Deploy Cerbos on DigitalOcean
Run the Cerbos PDP on DigitalOcean using App Platform, Droplets, or Kubernetes clusters.
Multiple deployment options
Run Cerbos as a container on App Platform, a binary on Droplets, or within a DigitalOcean Managed Kubernetes cluster
App Platform support
Deploy the Cerbos container image directly to App Platform for managed scaling and networking
Stateless scaling
Scale Cerbos horizontally across Droplets or pods with no coordination between instances
What is Cerbos?
Cerbos is an open-source authorization layer that decouples access control from your application code. It runs as a stateless Policy Decision Point (PDP) that evaluates fine-grained policies at request time.
Authorization policies are written in human-readable YAML supporting RBAC, ABAC, and conditional rules. They can be updated, tested, and deployed independently of your application.
Deploying Cerbos via DigitalOcean gives you a production-ready authorization service that scales horizontally and fits naturally into your existing infrastructure and observability stack.
How to deploy Cerbos on DigitalOcean
- Choose a deployment target, Select App Platform for managed containers, a Droplet for VM-based deployment, or Managed Kubernetes for orchestrated workloads.
- Deploy Cerbos, Use the official container image or download the static binary depending on your chosen deployment target.
- Configure policy loading, Point Cerbos at a local policy directory, Git repository, or Cerbos Hub for policy storage.
- Connect your application, Use a Cerbos SDK to send authorization checks to the running PDP.
FAQ
How do I deploy Cerbos on DigitalOcean?
Deploy the official Cerbos container image to DigitalOcean App Platform, run the binary on a Droplet, or deploy to a DigitalOcean Managed Kubernetes cluster. Configure your policy source and expose the HTTP and gRPC ports.
Does Cerbos require any external dependencies?
No. Cerbos is self-contained with no database or message queue required. Policies load from the filesystem, a Git repository, or Cerbos Hub.
Which DigitalOcean service should I use for Cerbos?
App Platform is the simplest option for container deployments. Droplets give full VM control. Managed Kubernetes works well if you already run a cluster for other services.
Learn more about Cerbos
Related integrations
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Cerbos + DigitalOcean
- Cerbos runs alongside your workloads in DigitalOcean
- No external databases or message queues required
- Built-in metrics, distributed tracing, and structured logging
- Stateless PDP instances scale horizontally
Authorization for AI systems
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Useful links
What is Cerbos?
Cerbos is an end-to-end enterprise authorization software for Zero Trust environments and AI-powered systems. It enforces fine-grained, contextual, and continuous authorization across apps, APIs, AI agents, MCP servers, services, and workloads.
Cerbos consists of an open-source Policy Decision Point, Enforcement Point integrations, and a centrally managed Policy Administration Plane (Cerbos Hub) that coordinates unified policy-based authorization across your architecture. Enforce least privilege & maintain full visibility into access decisions with Cerbos authorization.