---
title: "Kubernetes cert-manager"
description: "Learn how to automatically provision and manage TLS certificates in Kubernetes using Infisical"
---

## Concept

This guide demonstrates how to use Infisical to issue TLS certificates back to your Kubernetes environment using [cert-manager](https://cert-manager.io/).

It uses the [ACME issuer type](https://cert-manager.io/docs/configuration/acme/) to request and renew certificates automatically from Infisical
using the [ACME enrollment method](/documentation/platform/pki/enrollment-methods/acme) configured on a [certificate profile](/documentation/platform/pki/certificates/profiles). The issuer is perfect at obtaining X.509 certificates for Ingresses and other Kubernetes resources and can automatically renew them before expiration.

The typical workflow involves installing `cert-manager` and configuring resources that represent the connection details to Infisical as well as the certificates you want to issue.
Each issued certificate and its corresponding private key are stored in a Kubernetes `Secret`.

We recommend reading the official [cert-manager documentation](https://cert-manager.io/docs/) for a complete overview.
For the ACME-specific configuration, refer to the [ACME section](https://cert-manager.io/docs/configuration/acme/).

## Workflow

A typical workflow for using cert-manager with Infisical via ACME consists of the following steps:

1. Create a [certificate profile](/documentation/platform/pki/certificates/profiles) in Infisical with the [ACME enrollment method](/documentation/platform/pki/enrollment-methods/acme) configured on it.
2. Install `cert-manager` in your Kubernetes cluster.
3. Create a Kubernetes `Secret` containing the EAB (External Account Binding) credentials for the ACME certificate profile.
4. Create an `Issuer` or `ClusterIssuer` resource that connects to the desired Infisical [certificate profile](/documentation/platform/pki/certificates/profiles).
5. Create a `Certificate` resource defining the certificate you wish to issue and the target `Secret` where the certificate and private key will be stored.
6. Use the resulting Kubernetes `Secret` in your Ingresses or other resources.

## Guide

The following steps show how to install cert-manager (using `kubectl`) and obtain certificates from Infisical.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a certificate profile with ACME as the enrollment method in Infisical">

    Follow the instructions [here](/documentation/platform/pki/enrollment-methods/acme) to create a certificate profile that uses ACME enrollment.

    After completion, you will have the following values:
    - **ACME Directory URL**
    - **EAB Key ID (KID)**
    - **EAB Secret**

    These will be needed in later steps.

    <Note>
      Currently, the Infisical ACME enrollment method only supports authentication via dedicated EAB credentials generated per certificate profile.

      Support for [Kubernetes Auth](/documentation/platform/identities/kubernetes-auth) is planned for the near future.
    </Note>

  </Step>
  <Step title="Install cert-manager">

    Install cert-manager in your Kubernetes cluster by following the official guide [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/installation/) or by applying the manifest directly:

    ```bash
    kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.19.1/cert-manager.yaml
    ```

  </Step>
  <Step title="Create a Kubernetes Secret for the Infisical ACME EAB credentials">
    Create a Kubernetes `Secret` that contains the **EAB Secret (HMAC key)** obtained in step 1.
    The cert-manager uses this secret to authenticate with the Infisical ACME server.

    <Tabs>
        <Tab title="kubectl command">
            ```bash
            kubectl create secret generic infisical-acme-eab-secret \
                --namespace <namespace_you_want_to_issue_certificates_in> \
                --from-literal=eabSecret=<eab_secret>
            ```
        </Tab>
        <Tab title="Configuration file">
            ```yaml acme-eab-secret.yaml
            apiVersion: v1
            kind: Secret
            metadata:
                name: infisical-acme-eab-secret
                namespace: <namespace_you_want_to_issue_certificates_in>
            data:
                eabSecret: <eab_secret>
            ```

            ```bash
            kubectl apply -f acme-eab-secret.yaml
            ```
        </Tab>
    </Tabs>

  </Step>
  <Step title="Create the cert-manager Issuer connecting to Infisical ACME server">
    Next, create a cert-manager `Issuer` (or `ClusterIssuer`) by replacing the placeholders `<acme_server_url>`, `<your_email>`, and `<acme_eab_kid>` in the configuration below and applying it.
    This resource configures cert-manager to use your Infisical PKI collection's ACME server for certificate issuance.

    ```yaml issuer-infisical.yaml
    apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
    kind: Issuer
    metadata:
        name: issuer-infisical
        namespace: <namespace_you_want_to_issue_certificates_in>
    spec:
        acme:
            # ACME server URL from your Infisical certificate profile (Step 1)
            server: <acme_server_url>
            # Email address for ACME account
            # (any valid email works; currently ignored by Infisical)
            email: <your_email>
            externalAccountBinding:
                # EAB Key ID from Step 1
                keyID: <acme_eab_kid>
                # Reference to the Kubernetes Secret containing the EAB
                # HMAC key (created in Step 3)
                keySecretRef:
                    name: infisical-acme-eab-secret
                    key: eabSecret
            privateKeySecretRef:
                name: issuer-infisical-account-key
            solvers:
            - http01:
                ingress:
                    # Replace with your actual ingress class if different
                    className: nginx
    ```

    ```
    kubectl apply -f issuer-infisical.yaml
    ```

    You can check that the issuer was created successfully by running the following command:

    ```bash
    kubectl get issuers.cert-manager.io -n <namespace_of_issuer> -o wide
    ```

