---
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: "2026-08-19"
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.

2026-08-18 readiness review: our half is done. The `rapp-user-engine` managed
package is now the apply home, and image `sha256:c501aeb2…` from `7604d31` —
which contains the caller-token change — is live and passed `make verify-live`.
The projected ServiceAccount token manifest is in place: audience `flex-auth`,
mounted at `/var/run/secrets/flex-auth-caller/token`, with
`USER_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_TOKEN_FILE` pointing at it. flex-auth's deploy carries
the binding `user-engine=system:serviceaccount:user-engine:user-engine`.

The blocker is now precisely one upstream item. FLEX-WP-0015-T02 is `wait`:
ADR 0004's TokenReview choke point exists in flex-auth source, but the running
digest is unchanged, so production still accepts unauthenticated callers and
our Authorization header is sent and ignored. Running the probe today would
pass steps 1 and 3 and silently fail step 2 — a false pass on the only
assertion that proves enforcement. The probe is therefore written down rather
than run: see `docs/flex-auth-caller-identity.md`, which carries all three
checks as commands plus the digests to record.

This task stays `wait` on FLEX-WP-0015-T02 promotion through FLEX-WP-0011,
and on an operator shell with cluster credentials, which agent sessions in
this repo do not hold.

2026-08-19 policy-nexus adaptation: the published contracts now name the
same split this workplan already implemented.

- IAM Profile v0.3 Service Account Flow
  (`https://policy.coulomb.social/standards/iam-profile/v0.3/`) requires
  audience-scoped, rotating workload credentials delivered through the
  credential-management standard — that is the projected ServiceAccount
  token we already send. The optional `tenant_roles` claim is forwarded
  to flex-auth as a subject attribute and is never used as a local
  authorization decision.
- Tenancy Posture v0.1
  (`https://policy.coulomb.social/standards/tenancy-posture/v0.1/`) is the
  public A2 target T03 is waiting to prove: a single inbound choke point
  that refuses an unbound caller. Our half of that vector is deployed;
  flex-auth's running digest is still A0.
- NetKingdom architecture draft-2
  (`https://policy.coulomb.social/architecture/net-kingdom/v0.1/`) lists
  both documents in chapter 9.

The workplan stays `active` because T03's live proof is still owed. That
proof is not unblocked by publication.

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