+			want: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "read-only file",
+			path: readOnly,
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "directory",
+			path: tmpDir,
+			want: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "missing path",
+			path: filepath.Join(tmpDir, "missing.txt"),
+			want: false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			if got := IsWritable(tt.path); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("IsWritable(%q) = %t, want %t", tt.path, got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// Both predicates expand the path first, like every other function in the package.
+func TestIsReadableWritableExpandsHOME(t *testing.T) {
+	home := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("HOME", home)
+
+	path := filepath.Join(home, "config.yaml")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte("content"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("os.WriteFile() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if !IsReadable("$HOME/config.yaml") {
+		t.Error(`IsReadable("$HOME/config.yaml") = false, want true`)
+	}
+
+	if !IsWritable("~/config.yaml") {
+		t.Error(`IsWritable("~/config.yaml") = false, want true`)
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkIsWritable(b *testing.B) {
+	path := filepath.Join(b.TempDir(), "data.txt")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte("content"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		b.Fatalf("os.WriteFile() error = %v", err)
+	}
+
+	for b.Loop() {
+		IsWritable(path)
+	}
+}