net-kingdom/docs/LocalIdentity.md

Local Identity

Local Identity is a zero-dependency, file-based user management capability for net-kingdom bootstrap environments — systems that do not yet have (or do not need) a running Keycloak instance.

Why it exists

In net-kingdom, Keycloak is the production identity provider. But Keycloak requires a running Kubernetes cluster, a database, and a configured realm before it can authenticate anyone. This creates a bootstrapping paradox:

You need identity to set up infrastructure, but the infrastructure provides identity.

Local Identity breaks this cycle. An operator with only a Linux home directory can establish their identity, generate deterministic test users, and run dev/test applications with OIDC authentication — before any service is deployed.

Design principles

1. Zero dependencies — only the Linux filesystem; no Docker, no K8s, no running services required.

2. Derived identity — the primary user is derived from $USER, /etc/passwd (GECOS), and a configured email address. No manual setup required for the basic case.

3. Deterministic test users — two test users are auto-generated from the primary user at init time using N and +testN suffixes:

   Field	Primary	Test 1	Test 2
   username	$USER	${USER}1	${USER}2
   fullname	GECOS field	<fullname>+test1	<fullname>+test2
   email	configured	<user>+test1@…	<user>+test2@…

   Email aliases follow the Gmail +xxx convention so test emails route to the operator's inbox without extra accounts.

4. Hard isolation — test users carry environment: local; production connectors reject this flag by default. Test users cannot authenticate in production without an explicit override.

5. Minimal OIDC — a lightweight native OIDC provider backed by the file store, for apps that require OIDC in dev/test without a running Keycloak. Tokens carry iss: local-identity; production systems are configured to reject this issuer.

6. Secure by default — ~/.local-identity/ is created with mode 700; individual user files with mode 600; the tool validates permissions on every startup and refuses to run if the store is world-readable.

What it is not

• Not a production identity provider. Local Identity is never exposed to the internet. It has no MFA. It is not hardened for public traffic.
• Not a replacement for Keycloak. Once a cluster is operational, Keycloak is the IdP. Local Identity provides an on-ramp, not an alternative.
• Not multi-user. Local Identity is single-operator: one primary user derived from the Linux session, plus generated test users.
• Not an LDAP/AD/Entra bridge. Enterprise federation is handled by Keycloak. See EP-NK-001 in the State Hub.
• No MFA. Second factors are out of scope; this is intentionally minimal.

User schema

Users are stored as YAML files under ~/.local-identity/users/:

# ~/.local-identity/users/tegwick.yaml
schema_version: "1"
username: tegwick
fullname: "Bernd Worsch"
email: "bernd.worsch@gmail.com"
environment: local          # never "production" for local-identity users
generated: false            # true for auto-generated test users
production_identity:        # optional: maps this user to a production identity
  username: tegwick
  realm: net-kingdom

Test users are generated at init time and stored alongside:

# ~/.local-identity/users/tegwick1.yaml
schema_version: "1"
username: tegwick1
fullname: "Bernd Worsch+test1"
email: "bernd.worsch+test1@gmail.com"
environment: local
generated: true
source_user: tegwick
production_identity:        # optional: can map to a test/staging account
  username: tegwick-test1
  realm: net-kingdom

Sandbox → production mapping

Each user file can optionally carry a production_identity block. When an entity owned by a local-identity user needs to be transferred to a production environment (e.g. a resource created during local development), the mapping provides the correct production user ID.

local-identity export <user> produces a Keycloak-compatible user JSON that respects this mapping. The schema is validated against the Keycloak user representation to prevent silent drift.

CLI reference

local-identity init              # derive primary user, generate test users
local-identity list              # list all users in the store
local-identity show <username>   # display user file
local-identity export <username> # emit Keycloak-compatible JSON
local-identity security-check    # validate filesystem permissions and config

OIDC provider (Stage 3)

When running local-identity serve, a minimal OIDC Authorization Code flow server starts on localhost. It supports:

• GET /.well-known/openid-configuration — discovery document
• Authorization endpoint, token endpoint, userinfo endpoint
• JWT tokens with iss: local-identity (hard-coded; production systems reject this issuer by default)
• Auto-generated self-signed TLS certificate

This allows dev/test applications to use standard OIDC libraries against Local Identity without any Keycloak dependency.

Security note: the OIDC server binds to 127.0.0.1 only. Never expose it on a public interface.

Risks and mitigations

Risk	Mitigation
World-readable credential files	~/.local-identity/ mode 700; startup check fails loudly
Test users leaking into production	environment: local flag; production connectors reject by default
Local Identity tokens accepted in production	iss: local-identity; configure production Keycloak to reject this issuer
File schema drifting from Keycloak model	export command validates against Keycloak representation; schema is versioned
Bootstrap store becoming a long-lived crutch	Explicit scope limit: once Keycloak is operational, migrate and stop using Local Identity

Keycloak import procedure

Once the Keycloak realm is operational (NK-WP-0001 T06), migrate the primary user from Local Identity into Keycloak using the partial import endpoint.

1. Export the primary user:

local-identity export --all --realm net-kingdom > /tmp/li-import.json
# By default, only the primary user is exported (test users are excluded).
# Check: the Note line on stderr confirms how many test users were skipped.

2. Import via the Keycloak Admin REST API:

# Requires a Keycloak admin token
TOKEN=$(curl -s -X POST https://keycloak.yourdomain.com/realms/master/protocol/openid-connect/token \
  -d "client_id=admin-cli&grant_type=password&username=admin&password=<admin-pw>" \
  | jq -r .access_token)

curl -s -X POST \
  https://keycloak.yourdomain.com/admin/realms/net-kingdom/partialImport \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d @/tmp/li-import.json

3. Set a password in Keycloak (Local Identity does not export credentials):

curl -s -X PUT \
  https://keycloak.yourdomain.com/admin/realms/net-kingdom/users/<user-id>/reset-password \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type":"password","value":"<new-password>","temporary":false}'

4. Retire Local Identity for this instance: Once the user is operational in Keycloak, stop using local-identity serve for this environment and remove the store: rm -rf ~/.local-identity.

Isolation guarantee

All users exported by Local Identity carry the attribute:

"attributes": {
  "local_identity_environment": ["local"]
}

Generated test users additionally carry local_identity_generated: ["true"].

Configuring Keycloak to reject local-identity users

Add a condition to the Keycloak browser authentication flow that denies login for any user with local_identity_environment = local. This is a defence-in-depth measure: even if test users are accidentally imported into a production realm, they cannot authenticate.

In Keycloak 23+, use a Conditional Authenticator with a User Attribute Condition:

1. In the realm's Authentication → Flows → browser flow, add a sub-flow.
2. Add the Condition - User Attribute authenticator.
3. Configure: attribute = local_identity_environment, value = local, negation = false (matches when attribute equals the value).
4. Set the sub-flow to DENY when the condition is true.

Alternatively, use a Keycloak script authenticator or a custom policy enforcer.

Production identity mapping

Before importing, you can assign a production_identity block to the user so the Keycloak username differs from the local username:

# ~/.local-identity/users/tegwick.yaml
production_identity:
  username: bworsch      # the username used in the production realm
  realm: net-kingdom

Re-run local-identity export --all — the exported JSON will use bworsch as the Keycloak username and a deterministic UUID derived from net-kingdom/bworsch.

Relationship to the SSO platform

Local Identity is a complementary workstream to the SSO & MFA Platform (NK-WP-0001). The SSO platform provides production-grade identity; Local Identity provides the bootstrap path that allows the SSO platform itself to be set up and tested.

Implementation: see NK-WP-0002.