CertAuto - Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management for Kubernetes

Powerful Features

Built for modern Kubernetes environments

Automated Renewal

Intelligent certificate renewal that prevents expiry with configurable renewal windows and automatic retry policies

Multi-Cloud Support

Native integration with Azure Key Vault, AWS Certificate Manager, and cross-namespace Kubernetes distribution

Kubernetes Native

Built with KubeBuilder for seamless integration with your K8s clusters, leveraging CRDs and native patterns

Validation & Security

Comprehensive certificate validation, TLS verification, and security-first design with RBAC support

Observable & Monitored

Prometheus metrics, structured logging, and detailed status tracking for production environments

Flexible Configuration

GitOps-ready, declarative CertificateBinding resources with policy-based retry and distribution controls

Architecture

How CertAuto orchestrates certificate management

🔑

cert-manager

Issuance

→

⚙️

CertAuto Controller

Orchestration

☁️ Azure Key Vault

☁️ AWS ACM

🔄 K8s Distribution

Key Components

CertificateBinding CR: Declarative resource defining certificate lifecycle and destination rules
Controller: Watches CRs, orchestrates cert creation, validates TLS secrets, and syncs via plugins
Plugin System: Extensible architecture supporting multiple cloud providers and destinations
Metrics & Observability: Prometheus-compatible metrics and structured logging

Workflow

Create a CertificateBinding CR specifying certificate source and destinations
Controller detects the CR and creates cert-manager Certificate if needed
cert-manager issues certificate and stores in TLS Secret
Controller validates certificate integrity and expiry
Configured plugins sync certificate to cloud vaults and K8s namespaces
Status updates track sync results and failures

Quick Start

Get up and running in minutes

Install CertAuto Operator

Install using Kubernetes manifest or Helm chart:

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/sanmarg/CertAuto/releases/download/v0.1.0/certauto.yaml

Ensure cert-manager is Installed

CertAuto depends on cert-manager for certificate issuance:

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.19.2/cert-manager.yaml

Create a CertificateBinding

Define your certificate binding with source and destinations:

apiVersion: sanorg.in/v1
kind: CertificateBinding
metadata:
  name: my-cert
spec:
  caSecret:
    name: my-issuer
  commonName: example.com
  destinations:
    - name: kubernetes
      namespace: production
    - name: azure
      vaultName: my-vault

Monitor Certificate Status

Watch your certificate sync across platforms:

kubectl get certificatebindings -w
kubectl describe certificatebinding my-cert

📚 Full Documentation

For detailed configuration, advanced features, and troubleshooting:

View Full Docs

🔗 Useful Links

Documentation

Comprehensive guides and references

📖 Architecture Guide

Deep dive into CertAuto's design, components, and sequence flows for certificate lifecycle management.

🚀 Installation Guide

Step-by-step instructions for installing CertAuto in your Kubernetes cluster with different backends.

⚙️ Configuration Reference

Complete API reference for CertificateBinding CRD with all available options and examples.

🔌 Plugin Development

Guide for extending CertAuto with custom plugins to support additional certificate destinations.

📊 Metrics & Monitoring

Information about Prometheus metrics, Grafana dashboards, and observability best practices.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common issues, debugging techniques, and solutions for typical operational challenges.

Contributors

Built with passion by our community

Sanmarg Paranjpe

Creator & Lead Maintainer

Kubernetes enthusiast and DevOps engineer focused on building cloud-native automation tools.

How to Contribute

We welcome contributions from the community! Whether you're fixing bugs, adding features, improving documentation, or providing feedback, your help is invaluable.

👨‍💻 Code Contributions

Submit bug fixes, features, and improvements via pull requests.

📝 Documentation

Help improve guides, examples, and API documentation for better understanding.

🐛 Bug Reports

Report issues you find and help us make CertAuto more robust.

🎯 Feature Requests

Suggest new features and improvements you'd like to see.

View Contributing Guide

Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management