---
title: "Cedar"
description: "An open-source policy language for fine-grained authorization, used as a policy-as-code engine for runtime access decisions; a schema-typed, analysable alternative to OPA/Rego."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/cedar
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-24
---

# Cedar

An open-source policy language for fine-grained authorization, used as a policy-as-code engine for runtime access decisions; a schema-typed, analysable alternative to OPA/Rego.

- Developed in: [ch. 06, Policy-as-code and gates](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/the-role#policy-as-code-and-gates)
- Chapters: [ch. 04, The Stack](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/the-stack) · [ch. 05, Patterns](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/patterns) · [ch. 06, The Role](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/the-role)
- Contrast with: [OPA/Rego](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/opa-rego)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-cedar

## Sources

Defined by this Body of Knowledge: the section it is developed in is the source.