Authentication

pulse-cli supports Basic auth, OAuth 2.0 (authorization code flow with PKCE, for Keycloak, Microsoft Entra ID, Auth0 or another OpenID Connect provider), bearer tokens you get elsewhere, token commands that fetch one, and headers for other schemes.

• The type comes from --auth none|basic|oauth|bearer, PULSE_CLI_AUTH or the profile. Without one, a username selects basic and a token selects bearer. OAuth is never implied.
• Each value resolves on its own: flag > environment variable > profile. With --url or PULSE_CLI_URL set, the profile's credentials go to that URL: check pulse-cli config show.
• Secrets are never plain flags and are masked (***) in output unless --show-secrets.

Every option: pulse-cli auth <command> --help.

Basic auth

For Camunda 7 Run with camunda.bpm.run.auth.enabled=true, CIB seven Run with camunda.bpm.run.auth.authentication=basic, Operaton Run with operaton.bpm.run.auth.enabled=true, or a filter or proxy in front of /engine-rest.

Value	Flag	Environment	Profile (auth object)
type	--auth <type>	PULSE_CLI_AUTH	type: none or basic
username	--auth-user <name>	PULSE_CLI_USERNAME	username
password	--auth-password-stdin	PULSE_CLI_PASSWORD	passwordEnv (variable name) or password

# per call: the password comes from stdin
printf '%s\n' "$CAMUNDA_PASSWORD" | pulse-cli ping --auth basic --auth-user demo --auth-password-stdin
# per shell: read it without echo and without shell history
read -rs PULSE_CLI_PASSWORD && export PULSE_CLI_PASSWORD
pulse-cli task list --assignee demo
# per profile: only the name of the variable is stored
pulse-cli config set staging --url https://staging.example.com/engine-rest --auth basic --auth-user demo --auth-password-env CAMUNDA_PASSWORD

• In a profile, store the variable name with --auth-password-env; a literal password is plain text in the 0600 config file (config set warns). Pass the name, never the password.
• A missing username or password exits 3. A 401 (exit 4) names the rejected user or the reason no credentials were sent.
• Use https:// beyond localhost: Basic auth sends the password readable.

OAuth

A person logs in once with pulse-cli auth login in a terminal; other commands use and refresh the cached tokens. Without a usable login they fail with LOGIN_REQUIRED (exit 4) and name the command to run, so agents never wait for a browser. Client credentials and the device flow are not supported.

pulse-cli config set sso --url https://camunda.example.com/engine-rest --auth oauth --oauth-issuer https://login.example.com/realms/camunda --oauth-client-id pulse-cli --oauth-audience engine-rest

$ pulse-cli auth login --profile sso
Open this URL in a browser to log in:
  https://login.example.com/realms/camunda/protocol/openid-connect/auth?response_type=code&client_id=pulse-cli&redirect_uri=...
Logged in as alice (profile "sso").

$ pulse-cli process-instance list --profile sso

Value	Environment	config set option
type	PULSE_CLI_AUTH=oauth	--auth oauth
issuer	PULSE_CLI_OAUTH_ISSUER	--oauth-issuer <url> (endpoints from discovery)
endpoints	PULSE_CLI_OAUTH_AUTHORIZATION_ENDPOINT, PULSE_CLI_OAUTH_TOKEN_ENDPOINT	--oauth-authorization-endpoint, --oauth-token-endpoint
client id	PULSE_CLI_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID	--oauth-client-id <id>
client secret	PULSE_CLI_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET	--oauth-client-secret-env <VAR> (confidential client)
scopes	PULSE_CLI_OAUTH_SCOPES	--oauth-scopes <scopes>, default openid offline_access
audience	PULSE_CLI_OAUTH_AUDIENCE	--oauth-audience <audience> (Auth0 style parameter)
redirect port	PULSE_CLI_OAUTH_REDIRECT_PORT	--oauth-redirect-port <port>, default 0 (any free port)

• An agent never runs auth login itself: on LOGIN_REQUIRED it asks the person to run the command of the hint in a terminal, then retries.
• auth login [--no-browser] [--login-timeout <ms>] prints the URL, opens the browser and waits on 127.0.0.1. Over SSH: set --oauth-redirect-port 8765, run ssh -L 8765:127.0.0.1:8765 host and open the URL locally.
• auth status shows user, scopes and expiry without network access; exit 4 when a new login is needed. auth logout revokes the refresh token (if the provider supports it) and removes the login.
• Tokens are cached in ~/.config/pulse-cli/tokens (mode 0600). Changing issuer, client, audience or scopes needs a new login.
• UNAUTHORIZED or FORBIDDEN after a successful login are gateway (issuer, audience, clock) or permission problems, not login problems: do not ask for a new login. The gateway must expect exactly the issuer URL pulse-cli logs in with (localhost and 127.0.0.1 differ).
• URLs must use https:// (http:// only for loopback).