    ```bash
    NAME               AGE
    issuer-infisical   21h
    ```

    <Note>
        - Currently, the [ACME enrollment method](/documentation/platform/pki/enrollment-methods/acme) only supports the [HTTP-01 challenge](https://letsencrypt.org/docs/challenge-types/#http-01-challenge) method. Support for the [DNS-01 challenge](https://letsencrypt.org/docs/challenge-types/#dns-01-challenge) method is planned for a future release. If domain ownership validation is not desired, you can disable it by enabling the **Skip DNS ownership validation** option in your ACME certificate profile configuration.
        - An `Issuer` is namespace-scoped. Certificates can only be issued using an `Issuer` that exists in the same namespace as the `Certificate` resource.
        - If you need to issue certificates across multiple namespaces with a single resource, create a `ClusterIssuer` instead. The configuration is identical except `kind: ClusterIssuer` and no `metadata.namespace`.
        - More details: https://cert-manager.io/docs/configuration/acme/
    </Note>

  </Step>
  <Step title="Create the Certificate">

    Finally, request a certificate from Infisical ACME server by creating a cert-manager `Certificate` resource.
    This configuration file specifies the details of the (end-entity/leaf) certificate to be issued.

    ```yaml certificate-issuer.yaml
    apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
    kind: Certificate
    metadata:
        name: certificate-by-issuer
        namespace: <namespace_you_want_to_issue_certificates_in>
    spec:
        dnsNames:
        - certificate-by-issuer.example.com
        # name of the resulting Kubernetes Secret
        secretName: certificate-by-issuer
        # total validity period of the certificate
        duration: 48h
        # cert-manager will attempt renewal 12 hours before expiry
        renewBefore: 12h
        privateKey:
            algorithm: ECDSA
            # uses NIST P-256 curve
            size: 256
        issuerRef:
            name: issuer-infisical
    ```

    The above sample configuration file specifies a certificate to be issued with the dns name `certificate-by-issuer.example.com` and ECDSA private key using the P-256 curve, valid for 48 hours; the certificate will be automatically renewed by `cert-manager` 12 hours before expiry.
    The certificate is issued by the issuer `issuer-infisical` created in the previous step and the resulting certificate and private key will be stored in a secret named `certificate-by-issuer`.

    Note that the full list of the fields supported on the `Certificate` resource can be found in the API reference documentation [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/reference/api-docs/#cert-manager.io/v1.CertificateSpec).

    You can check that the certificate was created successfully by running the following command:

    ```bash
    kubectl get certificates -n <namespace_of_your_certificate> -o wide
    ```

    ```bash
    NAME                    READY   SECRET                  ISSUER             STATUS                                          AGE
    certificate-by-issuer   True    certificate-by-issuer   issuer-infisical   Certificate is up to date and has not expired   20h
    ```

  </Step>
  <Step title="Use Certificate in Kubernetes Secret">
    Since the actual certificate and private key are stored in a Kubernetes secret, we can check that the secret was created successfully by running the following command:

    ```bash
    kubectl get secret certificate-by-issuer -n <namespace_of_your_certificate>
    ```

    ```bash
    NAME                    TYPE                DATA   AGE
    certificate-by-issuer   kubernetes.io/tls   2      26h
    ```

    We can `describe` the secret to get more information about it:

    ```bash
    kubectl describe secret certificate-by-issuer -n default
    ```

    ```bash
    Name:         certificate-by-issuer
    Namespace:    default
    Labels:       controller.cert-manager.io/fao=true
    Annotations:  cert-manager.io/alt-names:
                cert-manager.io/certificate-name: certificate-by-issuer
                cert-manager.io/common-name:
                cert-manager.io/alt-names: certificate-by-issuer.example.com
                cert-manager.io/ip-sans:
                cert-manager.io/issuer-group: cert-manager.io
                cert-manager.io/issuer-kind: Issuer
                cert-manager.io/issuer-name: issuer-infisical
                cert-manager.io/uri-sans:

    Type:  kubernetes.io/tls

    Data
    ====
    ca.crt: 1306 bytes
    tls.crt: 2380 bytes
    tls.key:  227 bytes
    ```

    Here, `ca.crt` is the Root CA certificate, `tls.crt` is the requested certificate followed by the certificate chain, and `tls.key` is the private key for the certificate.

    We can decode the certificate and print it out using `openssl`:

    ```bash
    kubectl get secret certificate-by-issuer -n default -o jsonpath='{.data.tls\.crt}' | base64 --decode | openssl x509 -text -noout
    ```

    In any case, the certificate is ready to be used as Kubernetes Secret by your Kubernetes resources.

  </Step>

</Steps>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
<Accordion title="What fields can be configured on the Certificate resource?">
    The full list of the fields supported on the `Certificate` resource can be found in the API reference documentation [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/reference/api-docs/#cert-manager.io/v1.CertificateSpec).

    <Note>
        Currently, not all fields are supported by the Infisical PKI ACME server.
    </Note>

</Accordion>
<Accordion title="Can certificates be renewed automatically?">
    Yes. `cert-manager` will automatically renew certificates according to the `renewBefore` threshold of expiry as
    specified in the corresponding `Certificate` resource.

    You can read more about the `renewBefore` field [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/reference/api-docs/#cert-manager.io/v1.CertificateSpec).

</Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>