Open Policy Agent Onboarding Guide

Open Policy Agent (OPA) is a powerful, policy-as-code engine designed to decouple policy from application logic. Getting OPA running fast and correctly requires a focused onboarding process that sets you up for secure, maintainable workflows.

Step 1: Install and Verify OPA
Download the OPA binary from the official site or install it via package managers. Confirm installation by running:

opa version

This guarantees you are working with a supported release before proceeding.

Step 2: Understand Policy Input
OPA makes decisions based on structured JSON input. Identify the data you will provide for each query. This could be user roles, resource details, request metadata, or API payloads. Define clear input formats early; ambiguous inputs cause brittle policies later.

Step 3: Write Your First Policy in Rego
Rego is OPA’s policy language. Begin with a small rule. For example, allow access only if the user role is “admin.” Save this policy into a .rego file. Keep policy files modular to scale later.

Step 4: Test Policies Locally
Use opa eval to run queries against sample input. This step validates logic without risking production systems. Strong onboarding includes building automated policy tests, ideally in the same repository as the application.

Step 5: Deploy OPA as a Service
Run OPA in server mode inside your environment. Connect it to your existing services through HTTP API calls. Many teams deploy OPA alongside containers, using sidecars or centralized API gateways.

Step 6: Integrate with CI/CD
Policies are code. Treat them like any other code artifact. Version control them, review changes, and run tests in CI/CD pipelines. A proper onboarding process ensures that no unreviewed policy reaches production.

Step 7: Monitor and Iterate
After initial deployment, capture decision logs to track policy behavior. Use these logs to refine rules, improve performance, and meet compliance requirements.

A smooth onboarding process with Open Policy Agent gives you predictable, enforceable policies without hardcoding rules into applications. It reduces security gaps and speeds up future policy changes.

See a live OPA onboarding workflow in minutes at hoop.dev and start enforcing policies that fit your system today.