Result
Workload identity and secretless access
In short: autonomous agents on Kubernetes or cloud should prove who they are with workload identity, not stored secrets. Standards such as SPIFFE, mTLS and DPoP bind credentials to the workload. Look for secretless exchange so the agent receives short-lived access only when it needs it.
Identification
Your agents are known services running on Kubernetes or cloud, and they hold API keys. You move them to standards-based workload identity with short-lived, secretless access.
Field marks: what does this look like in practice?
- API keys sit in environment variables or a vault the agent reads at start.
- Platform engineers already run SPIFFE or cloud workload identity federation.
- Rotation is manual and rare.
What should I require from a product?
- Agents authenticate with workload identity such as SPIFFE SVIDs.
- No long-lived secret is stored with the agent.
- Access tokens are short-lived and scoped to the task.
- Tokens are sender-constrained with mTLS or DPoP where supported.
- Credentials are decommissioned when a task ends.
- Each agent has an owner and can be revoked individually.
Which products fit?
Listed by fit to the requirements above, using each vendor's public material. This is not a ranking.
| Product | What it documents for this requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Aembit | Secretless exchange; just-in-time access; SPIFFE among standards. | Aembit home page; Aembit IAM for Agentic AI is generally available, read 2026-11-03 |
| Descope | SPIFFE SVIDs, private_key_jwt, mTLS and DPoP; short-lived scoped tokens. | Descope Agentic Identity Hub 3, read 2026-11-03 |
| Cyera Identity | Ephemeral identities decommissioned at task end. | Oasis Agentic Access Management, read 2026-11-03 |
What is this result confused with?
- Per-action policy with evidence: Pick that when the hard requirement is a decision and evidence per action.
- Discovery first: Pick that if you cannot list the agents yet.
What does your identity provider already cover?
- Okta for AI Agents replaces hardcoded credentials with short-lived tokens for registered agents. Okta for AI Agents general availability, read 2026-11-03
An agent governance layer runs alongside your identity provider, never instead of it.
Questions buyers ask
Is SPIFFE required?
No, but it is a common open standard for workload identity on Kubernetes.
What does secretless mean?
The agent holds no stored secret. It proves its identity and receives short-lived access when needed.
Does this cover agents acting for people?
Partly. Agents acting for people also need delegation, covered under the on-behalf-of pattern.