net-kingdom/docs/security-bootstrap-age-custody.md

Bootstrap Age Custody

Status: draft control-surface contract Date: 2026-05-24

Purpose

The custodian age keypair is the bootstrap envelope key for NetKingdom security setup. It is not a login account and it is not the runtime secret manager.

The public key may be stored in the control surface and used by automation to encrypt generated bootstrap bundles. The private key is supplied only during an explicit unlock/apply or recovery ceremony.

Minimal Secret Model

The minimal human-held secret set is:

Secret	Home	Notes
Custodian age private key	Password safe or offline custody packet	Used to decrypt bootstrap bundles for an attended apply/recovery ceremony
Platform-root password	Password safe or offline custody packet	Dedicated custody identity, not day-to-day account
Platform-root OTP/recovery	Authenticator plus offline recovery	Not stored in Git, State Hub, or bootstrap metadata
OpenBao recovery/unseal material	OpenBao custody packet	Created only after custody approval

Everything else should be generated, encrypted to the custodian public key, applied to the cluster, then shredded or rotated into OpenBao once OpenBao is available.

Trial Versus Custody Mode

Trial mode uses throwaway values to document the steps, UI, failure modes, and operator instructions. Nothing created in trial mode should be trusted as live security material.

Custody mode uses real generated secrets. The expected lifecycle is:

1. Register the custodian public age recipient in the control surface.
2. Generate or recover bootstrap secrets.
3. Encrypt the bundle to the custodian public key.
4. Apply secrets to the cluster during an attended ceremony.
5. Shred plaintext sso-mfa/bootstrap/secrets/.
6. Record only non-secret fingerprints, timestamps, and state transitions.

Control Surface Rules

The NetKingdom control surface may store:

• custodian public age recipient;
• public-key fingerprint;
• private-key location reference, such as a password-safe entry label;
• encrypted bundle path and file count;
• whether plaintext bootstrap secrets are currently present; and
• non-secret apply/verification status.

It must not store:

• AGE-SECRET-KEY-1... private key material;
• generated passwords;
• OTP seeds;
• OpenBao root tokens or unseal shares;
• decrypted bootstrap files; or
• screenshots of secret output.

Current Tooling Alignment

sso-mfa/bootstrap/encrypt-secrets.sh should accept an age public recipient directly. Encryption does not require the private key.

sso-mfa/bootstrap/decrypt-secrets.sh requires the private key path and should be used only in an explicit unlock/apply ceremony. After apply, plaintext files must be shredded.