shankar0123
a3599ad8fb
CI run on the d8aa3fc push surfaced two real failures rooted in the
2026-05-04 docs overhaul:
1. G-3 env-docs-drift caught two phantom CERTCTL_* env vars I'd
introduced in the Phase 4 follow-on connector pages
(CERTCTL_CA_CERT_PATH_NEW in adcs.md was a placeholder I made
up; CERTCTL_EJBCA_POLL_MAX_WAIT_SECONDS in ejbca.md does not
exist in source). Both removed.
2. QA-doc Part-count drift guard tried to grep
docs/qa-test-guide.md and docs/testing-guide.md, both of which
were renamed/deleted in Phase 2/Phase 5. The Part-count drift
class died with testing-guide.md (Phase 5 prune dispersed its
content); the seed-count drift class is still live but pointed
at the wrong path.
Fixes:
- Removed the QA-doc Part-count drift guard from ci.yml (premise
dead) plus its standalone scripts/qa-doc-part-count.sh peer.
- Retargeted the QA-doc seed-count drift guard from
docs/qa-test-guide.md → docs/contributor/qa-test-suite.md (the
Phase 2 target). Updated both ci.yml inline copy and
scripts/qa-doc-seed-count.sh.
- Updated Makefile qa-stats: target to drop the testing-guide.md
Parts metric (file is gone).
- Updated Makefile verify-docs: target to drop the part-count step.
G-3 was also failing in the second direction (env vars defined in
config.go but never documented anywhere). 16 vars surfaced —
features.md (deleted Phase 6) and testing-guide.md (deleted Phase 5)
had been their canonical home. Created
docs/reference/configuration.md as the new home: a compact
operator-facing env-var reference covering scheduler intervals, job
lifecycle, rate limiting, audit, deploy verify, database,
agent-side, and SCEP profile binding. Added to docs/README.md
Reference table.
Doc-side updates to qa-test-suite.md to reframe its references to
the deleted testing-guide.md (it's now self-contained: the
Part-by-Part Coverage Map IS the canonical Part inventory).
Cosmetic comment-only updates in ci.yml + scripts/ci-guards/*.sh +
scripts/dev-setup.sh to point at the new audience-organized doc
paths (docs/operator/security.md, docs/operator/tls.md,
docs/reference/architecture.md, etc.) instead of the pre-Phase-2
flat layout.
Verified: all 24 ci-guards/*.sh pass locally; qa-doc-seed-count.sh
clean. Net diff: 178 additions / 112 deletions across 13 files.
One file deleted (qa-doc-part-count.sh) and one file added
(docs/reference/configuration.md).
certctl Documentation
Last reviewed: 2026-05-05
The full docs index, organized by audience. Pick the section that matches what you need to do; each link below opens a focused doc rather than a wall of text.
For the elevator pitch and quickstart commands, see the repo README.md at the root. For the marketing site, see certctl.io.
Getting Started
You're new to certctl, just cloned the repo, or want to understand what it does before installing.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Concepts | TLS certificates explained for beginners — CAs, ACME, EST, private keys, the full glossary |
| Quickstart | Five-minute setup with Docker Compose, dashboard tour, API tour |
| Examples | Five turnkey scenarios — ACME+NGINX, wildcard DNS-01, private CA+Traefik, step-ca+HAProxy, multi-issuer |
| Advanced demo | End-to-end certificate lifecycle with technical depth at each step |
| Why certctl | Positioning vs ACME clients, agent-based SaaS, enterprise platforms; when to look elsewhere |
Reference
You're operating certctl in production or building integrations and need authoritative technical detail.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Architecture | System design, data flow, security model, deployment topologies |
| API | OpenAPI 3.1 spec, integration patterns, client SDK generation |
| CLI | certctl-cli command reference and CI/CD integration patterns |
| Configuration | CERTCTL_* environment variable reference (scheduler, rate limits, deploy verify, audit, agent) |
| MCP server | Model Context Protocol integration for AI assistants |
| Release verification | Cosign / SLSA / SBOM verification procedure |
| Intermediate CA hierarchy | Multi-level CA tree management — RFC 5280 §3.2/§4.2.1.9/§4.2.1.10 enforcement |
| Deployment model | Atomic write, post-deploy verify, rollback semantics across all targets |
| Vendor matrix | Tested vendor versions per target connector |
Connectors
The connector index is the canonical catalog (interfaces, registry, scanners, plus an inline reference per built-in). Per-connector deep-dive siblings cover operator-grade material — vendor edges, troubleshooting, rotation playbooks, when-to-use vs alternatives.
