Authorization for Express applications
Implement fine-grained roles and permissions for Express with Cerbos
Extend Express roles
Fine grained access controls extending the roles defined in Express
Enrich with context
Request time attribute based authorization enables more contextual access controls
Avoid token bloat
Independent authorization logic avoids bloated tokens and workarounds
How Cerbos works with Express
Building authorization logic inside Express quickly becomes a maintenance burden. Hard-coded role checks scatter across controllers and middleware, and every permission change requires a code deploy.
Cerbos replaces scattered authorization logic with a single API call. You define fine-grained policies in YAML, and the Cerbos PDP evaluates them at request time using roles, attributes, and any context you provide.
With Cerbos your Express application stays focused on business logic while authorization policies evolve independently, managed by product or security teams without touching code.
How Cerbos works with Express
- Add the Cerbos SDK to your Express project, Install the appropriate Cerbos SDK and configure it within your Express application.
- Replace inline auth checks with a Cerbos call, Swap scattered permission logic for a single API call that evaluates policies at request time.
- Define policies in YAML, Write human-readable authorization rules covering roles, attributes, and conditions, versioned alongside your code.
- Cerbos evaluates at request time, Every request is authorized against the latest policies with sub-millisecond latency, no redeploy needed.
FAQ
How do I integrate Cerbos with Express?
Cerbos integrates with Express through a lightweight SDK or REST/gRPC API call. You replace hard-coded permission checks in your controllers or middleware with a single call to the Cerbos PDP, which evaluates your policies at request time.
Will Cerbos slow down my Express application?
No. The Cerbos PDP runs alongside your application (as a sidecar or service) and delivers sub-millisecond authorization decisions. Because it's stateless and scales horizontally, it adds negligible latency to request processing.
Learn more about Cerbos
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Cerbos + Express
- Single API call replaces hard-coded permission checks in Express
- Policies updated independently of application deploys
- Authorization policies versioned and tested like source code
- Stateless PDP scales independently of the application
Authorization for AI systems
By industry
By business requirement
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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.