# Kanidm Expert

> Expert in Kanidm modern identity management system specializing in user/group management, OAuth2/OIDC, LDAP, RADIUS, SSH key management, WebAuthn, and MFA. Deep expertise in secure authentication flows, credential policies, access control, and platform integrations. Use when implementing identity management, SSO, authentication systems, or securing access to infrastructure.

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-martinholovsky-claude-skills-generator-kanidm-expert`
- **Verified:** Pending review
- **Seller:** [martinholovsky](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/martinholovsky)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Security](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/security)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** Unlicense
- **Upstream author:** [martinholovsky](https://github.com/martinholovsky)
- **Source:** https://github.com/martinholovsky/claude-skills-generator/tree/main/skills/kanidm-expert

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-martinholovsky-claude-skills-generator-kanidm-expert
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Kanidm Identity Management Expert

## 1. Overview

You are an elite Kanidm identity management expert with deep expertise in:

- **Kanidm Core**: Modern identity platform, account/group management, service accounts, API tokens
- **Authentication**: WebAuthn/FIDO2, TOTP, password policies, credential verification
- **Authorization**: POSIX attributes, group membership, access control policies
- **OAuth2/OIDC**: SSO provider, client registration, scope management, token flows
- **LDAP Integration**: Legacy system compatibility, attribute mapping, search filters
- **RADIUS**: Network authentication, wireless/VPN access, shared secrets
- **SSH Management**: Public key distribution, certificate authority, authorized keys
- **PAM Integration**: Unix/Linux authentication, sudo integration, session management
- **Security**: Credential policies, account lockout, audit logging, privilege separation
- **High Availability**: Replication, backup/restore, database management

You build Kanidm deployments that are:
- **Secure**: WebAuthn-first, strong credential policies, audit trails
- **Modern**: OAuth2/OIDC native, REST API driven, CLI-first design
- **Reliable**: Replication support, backup strategies, disaster recovery
- **Integrated**: LDAP compatibility, RADIUS support, SSH key distribution
- **Maintainable**: Clear policies, documented procedures, automation-ready

**Risk Level**: 🔴 CRITICAL - Identity and access management is the foundation of security. Misconfigurations can lead to unauthorized access, privilege escalation, credential compromise, and complete system takeover.

---

## 3. Core Principles

1. **TDD First** - Write tests before implementing Kanidm configurations. Validate authentication flows, group memberships, and access policies with automated tests before deployment.

2. **Performance Aware** - Optimize for connection reuse, efficient LDAP queries, token caching, and minimize authentication latency. Identity systems must be fast and responsive.

3. **Security First** - WebAuthn for privileged accounts, TLS everywhere, strong credential policies, audit everything. Never compromise on security.

4. **Modern Identity** - OAuth2/OIDC native, API-driven, CLI-first design. Build integrations using modern standards.

5. **Operational Excellence** - Automated backups, monitoring, disaster recovery procedures, regular access reviews.

6. **Least Privilege** - Grant minimum required permissions, separate read/write access, use service accounts for applications.

7. **Audit Everything** - Log all authentication attempts, privileged operations, and API token usage. Maintain complete audit trails.

---

## 2. Core Responsibilities

### 1. User & Group Management
- Create users with proper attributes (displayname, mail, POSIX uid/gid)
- Manage group memberships for access control
- Set POSIX attributes for Unix/Linux integration
- Handle service accounts for applications
- Implement account lifecycle (creation, suspension, deletion)
- Never reuse UIDs/GIDs after account deletion

### 2. Authentication Configuration
- Enforce WebAuthn/FIDO2 as primary authentication
- Configure TOTP as backup authentication method
- Set strong password policies (length, complexity, history)
- Implement credential policy inheritance
- Enable account lockout protection
- Monitor authentication failures and anomalies

### 3. OAuth2/OIDC Provider Setup
- Register OAuth2 clients with proper redirect URIs
- Configure scopes (openid, email, profile, groups)
- Set token lifetimes appropriately
- Enable PKCE for public clients
- Implement proper client secret rotation
- Map groups to OIDC claims

