# Deploy Cerbos on Railway

Run the Cerbos PDP on Railway by deploying the official container image with automatic builds and networking.

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

### Container deployment

Deploy the official Cerbos container image directly from GitHub Container Registry to Railway

### Private networking

Keep the Cerbos PDP on Railway's internal network so only your application services can reach it

### Managed lifecycle

Railway handles restarts, health checks, and resource allocation for the Cerbos service

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

[Policy-as-code Human-readable YAML policies managed like source code](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/human-readable-authorization/index.html) [Scalable PDP Stateless policy decision point with sub-millisecond latency](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/scalability/index.html) [Centralized management Manage, test, and deploy policies from a single control plane](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/centralized-management/index.html)

### How to deploy Cerbos on Railway

1. **Create a service**, Add a new service in your Railway project using the `ghcr.io/cerbos/cerbos:latest` container image.
2. **Configure policy loading**, Set environment variables to point Cerbos at a Git repository or Cerbos Hub for policies.
3. **Expose the port**, Configure Railway to expose the Cerbos HTTP port (3592) for internal or external access.
4. **Connect your application**, Use a Cerbos SDK to send authorization checks to the Railway service endpoint.

## FAQ

### How do I deploy Cerbos on Railway?

Create a new Railway service using the official Cerbos container image from GitHub Container Registry. Configure environment variables for policy loading and expose the HTTP port.

### Does Cerbos require any external dependencies?

No. Cerbos requires no database or message queue. Policies load from a Git repository or Cerbos Hub, both compatible with Railway deployments.

### Can I use Railway's private networking with Cerbos?

Yes. Railway's private networking allows your application services to reach Cerbos over an internal network without exposing the PDP to the public internet.

## Cerbos + Railway

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

[Book a free policy workshop](/content/workshop/index.html) [Try the Playground](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/cerbos-playground/index.html)