Deployment

Install Cerbos with Homebrew

Install the Cerbos PDP on macOS or Linux with a single Homebrew command for local development and testing.

One-command install

Install Cerbos with a single `brew install` command, no manual downloads or path configuration

Local development

Run a full Cerbos PDP on your machine to develop and test authorization policies before deploying

Automatic updates

Keep Cerbos up to date with `brew upgrade`, managed alongside your other development tools

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 Homebrew gives you a production-ready authorization service that scales horizontally and fits naturally into your existing infrastructure and observability stack.

Policy-as-codeHuman-readable YAML policies managed like source code Scalable PDPStateless policy decision point with sub-millisecond latency Centralized managementManage, test, and deploy policies from a single control plane

How to install Cerbos with Homebrew

Install the Cerbos tap, Run brew install cerbos/tap/cerbos to install the Cerbos binary from the official Homebrew tap.
Create a policy directory, Write your authorization policies as YAML files in a local directory.
Start the PDP, Run cerbos server --config=/path/to/config.yaml to start the local policy decision point.
Connect your application, Use a Cerbos SDK to send authorization checks from your application to the local PDP.

FAQ

How do I install Cerbos with Homebrew?

Run `brew install cerbos/tap/cerbos` to install the Cerbos binary. Once installed, run `cerbos server` with a policy directory to start the PDP locally.

Does Cerbos require any external dependencies?

No. Cerbos is a single static binary with no external dependencies. It requires no database, message queue, or runtime. Just install and run.

Is Homebrew suitable for production?

Homebrew is ideal for local development and testing. For production deployments, use Docker, Kubernetes with Helm, or a cloud VM with the binary installed directly or managed via systemd.