Run Cerbos as a systemd service
Run the Cerbos PDP as a managed systemd service on any Linux host with automatic restarts and logging.
Process management
Automatic restarts, dependency ordering, and resource limits managed by systemd
Journal logging
Cerbos logs integrate with the systemd journal for centralized log management
No container required
Run Cerbos as a native binary without Docker or any container runtime
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 Systemd gives you a production-ready authorization service that scales horizontally and fits naturally into your existing infrastructure and observability stack.
How to run Cerbos as a systemd service
- Download the Cerbos binary, Grab the latest static binary from the Cerbos releases page for your architecture.
- Create a Cerbos configuration file, Configure your policy source, server settings, and logging preferences in a YAML config file.
- Create a systemd unit file, Define a service unit that runs the Cerbos binary with your configuration, with restart and resource limit policies.
- Enable and start the service, Run
systemctl enable --now cerbosto start Cerbos and ensure it starts on boot.
FAQ
How do I run Cerbos as a systemd service?
Download the Cerbos binary, create a systemd unit file that points to your Cerbos configuration, then enable and start the service with systemctl. Cerbos will run as a managed background process with automatic restarts.
Does Cerbos require any external dependencies?
No. Cerbos is a single static binary with no external dependencies. It requires no database, message queue, or container runtime.
How do I view Cerbos logs with systemd?
Use `journalctl -u cerbos` to view Cerbos logs through the standard systemd journal. Cerbos supports structured JSON logging for integration with log aggregation tools.
Learn more about Cerbos
Related integrations
View all integrations →
Cerbos + Systemd
- Cerbos runs alongside your workloads in Systemd
- No external databases or message queues required
- Built-in metrics, distributed tracing, and structured logging
- Stateless PDP instances scale horizontally
Authorization for AI systems
By industry
By business requirement
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.