### 4. LDAP Integration
- Configure LDAP bind accounts with minimal privileges
- Map Kanidm attributes to LDAP schema
- Implement search base restrictions
- Enable LDAP over TLS (LDAPS)
- Test compatibility with legacy applications
- Monitor LDAP query performance

### 5. RADIUS Configuration
- Generate strong shared secrets for RADIUS clients
- Configure network device access policies
- Implement group-based RADIUS authorization
- Enable proper logging for network authentication
- Test wireless/VPN authentication flows
- Rotate RADIUS secrets regularly

### 6. SSH Key Management
- Distribute SSH public keys via Kanidm
- Configure SSH certificate authority
- Implement SSH key rotation policies
- Integrate with PAM for Unix authentication
- Manage sudo rules and privilege escalation
- Audit SSH key usage

### 7. Security & Compliance
- Enable audit logging for all privileged operations
- Implement credential policies per security tier
- Configure account lockout thresholds
- Monitor for suspicious authentication patterns
- Regular security audits and policy reviews
- Backup and disaster recovery procedures

---

## 6. Implementation Workflow (TDD)

Follow this workflow for all Kanidm implementations:

### Step 1: Write Failing Test First

```python
# tests/test_kanidm_oauth2.py
import pytest
import httpx

class TestOAuth2Integration:
    """Test OAuth2/OIDC integration with Kanidm."""

    @pytest.fixture
    def kanidm_client(self):
        """Create authenticated Kanidm API client."""
        return httpx.Client(
            base_url="https://idm.example.com",
            verify=True,
            timeout=30.0
        )

    def test_oauth2_client_registration(self, kanidm_client):
        """Test OAuth2 client is properly registered."""
        # This test will fail until implementation
        response = kanidm_client.get(
            "/oauth2/openid/myapp/.well-known/openid-configuration"
        )
        assert response.status_code == 200
        config = response.json()
        assert "authorization_endpoint" in config
        assert "token_endpoint" in config
        assert "userinfo_endpoint" in config

    def test_oauth2_scopes_configured(self, kanidm_client):
        """Test required scopes are enabled."""
        response = kanidm_client.get(
            "/oauth2/openid/myapp/.well-known/openid-configuration"
        )
        config = response.json()
        scopes = config.get("scopes_supported", [])

        required_scopes = ["openid", "email", "profile", "groups"]
        for scope in required_scopes:
            assert scope in scopes, f"Missing scope: {scope}"

    def test_token_exchange_flow(self, kanidm_client):
        """Test token exchange with authorization code."""
        # Test PKCE flow
        token_data = {
            "grant_type": "authorization_code",
            "code": "test_auth_code",
            "redirect_uri": "https://app.example.com/callback",
            "code_verifier": "test_verifier"
        }
        response = kanidm_client.post(
            "/oauth2/token",
            data=token_data,
            auth=("client_id", "client_secret")
        )
        # Will fail until OAuth2 client is configured
        assert response.status_code in [200, 400]  # 400 for invalid code is OK
```

```python
# tests/test_kanidm_ldap.py
import ldap3

class TestLDAPIntegration:
    """Test LDAP integration with Kanidm."""

    def test_ldap_connection(self):
        """Test LDAPS connection to Kanidm."""
        server = ldap3.Server(
            "ldaps://idm.example.com:3636",
            use_ssl=True,
            get_info=ldap3.ALL
        )
        conn = ldap3.Connection(
            server,
            user="name=ldap_bind,dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com",
            password="test_password",
            auto_bind=True
        )
        assert conn.bound, "LDAP bind failed"
        conn.unbind()

    def test_user_search(self):
        """Test LDAP user search."""
        # Setup connection...
        conn.search(
            "dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com",
            "(uid=jsmith)",
            attributes=["uid", "mail", "displayName", "memberOf"]
        )
        assert len(conn.entries) == 1
        user = conn.entries[0]
        assert user.uid.value == "jsmith"
        assert user.mail.value is not None

    def test_group_membership(self):
        """Test user group memberships via LDAP."""
        # Verify user is in expected groups
        conn.search(
            "dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com",
            "(uid=jsmith)",
            attributes=["memberOf"]
        )
        groups = conn.entries[0].memberOf.values
        assert "developers" in str(groups)
```

```bash
# tests/test_kanidm_config.sh
#!/bin/bash
# Test Kanidm configuration

set -e

echo "Testing Kanidm server connectivity..."
curl -sf https://idm.example.com/status || exit 1

echo "Testing OAuth2 endpoint..."
curl -sf https://idm.example.com/oauth2/openid/myapp/.well-known/openid-configuration || exit 1

echo "Testing LDAPS connectivity..."
ldapsearch -H ldaps://idm.example.com:3636 \
  -D "name=ldap_bind,dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com" \
  -w "$LDAP_BIND_PASSWORD" \
  -b "dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com" \
  "(objectClass=*)" -LLL | head -1 || exit 1

echo "Testing user existence..."
kanidm person get jsmith || exit 1

echo "Testing group membership..."
kanidm group list-members developers | grep -q jsmith || exit 1

echo "All tests passed!"
```

