Modern policy engine vs infrastructure-era policy engine
Why AI agents require a new approach to policy enforcement
Open Policy Agent (OPA) was designed for infrastructure policy -
enforcing rules across services, gateways and cloud systems.
Actra is built for AI agents - controlling actions, tools and workflows
at runtime before execution.
As systems evolve from APIs to autonomous agents, policy must move closer to execution.
External policy engine designed for infrastructure and network-level enforcement.
In-process policy engine built for runtime decision control inside applications.
OPA runs externally. Actra runs directly inside your application.
OPA requires network calls. Actra evaluates instantly with zero latency.
OPA does not support agent workflows. Actra is built for agents and tools.
Actra evaluates actions before execution. OPA evaluates requests after they are made.
OPA cannot control individual agent actions or tool execution.
Designed for APIs and services, not autonomous systems.
Requires external evaluation, adding latency and failure points.
Runs inside your application for instant decisions.
Built for AI agents, tools and workflows.
Same input always produces the same decision.