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Permission & Access Models

Policy Engines

Centralized systems that evaluate rules and enforce access control decisions dynamically

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What Are Policy Engines?

A policy engine is a centralized component that evaluates access control policies and makes authorization decisions. Instead of hardcoding rules in your application, you define them in a policy language and let the engine evaluate them at runtime.

✓ With Policy Engine

  • • Rules centralized in one place
  • • Update policies without code changes
  • • Audit and version control policies
  • • Test policies independently

✗ Without Policy Engine

  • • Rules scattered across codebase
  • • Every change requires deployment
  • • Hard to audit and understand
  • • Difficult to test and maintain

Core Components

📝 Policy Language

Declarative syntax to express rules (e.g., Rego, Cedar, JSON)

⚙️ Evaluation Engine

Processes policies and makes allow/deny decisions

🔌 Integration Layer

API or SDK to query the engine from your application

Interactive: Explore Policy Engines

Click on each engine to learn more about its features and use cases:

💡
Why Use a Policy Engine?

Policy engines separate authorization logic from application code. This means security teams can update policies without touching code, policies can be tested independently, and your authorization logic is centralized and auditable. For AI agents, this enables dynamic, context-aware access control that adapts to changing requirements.