# Deploy Cerbos on Render

Run the Cerbos PDP on Render as a web service using the official container image with managed TLS and scaling.

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

### Web service deployment

Deploy the Cerbos container image as a Render web service with automatic TLS termination and health monitoring.

### Private services

Run Cerbos as a private service accessible only from other services within your Render account.

### Auto-deploy

Render detects image updates and redeploys the Cerbos service automatically when new versions are published.

## 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 Render 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 Render

1. **Create a web service**, Add a new web service on Render 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. **Set the health check**, Configure Render's health check to use the Cerbos health endpoint to monitor service availability.
4. **Connect your application**, Use a Cerbos SDK to send authorization checks to the Render service URL.

## FAQ

### How do I deploy Cerbos on Render?

Create a new web service on Render using the official Cerbos container image. Configure environment variables for policy loading and set the health check path.

### 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 Render deployments.

### Can I keep Cerbos private on Render?

Yes. Deploy Cerbos as a private service on Render so it is only reachable from other services within the same Render account over the internal network.

## Cerbos + Render

- Cerbos runs alongside your workloads in Render
- 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)