aserto

Aserto is an open-source authorization service that provides fine-grained access control for applications. It allows developers to define and enforce authorization policies in a consistent and centralized manner across their services. Aserto operates on the principle of "policy-as-code," enabling policies to be written, versioned, and deployed like any other code.

The core of Aserto is its policy engine, which evaluates requests against defined policies to determine whether access should be granted or denied. This evaluation typically involves checking user identity, the requested resource, and the specific action being attempted. Aserto supports various policy languages, with the ability to integrate with existing identity providers and data sources.

Aserto's architecture is designed for scalability and performance, often deployed as a microservice that can be queried by other application services. This decoupling of authorization logic from application code simplifies development and maintenance, allowing teams to focus on core business features. The service provides APIs for requesting decisions, enabling seamless integration into application workflows. It aims to solve the complexity of managing authorization across distributed systems, offering a unified approach to security.