railiance-platform/docs/credential-lane-designs/keycape-approval-clients.md

# KeyCape approval-engine client custody admission

**2026-09-09 accepted:** verifier custody and the compatible image/config are live;
both service verifiers and a fresh existing-human OpenBao login passed. Both CCRs
are verified. [Live evidence](../evidence/2026-09-09-keycape-verifier-admission.json) supersedes the preparation
status below. Client-side reads and factory operating grants remain separate.

Answer to KEY-WP-0013-T02 (State Hub message
`278a3ebe-b529-49f6-bd1a-e3ebcf318260`, KeyCape packet
`key-cape: docs/approval-engine-provisioning-request.yaml`). Tracked here as
RPF-WP-0035-T05. Requests: [CCR-2026-0017](../../credential-change-requests/CCR-2026-0017-keycape-secrets-engine-approval-client.yaml),
[CCR-2026-0018](../../credential-change-requests/CCR-2026-0018-keycape-approval-engine-operator-client.yaml).

Both CCRs are **verified** following explicit user approval in both reviewer
roles. Version-1 custody, ESO delivery, the compatible KeyCape rollout and the
fresh existing-human login all passed. The contract below defines the completed
verifier-side scope; client-side reads remain a separate admission.

## a) Custody paths and field names

| Item | Proposed by KeyCape | Admitted | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Client 1 path | `platform/workloads/secrets-engine/approval-client` | same | confirmed |
| Client 2 path | `platform/workloads/approval-engine/operator-client` | same | confirmed |
| Field | `client_secret` | `CLIENT_SECRET` | **corrected** |

Both paths are correct as proposed. They match the
`platform/workloads/<workload>/<lane>` shape that `scripts/credential-change.py`
enforces for the `platform` mount and that every admitted platform lane uses
(`platform/workloads/core-hub/runtime`, `platform/workloads/user-engine/runtime`,
`platform/workloads/telemetry/grafana-admin`). Naming each path under the client's
own workload prefix rather than under KeyCape is also right: the credential
belongs to the client identity; KeyCape is its verifier, not its owner.

The field name is the one correction. KV field names on this mount are uppercase
(`PROVISIONER_TOKEN`, `CORE_HUB_API_TOKEN`, `NPM_AUTH_TOKEN`), and the CCR
validator rejects anything that does not match `^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*$`. So the
OpenBao field is `CLIENT_SECRET`. This does not change the Kubernetes Secret key
or the environment name — see below.

## b) Kubernetes delivery references

Confirmed as proposed, with the mapping made explicit:

| | Client 1 | Client 2 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Secret | `sso/keycape-secrets-engine-approval-client` | `sso/keycape-approval-engine-operator-client` |
| Secret key | `client-secret` | `client-secret` |
| KeyCape env | `KEYCAPE_SECRETS_ENGINE_APPROVAL_CLIENT_SECRET` | `KEYCAPE_APPROVAL_ENGINE_OPERATOR_CLIENT_SECRET` |
| ClusterSecretStore | `openbao-keycape-secrets-engine-approval` | `openbao-keycape-approval-engine-operator` |
| OpenBao policy | `workload-kv-read-keycape-secrets-engine-approval` | `workload-kv-read-keycape-approval-engine-operator` |
| Kubernetes auth role | `external-secrets-keycape-secrets-engine-approval` | `external-secrets-keycape-approval-engine-operator` |

`OpenBao CLIENT_SECRET` → `ExternalSecret secretKey client-secret` →
`secretKeyRef` → env. That shape is the one already running in `sso`: the live
`keycape` pod on `main-153258b` resolves
`KEYCAPE_RAPP_QONTO_CLIENT_SECRET` from `secretKeyRef{name:
keycape-rapp-qonto-client, key: client-secret}`. Read-only observation
2026-09-08, and it confirms KeyCape's own statement that the image carries only
that one client reference.

Both delivery manifests are applied and live-verified:
`argocd/platform-addons/openbao-secretstore/openbao-keycape-approval-clients.clustersecretstore.yaml`
and `keycape-approval-clients.externalsecrets.yaml`.

Three deliberate choices, so they are not read as accidents:

- **Two stores, two roles, two policies.** The scope sets differ — the operator
  client can create, approve, revoke and supersede; the secrets-engine client can
  read and consume. Separate identities mean either can be revoked without
  touching the other. A shared store would erase that boundary.
- **Kubernetes auth, not AppRole.** The neighbouring `sso` store
  (`openbao-sso-user-engine-runtime`) and `openbao-rapp-qonto` use AppRole for
  cutover reasons. New same-cluster lanes use Kubernetes auth against
  `external-secrets/external-secrets`, as `openbao-core-hub-runtime` does, so
  there is no AppRole secret to hold in custody.
- **Verifier side only.** This admits the copy KeyCape needs to verify presented
  credentials. It does **not** admit the client-side lane by which secrets-engine
  or the approval-engine operator would read its own copy. That is a separate
  request with its own consumer gate, and no part of it is implied here.

`creationPolicy: Owner` means the ExternalSecret creates the Secret. Do not
pre-create either Secret by hand.

## c) Authority for the attended first provision

Your reading is right, and your refusal to act on the `warden plan` result was
also right: a generic database-lane match is not authorization for this path.

The authority is the governed **`openbao-platform-admin-login`** lane —
`founder_required`, attended OIDC through `bao login -method=oidc -path=netkingdom
role=platform-admin`, invoked as:

```bash
warden access openbao-platform-admin-login --exec -- <command>
```

with a unique `--receipt` path. Nothing else in this repo carries write authority
against `platform/workloads/`. Two constraints that come with it:

- It is a **founder-attended** session. No agent, including this one, can execute
  it unattended, and neither KeyCape nor railiance-platform can self-authorize it.
- The owner command is never run directly, only through the `warden access
  --exec` envelope, so output containment applies (RPF-WP-0017). No value in chat,
  command arguments, shell history or logs; receipts carry metadata only.

Custody writes are seeded with compare-and-set zero on first version.

## d) Rollout window

Agreed in shape: **one attended session**, everything below in order, no partial
landing. Registrations and the reading build deploy together because a KeyCape
image that reads an absent env fails closed, and a delivered secret with no build
to read it is custody without a consumer.

Prerequisites before the window opens:

1. Both CCRs approved by platform-operator and the KeyCape owner.
2. KeyCape image that reads both environment names is **built and pinned, not
   deployed**. `main-153258b` is not that image.
3. Founder available for the attended OpenBao session.
4. **The actual signed issuer is verified as `https://auth.coulomb.social`.**
   The admitted probe passed signature/audience/time/nonce verification on
   2026-09-08 at 21:44:44 UTC, exited 0 and removed every temporary resource.
   [Receipt](../evidence/2026-09-08-keycape-upstream-issuer-proof.json).
   NetKingdom completed the exact `authelia.issuer` pin on 2026-09-09,
   with unchanged signing key and unrelated configuration; Secret revision
   `58713343`. [Pin receipt](../evidence/2026-09-09-keycape-upstream-issuer-pin.json).
   This prerequisite is closed. Keep the existing-human-login regression in
   the separately admitted image/configuration rollout checks.

In-window order:

1. Apply the two policies and the two Kubernetes auth roles (attended, via the
   authority in (c)).
2. Seed both KV paths, CAS=0, with the client secrets KeyCape mints. Record
   metadata-only receipts.
3. Apply the two ClusterSecretStores; confirm both reach `Valid`.
4. Apply the two ExternalSecrets; confirm `SecretSynced` and that both Secrets
   exist with key `client-secret`. No value is printed at any point.
5. Roll out the KeyCape image.
6. KeyCape runs its verification: live JWKS signature, exact claim bindings
   (subject, tenant `tenant:platform`, audience `approval-engine`, 15m lifetime),
   and denial of excess scopes — operator `consume` and human `consume` — without
   logging any value or token.
7. Platform runs its negative checks: cross-path read denied, wrong service
   account denied, out-of-namespace store use denied, parent listing denied.
8. Both sides record evidence into the CCRs and a receipt into the workplan.

Rollback: revert the KeyCape image to `main-153258b`, delete the two
ExternalSecrets, detach the policies from the roles. The KV versions are retained
until KeyCape confirms whether the registrations stay; if they are abandoned,
KeyCape disables the registrations first and platform then destroys the versions.

The attended window completed on **2026-09-09** under the user's explicit
approval. Failed checks restored the compatible config/image and detached ESO
delivery. The final resume preserved both initial KV versions and passed all
service checks plus a fresh existing-human OpenBao login.

## What is not admitted

- No client-side (secrets-engine / approval-engine) read lane.
- No adoption of the hand-created `sso/keycape-rapp-qonto-client` Secret into ESO.
- No change to the separate `codex-railiance-platform` JWT issuance contract
  (KEY-WP-0009-T04) or to RPF-WP-0035-T02's service-JWT lane.
- No approval for `approval:consume` on the operator client, now or by later
  scope edit. Adding it is a new lane decision.


## Attended authority return — 2026-09-08

The metadata-only first-provision preflight is now observed on the exact six
policy/role/data paths: create/update capabilities are present. The successful
session self-revoked and its helper was removed. This settles the availability
of the named operator authority, not the CCR approvals or the upstream issuer
precondition. See
[the receipt](../evidence/2026-09-08-keycape-approval-custody-preflight.json).

For a repeat after a role/policy change, use the existing contained WSL wrapper:

```bash
python3 scripts/openbao-attended-exec.py -- /usr/bin/python3 \
  scripts/keycape-approval-custody-preflight.py --receipt /tmp/<new-private-receipt>.json
```

Use an absolute path to the owner command if invoking from another directory.
It emits no output or values; inspect its allowlisted capability metadata only
after Warden has completed revocation and cleanup. No custody activation or
approval is performed by this preflight.


2026-09-09: the live issuer pin is complete. The next review is captured in
[keycape-approval-clients-review.md](keycape-approval-clients-review.md), with
the resolved Hub decisions, both recorded reviewer roles and completed live verification.