Shared logins

One pulse-cli auth login serves every OAuth profile of the same origin that stores the same issuer (or token endpoint), client id, audience and scopes. A repository with an engine per service needs one login, not one per profile.

• The origin is your config file, a file named by --config or PULSE_CLI_CONFIG, or the repository of a project file, including all its worktrees. Separate clones and submodules are origins of their own.
• auth login, status and logout name the profiles a login serves; logout ends it for all.
• A login never serves another origin. Within its origin it goes wherever the profiles' URLs point: treat a project file like code.
• Run auth logout before you delete a repository whose login is still valid.

Client registration:

• Keycloak: a public client, Standard flow on, redirect URI http://127.0.0.1/callback, PKCE method S256. Users need offline_access. Keycloak ignores audience: add an Audience mapper.
• Microsoft Entra ID: a "Mobile and desktop applications" redirect URI http://127.0.0.1/callback, issuer https://login.microsoftonline.com/<tenant-id>/v2.0, and the API as a scope, e.g. --oauth-scopes 'openid offline_access api://<app-id>/.default'.
• Auth0: issuer https://<tenant>.auth0.com/ with the trailing slash, the API identifier as --oauth-audience, redirect URI http://127.0.0.1:8765/callback with --oauth-redirect-port 8765.

Bearer tokens

When you already get an access token elsewhere (SSO tooling, a CI secret, az, gcloud), --auth bearer sends it as Authorization: Bearer <token>. No login, no refresh, no cache.

Value	Flag	Environment	Profile (auth object) / config set option
type	--auth bearer	PULSE_CLI_AUTH	type: "bearer" / --auth bearer
token	--auth-token-stdin	PULSE_CLI_TOKEN	tokenEnv (variable name) / --auth-token-env <VAR>

# Microsoft Entra ID: a token for the API the engine's gateway expects
export PULSE_CLI_TOKEN=$(az account get-access-token --resource api://<engine-api-app-id> --query accessToken -o tsv)
pulse-cli process-instance list
# Google Cloud
export PULSE_CLI_TOKEN=$(gcloud auth print-access-token)
# CI job: the profile stores only the variable name
pulse-cli config set ci --url https://camunda.example.com/engine-rest --auth bearer --auth-token-env CI_ENGINE_TOKEN

• PULSE_CLI_TOKEN or --auth-token-stdin select bearer when no type is set. An explicit basic or oauth type wins: add --auth bearer or PULSE_CLI_AUTH=bearer.
• A JWT whose exp has passed fails before any request with TOKEN_EXPIRED (exit 4). Fetch a new token, or use a token command. Opaque tokens are sent as they are.
• pulse-cli auth status shows the token's source and, for a JWT, its claims and expiry.

Token commands

PULSE_CLI_TOKEN_COMMAND is a command line that prints a bearer token on the first line of its stdout. pulse-cli runs it when it needs a token, which suits short-lived tokens such as a local Keycloak dev realm. A repository sets it for agents in the env of its .claude/settings.json, people in their shell or in direnv's .envrc.

export PULSE_CLI_TOKEN_COMMAND="$PWD/scripts/dev-token.sh"
pulse-cli task list

• Token sources in order: --auth-token-stdin, PULSE_CLI_TOKEN, PULSE_CLI_TOKEN_COMMAND, then the profile's tokenEnv or token.
• It runs in the working directory with stdin closed and must print the token, not JSON (use e.g. jq -r .access_token). Use an absolute path or no path: a relative one runs the script of whatever directory pulse-cli runs in.
• A JWT is cached until shortly before it expires, also for later and parallel calls. After a 401 pulse-cli runs the command once more and retries.
• A failing command exits 4 with LOGIN_FAILED and the end of its stderr. auth status runs it and shows the claims, auth logout removes the cached token.

Only the environment sets a token command, never a profile or a project file: a project file cannot make pulse-cli run code.

Other headers

API keys and gateway specific headers go into headers: -H per call, PULSE_CLI_HEADERS in the environment, or --header in a profile. They merge per name: profile, then PULSE_CLI_HEADERS, then -H. An Authorization header together with Basic auth, OAuth or a bearer token is a configuration error. Secret headers are masked unless --show-secrets.

export PULSE_CLI_HEADERS='X-API-Key: k-7f3a...'
pulse-cli config set prod --header 'X-Tenant-Id: acme'