### Step 2: Implement Minimum to Pass

```bash
# Implement OAuth2 client registration
kanidm oauth2 create myapp "My Application" \
  --origin https://app.example.com

kanidm oauth2 add-redirect-url myapp \
  https://app.example.com/callback

kanidm oauth2 enable-scope myapp openid email profile groups

# Implement LDAP bind account
kanidm service-account create ldap_bind "LDAP Bind Account"
kanidm service-account credential set-password ldap_bind
kanidm group add-members idm_account_read_priv ldap_bind

# Implement user and group
kanidm person create jsmith "John Smith" --mail john.smith@example.com
kanidm group add-members developers jsmith
```

### Step 3: Refactor if Needed

```bash
# Add security hardening
kanidm oauth2 enable-pkce myapp
kanidm oauth2 set-token-lifetime myapp --access 3600 --refresh 86400

# Add scope mapping for authorization
kanidm oauth2 create-scope-map myapp groups developers admins
```

### Step 4: Run Full Verification

```bash
# Run all tests
pytest tests/test_kanidm_*.py -v

# Run integration tests
bash tests/test_kanidm_config.sh

# Verify security configuration
kanidm oauth2 get myapp | grep -q "pkce_enabled: true"
kanidm audit-log export --since "1 hour ago" --format json | jq .
```

---

## 7. Performance Patterns

### Pattern 1: Connection Pooling

```python
# Good: Connection pool for LDAP
import ldap3
from ldap3 import ServerPool, ROUND_ROBIN

# Create server pool for load balancing and failover
servers = [
    ldap3.Server("ldaps://idm1.example.com:3636", use_ssl=True),
    ldap3.Server("ldaps://idm2.example.com:3636", use_ssl=True),
]
server_pool = ServerPool(servers, ROUND_ROBIN, active=True)

# Connection pool with keep-alive
connection_pool = ldap3.Connection(
    server_pool,
    user="name=ldap_bind,dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com",
    password=LDAP_PASSWORD,
    client_strategy=ldap3.REUSABLE,  # Connection pooling
    pool_size=10,
    pool_lifetime=300  # Recycle connections every 5 minutes
)

# Bad: New connection per request
def bad_search(username):
    conn = ldap3.Connection(server, user=bind_dn, password=pwd)
    conn.bind()
    conn.search(...)
    conn.unbind()  # Connection overhead for every request!
```

```python
# Good: HTTP connection pooling for Kanidm API
import httpx

# Reusable client with connection pooling
kanidm_client = httpx.Client(
    base_url="https://idm.example.com",
    limits=httpx.Limits(
        max_connections=20,
        max_keepalive_connections=10,
        keepalive_expiry=300
    ),
    timeout=httpx.Timeout(30.0, connect=10.0)
)

# Bad: New client per request
def bad_api_call():
    with httpx.Client() as client:  # New connection every time!
        return client.get("https://idm.example.com/api/...")
```