Issuers (13 deep-dives): ACME · ADCS · AWS ACM Private CA · DigiCert · EJBCA / Keyfactor · Entrust · GlobalSign Atlas HVCA · Google CAS · Local CA · OpenSSL / Custom CA · Sectigo SCM · step-ca / Smallstep · Vault PKI
Targets (15 deep-dives): Apache · AWS Certificate Manager · Azure Key Vault · Caddy · Envoy · F5 BIG-IP · HAProxy · IIS · Java Keystore · Kubernetes Secrets · NGINX · Postfix / Dovecot · SSH (agentless) · Traefik · Windows Certificate Store
Protocols
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| ACME server | Run certctl as an RFC 8555 + RFC 9773 ARI ACME server |
| ACME server threat model | Security posture for the ACME server endpoint |
| SCEP server | RFC 8894 native SCEP server — RA cert config, multi-profile dispatch, must-staple, mTLS sibling route |
| SCEP for Microsoft Intune | Intune-specific deployment guide — NDES replacement playbook |
| EST server | RFC 7030 EST server — 802.1X / Wi-Fi enrollment, IoT bootstrap, channel binding |
| CRL & OCSP | RFC 5280 CRL + RFC 6960 OCSP responder for relying parties |
| Async CA polling | Bounded polling for async-CA issuer connectors |
Operator
You're running certctl in production and need operational guidance.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Security posture | Auth, rate limits, encryption at rest, key rotation |
| Control plane TLS | Self-signed bootstrap, operator-supplied Secret, cert-manager Certificate CR |
| Database TLS | PostgreSQL transport encryption |
| Approval workflow | Two-person integrity gate for high-stakes issuance |
| Helm deployment | Kubernetes installation via the bundled chart |
| Performance baselines | Operator-runnable benchmarks for regression spot checks |
| Legacy clients (TLS 1.2) | Reverse-proxy runbook for embedded EST/SCEP clients on TLS 1.2 |
Runbooks
| Runbook | When |
|---|---|
| Cloud targets | AWS ACM + Azure Key Vault deployment, debugging, rollback |
| Expiry alerts | Per-policy multi-channel routing matrix, severity tiers |
| Disaster recovery | CRL cache, OCSP responder cert, CA private-key rotation, Postgres restore |
Migration
You're moving from another cert-management tool to certctl, or running both in parallel.
| From | Doc |
|---|---|
| Certbot | migration/from-certbot.md |
| acme.sh | migration/from-acmesh.md |
| cert-manager (coexistence, not replacement) | migration/cert-manager-coexistence.md |
| Caddy ACME (point Caddy at certctl) | migration/acme-from-caddy.md |
| cert-manager ACME (point cert-manager at certctl) | migration/acme-from-cert-manager.md |
| Traefik ACME (point Traefik at certctl) | migration/acme-from-traefik.md |
Compliance
You're working through a SOC 2, PCI, or NIST audit and need to map certctl's capabilities to control objectives.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Compliance overview | What these guides cover and what they don't |
| SOC 2 Type II | Trust Service Criteria mapping (CC6, CC7, CC8, A1) |
| PCI-DSS 4.0 | Requirements 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 |
| NIST SP 800-57 | Key management alignment with NIST guidance |
Contributor
You're contributing to certctl, running tests locally, or trying to understand the CI pipeline.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Testing strategy | What we test and why; per-PR fast gates vs daily deep-scan |
| Test environment | Local environment with real CAs (Pebble, step-ca, etc.) |
| QA prerequisites | Before running QA: stack boot, demo data baseline, env vars |
| QA test suite | qa_test.go reference for release QA |
| GUI QA checklist | Manual GUI verification pass for release |
| Release sign-off | Release-day checklist — code state, automated gates, manual QA, artefact verification |
| CI pipeline | CI shape, regression guards, adding new checks |
Archive
Historical docs preserved for reference. Most operators don't need these.
| Doc | Why archived |
|---|---|
| Upgrade to TLS (v2.2) | Pre-v2.2 HTTPS-everywhere upgrade procedure |
| Upgrade past v2 JWT removal | G-1 milestone JWT auth removal procedure |
Reading order by role
First-time operator: Concepts → Quickstart → Examples. About 90 minutes end to end.
Production operator: Architecture → Security posture → Control plane TLS → Disaster recovery runbook. About 4 hours end to end.
PKI engineer: ACME server → SCEP server → EST server → Intermediate CA hierarchy. About 6 hours end to end.
Auditor / compliance team: Compliance overview → applicable framework doc → Disaster recovery runbook → Approval workflow → ACME server threat model. About 4 hours end to end.
Contributor: Architecture → Testing strategy → Test environment → CI pipeline. About 3 hours end to end.