Compatible with every major AI agent and IDE
What is the Cerbos (Access Control) MCP Server?
Connect your Cerbos instance to any AI agent to streamline authorization management and policy auditing through natural language.
What you can do
- Permission Checks — Use
check_resourcesto evaluate if a principal (user) has the rights to perform specific actions on resources. - Query Planning — Generate AST query plans with
plan_resourcesto filter database results based on complex authorization logic. - Policy Management — List, retrieve, add, or delete policies (RBAC/ABAC) using the Admin API tools like
list_policiesandadd_policy. - Schema & Auditing — Inspect resource schemas and review access logs with
list_auditLogsto ensure compliance. - Health & Metrics — Monitor your PDP (Policy Decision Point) status with
get_healthandget_metricsdirectly from the chat.
How it works
- Subscribe to this server
- Enter your Cerbos PDP URL and Admin credentials (if required for policy management)
- Start auditing and managing your access control logic from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client
Who is this for?
- Security Engineers — quickly audit existing policies and verify permission logic without manual API calls
- Backend Developers — test authorization scenarios and generate database filter plans during development
- Compliance Officers — retrieve audit logs and policy definitions to ensure organizational security standards
Built-in capabilities (19)
Add a new policy
Add or update a schema
Perform a single AuthZEN access evaluation
Perform batch AuthZEN access evaluations
Check permissions for a set of resources
Delete a policy by ID
Disable a policy
Enable a policy
Get AuthZEN configuration metadata
Get Cerbos health status
Get Prometheus metrics from Cerbos
Get a specific policy by ID
Get a specific schema by ID
Get Cerbos server version and build information
List audit logs
List all policies
List all schemas
Produce a query plan (AST) for filtering resources
Update an existing policy
Why Claude Desktop?
Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect Cerbos (Access Control) to your AI workflow. Add Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 19 tools in the chat interface. ask a question, Claude calls the right tool, and you see the answer. Zero code, zero context switching.
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Claude Desktop is the reference MCP client. it was designed alongside the protocol itself, ensuring the most complete and stable MCP implementation available
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Zero-code configuration: add a server URL to a JSON file and Claude instantly discovers and exposes all available tools in the chat interface
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Claude's extended thinking capability lets it reason through multi-step tool usage, chaining multiple API calls to answer complex questions
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Enterprise-grade security with local config storage. your tokens never leave your machine, and connections go directly to Vinkius Edge network
Cerbos (Access Control) in Claude Desktop
Cerbos (Access Control) and 4,000+ other MCP servers. One platform. One governance layer.
Teams that connect Cerbos (Access Control) to Claude Desktop through Vinkius don't need to source, host, or maintain individual MCP servers. Every tool call runs inside a hardened runtime with credential isolation, DLP, and a signed audit chain.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Server catalog | Find and host yourself | 4,000+ managed |
| Infrastructure | Self-hosted | Sandboxed V8 isolates |
| Credential handling | Plaintext in config | Vault + runtime injection |
| Data loss prevention | None | Configurable DLP policies |
| Kill switch | None | Global instant shutdown |
| Financial circuit breakers | None | Per-server limits + alerts |
| Audit trail | None | Ed25519 signed logs |
| SIEM log streaming | None | Splunk, Datadog, Webhook |
| Honeytokens | None | Canary alerts on leak |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | DNS challenge verified |
| GDPR compliance | Manual effort | Automated purge + export |
Why teams choose Vinkius for Cerbos (Access Control) in Claude Desktop
The Cerbos (Access Control) MCP Server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS — a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts. All 19 tools execute in hardened sandboxes optimized for native MCP execution.
Your AI agents in Claude Desktop only access the data you authorize, with DLP that blocks sensitive information from ever reaching the model, kill switch for instant shutdown, and up to 60% token savings. Enterprise-grade infrastructure, zero maintenance.

* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure
How Vinkius secures
Cerbos (Access Control) for Claude Desktop
Every tool call from Claude Desktop to the Cerbos (Access Control) MCP Server is protected by DLP redaction, cryptographic audit chains, V8 sandbox isolation, kill switch, and financial circuit breakers.
Frequently asked questions
Can I test if a specific user has access to a resource without writing code?
Yes. You can ask the agent to use the check_resources tool by providing the principal (user) details and the resource you want to check. The agent will return the allowed or denied status based on your Cerbos policies.
How do I view all the authorization policies currently loaded in my Cerbos server?
Simply ask the agent to 'list all policies'. It will invoke the list_policies tool (requires Admin credentials) and display the IDs of all active policies in your environment.
Can the AI help me generate filters for my database based on permissions?
Yes, by using the plan_resources tool. The agent will generate a query plan (AST) that describes the conditions under which a user is allowed to access resources, which you can then apply to your database queries.
How does Claude Desktop discover MCP tools?
When Claude Desktop starts, it reads the claude_desktop_config.json file and connects to each configured MCP server. It calls the tools/list endpoint to fetch the schema for every available tool, then surfaces them as clickable options in the chat interface via the 🔌 icon.
What happens if the MCP server is temporarily unavailable?
Claude Desktop handles disconnections gracefully. if the server is unreachable at startup, the tools simply won't appear. Once the server becomes available again, restarting Claude Desktop will re-establish the connection. There is no timeout penalty or error loop.
Can I connect multiple MCP servers simultaneously?
Yes. You can add as many servers as you need in the mcpServers section of the config file. Each server appears as a separate tool provider, and Claude can use tools from multiple servers in a single conversation turn.
Is there a limit on the number of tools per server?
Claude Desktop can handle hundreds of tools per server. However, for optimal LLM performance, Vinkius servers are designed to expose focused, well-documented tool sets rather than overwhelming the model with too many options.
Does Claude Desktop support Streamable HTTP transport?
Yes. Claude Desktop supports both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and the newer Streamable HTTP transport that Vinkius uses. Simply provide the server URL. Claude auto-negotiates the transport protocol.
Server not appearing after restart
Ensure the JSON is valid (no trailing commas). Check the file path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\\Claude\\ (Windows).
Authentication error
Verify your Vinkius token is correct. Go to cloud.vinkius.com to regenerate it if needed.
Tools not showing in chat
Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the chat input. If it shows 0 tools, the server may still be connecting. wait a few seconds.
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