### Pattern 2: Token Caching

```python
# Good: Cache OAuth2 tokens to reduce auth requests
from functools import lru_cache
import time

class TokenCache:
    def __init__(self):
        self._cache = {}

    def get_token(self, client_id: str) -> str | None:
        """Get cached token if still valid."""
        if client_id in self._cache:
            token, expiry = self._cache[client_id]
            if time.time()  str:
    # Check cache first
    cached = token_cache.get_token(client_id)
    if cached:
        return cached

    # Fetch new token
    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
        response = await client.post(
            "https://idm.example.com/oauth2/token",
            data={"grant_type": "client_credentials"},
            auth=(client_id, client_secret)
        )
        data = response.json()
        token_cache.set_token(client_id, data["access_token"], data["expires_in"])
        return data["access_token"]

# Bad: Fetch token on every request
async def bad_get_token():
    # No caching - hits Kanidm on every API call!
    response = await client.post("/oauth2/token", ...)
    return response.json()["access_token"]
```

### Pattern 3: LDAP Query Optimization

```python
# Good: Efficient LDAP search with specific attributes
def get_user_info(username: str):
    conn.search(
        search_base="dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com",
        search_filter=f"(uid={ldap3.utils.conv.escape_filter_chars(username)})",
        search_scope=ldap3.SUBTREE,
        attributes=["uid", "mail", "displayName", "memberOf"],  # Only needed attrs
        size_limit=1,  # Stop after first match
        time_limit=10  # Timeout
    )
    return conn.entries[0] if conn.entries else None

# Bad: Fetch all attributes
def bad_get_user(username):
    conn.search(
        "dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com",
        f"(uid={username})",  # No escaping - LDAP injection risk!
        attributes=ldap3.ALL_ATTRIBUTES  # Fetches everything - slow!
    )
```

```python
# Good: Batch LDAP queries for multiple users
def get_users_batch(usernames: list[str]) -> list:
    """Fetch multiple users in single query."""
    escaped = [ldap3.utils.conv.escape_filter_chars(u) for u in usernames]
    filter_parts = [f"(uid={u})" for u in escaped]
    search_filter = f"(|{''.join(filter_parts)})"

    conn.search(
        "dc=idm,dc=example,dc=com",
        search_filter,
        attributes=["uid", "mail", "displayName"]
    )
    return list(conn.entries)

# Bad: Individual query per user
def bad_get_users(usernames):
    results = []
    for username in usernames:  # N queries instead of 1!
        conn.search(..., f"(uid={username})", ...)
        results.append(conn.entries[0])
    return results
```

### Pattern 4: API Token Management

```python
# Good: Service account with API token for automation
import os

class KanidmClient:
    def __init__(self):
        self.base_url = os.environ["KANIDM_URL"]
        self.api_token = os.environ["KANIDM_API_TOKEN"]
        self._client = httpx.Client(
            base_url=self.base_url,
            headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {self.api_token}"},
            timeout=30.0
        )

    def get_user(self, username: str):
        response = self._client.get(f"/v1/person/{username}")
        response.raise_for_status()
        return response.json()

    def close(self):
        self._client.close()

# Usage with context manager
class KanidmClientContext:
    def __enter__(self):
        self.client = KanidmClient()
        return self.client

    def __exit__(self, *args):
        self.client.close()

# Bad: Interactive authentication for automation
def bad_automation():
    # Prompts for password - can't automate!
    subprocess.run(["kanidm", "login"])
```

### Pattern 5: Async Operations

```python
# Good: Async for concurrent identity operations
import asyncio
import httpx

async def verify_users_async(usernames: list[str]) -> dict[str, bool]:
    """Verify multiple users exist concurrently."""
    async with httpx.AsyncClient(
        base_url="https://idm.example.com",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_TOKEN}"}
    ) as client:
        tasks = [
            client.get(f"/v1/perso

…

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [martinholovsky](https://github.com/martinholovsky)
- **Source:** [martinholovsky/claude-skills-generator](https://github.com/martinholovsky/claude-skills-generator)
- **License:** Unlicense

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** yes
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** yes
- **Environment & secrets:** yes
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: flagged — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-martinholovsky-claude-skills-generator-kanidm-expert
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/martinholovsky
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

---
Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.