Authentication

datumctl uses OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC) with the PKCE extension for secure authentication against Datum Cloud. This avoids the need to handle static API keys directly.

Authentication involves the following commands:

• datumctl auth login
• datumctl auth list
• datumctl auth logout
• datumctl auth get-token
• datumctl auth update-kubeconfig
• datumctl auth switch

Credentials and tokens are stored securely in your operating system’s default keyring.

Logging in

To authenticate with Datum Cloud, use the login command:

datumctl auth login [--hostname <auth-hostname>] [-v]

• --hostname <auth-hostname>: (Optional) Specify the hostname of the Datum Cloud authentication server. Defaults to auth.datum.net.
• -v, --verbose: (Optional) Print the full ID token claims after successful login.

Running this command will:

1. Attempt to open your default web browser to the Datum Cloud authentication page.
2. If the browser cannot be opened automatically, it will print a URL for you to visit manually.
3. Authenticate via the web page (this might involve entering your username/password or using single sign-on).
4. After successful authentication, you will be redirected back to datumctl (via a local webserver started temporarily), which completes the process.

Your credentials (including refresh tokens) are stored securely in the system keyring, associated with your user identifier (typically your email address).

Updating kubeconfig

Once logged in, you typically need to configure kubectl to authenticate to Datum Cloud Kubernetes clusters using your datumctl login session. Use the update-kubeconfig command:

datumctl auth update-kubeconfig [--kubeconfig <path>] [--project <name>] [--organization <name>]

• --kubeconfig <path>: (Optional) Path to the kubeconfig file to update. Defaults to the standard location ($HOME/.kube/config or the path specified by the KUBECONFIG environment variable).
• --project <name>: Specify the Datum Cloud project name to configure access for. You can find project IDs after creating projects in Datum Cloud.
• --organization <name>: Specify the Datum Cloud organization name to configure access for. You can find your organization ID using datumctl organizations list.

[!IMPORTANT] You must specify either --project or --organization.

This command adds or updates the necessary cluster, user, and context entries in your kubeconfig file. The user entry will be configured to use datumctl auth get-token --output=client.authentication.k8s.io/v1 as an exec credential plugin. This means kubectl commands targeting this cluster will automatically use your active datumctl login session for authentication.

Listing logged-in users

To see which users you have authenticated locally, use the list command:

datumctl auth list
# Alias: datumctl auth ls

This will output a table showing the Name, Email, and Status (Active or blank) for each set of stored credentials. The user marked Active is the one whose credentials will be used by default for other datumctl commands and kubectl (if configured via update-kubeconfig).

Switching active user

If you have logged in with multiple user accounts (visible via datumctl auth list), you can switch which account is active using the switch command:

datumctl auth switch <user-email>

Replace <user-email> with the email address of the user you want to make active. This user must already be logged in.

After switching, subsequent commands that require authentication (like datumctl organizations list or kubectl operations configured via update-kubeconfig) will use the credentials of the newly activated user.

Logging out

To remove stored credentials, use the logout command.

Log out a specific user:

datumctl auth logout <user-email>

Replace <user-email> with the email address shown in the datumctl auth list command.

Log out all users:

datumctl auth logout --all

This removes all Datum Cloud credentials stored by datumctl in your keyring.

Getting tokens (advanced)

The get-token command retrieves the current access token for the active authenticated user. This is primarily used internally by other tools (like kubectl) but can be used directly if needed.

datumctl auth get-token [-o <format>]

• -o, --output <format>: (Optional) Specify the output format. Defaults to token.
  • token: Prints the raw access token to standard output.
  • client.authentication.k8s.io/v1: Prints a Kubernetes ExecCredential JSON object containing the ID token, suitable for kubectl authentication.

If the stored access token is expired, get-token will attempt to use the refresh token to obtain a new one automatically.