step ca bootstrap

step ca bootstrap -- initialize the environment to use the CA commands

step ca bootstrap downloads the root certificate from the certificate authority and sets up the current environment to use it.

Bootstrap will store the root certificate in $STEPPATH/certs/root_ca.crt and create a configuration file in $STEPPATH/configs/defaults.json with the CA url, the root certificate location and its fingerprint.

After the bootstrap, ca commands do not need to specify the flags --ca-url, --root or --fingerprint if we want to use the same environment.

--ca-url=URI URI of the targeted Step Certificate Authority.

--fingerprint=fingerprint The fingerprint of the targeted root certificate.

--install Install the root certificate into the system's default trust store.

--team=ID The team ID used to bootstrap the environment.

--team-authority=sub-domain The sub-domain of the certificate authority to bootstrap. E.g., for an authority with domain name 'certs.example-team.ca.smallstep.com' the value would be 'certs'.

--team-url=url The url step queries to retrieve initial team configuration. Only used with the --team option. If the url contains <> placeholders, they are replaced with the team ID. Replacing the authority-id section of the url is not supported with placeholders.

--redirect-url=url The url to open in the system browser when the OAuth flow is successful.

-f, --force Force the overwrite of files without asking.

--context=name The context name to apply for the given command.

--profile=name The name that will serve as the profile name for the context.

--authority=name The name that will serve as the authority name for the context.

Bootstrap using the CA url and a fingerprint:

Bootstrap and install the root certificate

Bootstrap with a smallstep.com CA using a team ID:

To use team IDs in your own environment, you'll need an HTTP(S) server serving a JSON file:

Then, this command will look for the file at https://config.example.com/superteam: