---
id: USER-WP-0023
type: workplan
title: "Bind user-engine to flex-auth with rotating workload identity"
domain: communication
repo: user-engine
status: active
owner: codex
topic_slug: netkingdom
created: "2026-08-18"
updated: "2026-08-18"
state_hub_workstream_id: "014d0886-b690-4860-8337-c718e440f678"
---

# USER-WP-0023 — flex-auth caller identity

Close the caller side of FLEX-WP-0015 without changing user-facing identity or
authorization semantics.

```task
id: USER-WP-0023-T01
status: done
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "8dae0fe1-f8a0-4276-8ae3-fe1f5b410669"
```

Read the audience-scoped caller token from a file per authorization decision,
fail closed on rotation/read errors, and cover token rotation. Completed
2026-08-18; the full suite passes 143 tests with three provider-gated skips.

2026-08-18 fail-closed coverage: the contract promised denial on a missing,
empty, or unreadable token file, but only rotation was proven. Conformance now
covers all three unusable-token cases and asserts the adapter never reaches
flex-auth without a usable credential, so an unauthenticated call cannot be
mistaken for an authorized one. A further test proves the token value appears
in neither the deny reason nor the decision repr. Suite: 148 tests, three
provider-gated skips.

```task
id: USER-WP-0023-T02
status: done
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "4a6c85e8-1ada-4147-b6b7-d340b7e5192c"
```

Align tenant-authority reads with the protected `tenant.read` action and actor
`user-engine`, preserving opaque URL encoding. Completed 2026-08-18 with
adapter request coverage.

```task
id: USER-WP-0023-T03
status: wait
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "0499c65b-491d-4ed1-8549-f58dba48f612"
```

Promote together with the flex-auth A2 digest and the NetKingdom projected
ServiceAccount token manifest. Prove a valid caller succeeds, no token returns
401, and user-engine cannot represent another protected system. This is a live
operator rollout and was not performed by the source change.

Contract: `docs/flex-auth-caller-identity.md`.