🔐 New: A CISO’s benchmark for authorization maturity ➔ [Download the ebook](https://solutions.cerbos.dev/authorization-maturity-model-a-cisos-benchmark)

# Deploy Cerbos on Google Kubernetes Engine

Run the Cerbos PDP on GKE using the official Helm chart or Kubernetes manifests.

[Container documentation](https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/installation/container.html)[Helm charts](https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/installation/helm.html)

### Helm or manifests

Deploy with the official Cerbos Helm chart or standard Kubernetes manifests, whichever fits your workflow

### Horizontal scaling

Cerbos is stateless and scales horizontally with replicas, no coordination required between instances

### Workload Identity

Use GKE Workload Identity to securely access policy sources stored in Google Cloud services

## 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](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/rbac/index.html), [ABAC](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/abac/index.html), and [conditional rules](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/pbac/index.html). They can be updated, tested, and deployed independently of your application.

Deploying Cerbos via Google Kubernetes Engine 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](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/human-readable-authorization/index.html) [Scalable PDPStateless policy decision point with sub-millisecond latency](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/scalability/index.html) [Centralized managementManage, test, and deploy policies from a single control plane](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/centralized-management/index.html)

### How to deploy Cerbos on Google Kubernetes Engine

1. **Install with Helm or apply manifests**, Use `helm install cerbos cerbos/cerbos` or apply Kubernetes manifests to deploy the PDP into your GKE cluster.
2. **Configure policy loading**, Point Cerbos at a ConfigMap, Git repository, or Cerbos Hub bundle for policy storage.
3. **Expose the service**, Create a Kubernetes Service to make the PDP available to your application pods.
4. **Connect your services**, Use a Cerbos SDK to send authorization checks from your application pods to the PDP.

## FAQ

### How do I deploy Cerbos on GKE?

Use the official Cerbos Helm chart or apply Kubernetes manifests to deploy the PDP into your GKE cluster. Cerbos runs as a Deployment with a Service, or as a sidecar container in your application pods.

### Does Cerbos require any external dependencies?

No. Cerbos is fully stateless and requires no database or message queue. Policies can be loaded from a ConfigMap, Git repository, or Cerbos Hub.

### Does Cerbos work with GKE Autopilot?

Yes. Cerbos runs as a standard container and is compatible with GKE Autopilot without modification.

## Cerbos + Google Kubernetes Engine

- Cerbos runs alongside your workloads in Google Kubernetes Engine
- No external databases or message queues required
- Built-in metrics, distributed tracing, and structured logging
- Stateless PDP instances scale horizontally