mirror of
https://github.com/shankar0123/certctl.git
synced 2026-06-07 20:41:30 +00:00
shankar0123
0161bb201c
Operator policy: docs in the public repo must help (a) a user
deploying certctl or (b) the product story. Internal engineering
process documentation belongs in cowork/ scratchpads or in git
commit history, not docs/.
Removed (docs/contributor/, 8 files, 2,323 lines):
- release-sign-off.md — internal release-day checklist
- ci-pipeline.md — what runs in CI (internal)
- ci-guards.md — what the guards are (internal)
- testing-strategy.md — internal testing strategy
- qa-test-suite.md — internal QA reference (445 lines)
- qa-prerequisites.md — internal QA setup
- gui-qa-checklist.md — manual GUI QA checklist
- test-environment.md — 1,103-line redundant with
docs/getting-started/quickstart.md +
docs/getting-started/advanced-demo.md
Removed supporting script:
- scripts/qa-doc-seed-count.sh — CI guard for the deleted
qa-test-suite.md seed-data table
Cross-reference cleanup:
- README.md: dropped the Contributor audience row + footer
pointer to docs/contributor/.
- Makefile: dropped `verify-docs` target + qa-stats comment refs.
- .github/workflows/ci.yml: dropped the QA-doc seed-count drift
CI step + dead comment refs.
- docs/reference/cli.md: repointed qa-prerequisites.md → quickstart.md.
- docs/operator/performance-baselines.md: dropped ci-pipeline.md
cross-ref.
- scripts/ci-guards/README.md: dropped the 'Guards explicitly
NOT here' section that referenced the deleted QA-doc guards.
G-3 env-docs-drift guard improvements (a real consequence: deleting
the contributor docs surfaced that some env vars only had a home
there). Refit the guard to the new doc topology:
- Defined-scan widened from `config.go + cmd/*` to all of `cmd/ +
internal/` (production code), excluding `*_test.go` — catches
service-layer env vars like CERTCTL_STEPCA_ROOT_CERT and
CERTCTL_ZEROSSL_EAB_URL that were previously invisible to the
guard.
- Docs-scan widened to include deploy/ENVIRONMENTS.md (the
canonical env-var inventory table — should have been in scope
from day one). Kept narrow to README + docs/ + deploy/helm/ +
ENVIRONMENTS.md to avoid pulling in compose/test fixtures.
- ALLOWED filter now applies to both DOCS_ONLY and CONFIG_ONLY
directions, so dynamic per-profile dispatch surfaces
(CERTCTL_SCEP_PROFILE_<NAME>_*, CERTCTL_EST_PROFILE_<NAME>_*,
CERTCTL_QA_*) don't need static doc entries.
- Added CERTCTL_SCEP_PROFILE_[A-Z_]+ and CERTCTL_EST_PROFILE_[A-Z_]+
to ALLOWED for the same reason.
deploy/ENVIRONMENTS.md: added CERTCTL_ZEROSSL_EAB_URL row — real
operator override (overrides the ZeroSSL EAB-credentials endpoint;
read at internal/connector/issuer/acme/acme.go:372) that was
defined in Go source but never documented. G-3 caught it after the
defined-scan widened.
scripts/ci-guards/S-1-hardcoded-source-counts.sh: removed dead
WORKSPACE-CHANGELOG.md allowlist entry (the file was deleted in
the prior workspace cleanup).
Verified:
All 35 scripts/ci-guards/*.sh green (FAIL=0).
No remaining references to docs/contributor/ or qa-doc-seed-count
in tracked files.
certctl Documentation
Last reviewed: 2026-05-12
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 |
| Profiles | CertificateProfile policy object — issuer wiring, EKUs, RequiresApproval gate (with profile-edit closure) |
| 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 |
| Auth standards implemented | RFC + CWE evidence for the API-key + RBAC + OIDC + sessions + break-glass surface (NOT a compliance-mapping doc) |
| 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, RBAC + OIDC + sessions + break-glass, bootstrap |
| Secret custody | Where private keys live; FileDriver vs HSM/KMS; encryption wire format; env-seeded vs DB-seeded plaintext policy |
| Observability | Metrics surface, Prometheus exposition vs client_golang, tracing scope, log structure, rate-limit semantics across restarts/replicas |
| RBAC operator reference | Roles, permissions, scopes, scope-down + day-0 bootstrap |
| Auth threat model | API-key + RBAC + OIDC + sessions + break-glass — token forgery, session hijacking, IdP compromise, role-grant abuse, bootstrap-token leak, audit-mutation |
| OIDC / SSO runbooks | Per-IdP setup guides — Keycloak, Authentik, Okta, Auth0, Entra ID, Google Workspace |
| 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 + profile-edit closure |
| Helm deployment | Kubernetes installation via the bundled chart |
| Performance baselines | Operator-runnable benchmarks for regression spot checks |
| Auth benchmarks | Session + OIDC validation p99 targets and measured baselines |
| 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 |
| Config-encryption upgrade | Force v1/v2 → v3 re-seal across the database; passphrase rotation procedure |
| PostgreSQL backup | Operator-run backup recipe (docker-compose + Kubernetes); recommended cadence; quarterly DR dry-run |
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 |
| API keys → RBAC (v2.0.x → v2.1.0) | migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md — AUDIT YOUR API KEYS post-upgrade |
| Enable OIDC SSO | migration/oidc-enable.md — step-by-step OIDC onboarding for an existing API-key + RBAC deployment |
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 |
| CI guards | Per-class CI guards (code-shape, contract-parity, build/dep, operational); how to add one |
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.
Contributor: Architecture → Testing strategy → Test environment → CI pipeline. About 3 hours end to end.