Sync Entra ID Users to Smallstep
Prerequisites
You will need:
- A Smallstep team. Register here
- An Entra ID tenant with subscription P1 or higher
- Global Administrator access to the account
Features
The following provisioning features are supported:
- Push Groups and New Users
- Push Profile or Group Updates
- Push User Deactivation
- Reactivate Users
Step by step instructions
Step 1. Create an Entra ID enterprise application
- In Entra ID, visit Browse Entra Gallery and choose “+ Create your own application”.
- Name the application and use the default “Non-gallery” option.
- If the "Smallstep SSH" Marketplace app is shown, do not choose it.
- In your new Enterprise Application, visit Manage → Users and groups.
- Assign the groups or users you’d like to sync to Smallstep. You may want to create new groups for Smallstep users.
Step 2. Enable SSO
In Entra ID
- Your Enterprise Application comes with an App Registration.
- Go to App registrations and find your Smallstep application in the list. It may be under the "All Applications" tab.
- On the application overview, save the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID for later.
- In the App Registration, visit “Manage → Certificates & secrets”
- Create a new Client Secret
- Set the client secret description and expiry as desired
- Save the Client Secret Value for later
- Go to the API Permissions blade
- Choose Microsoft Graph
- Choose Delegated Permissions
- Under OpenID Permissions, select
email,openid, andprofile. - Choose "Grant Admin Consent" for all permissions
- Under OpenID Permissions, select
- Go to the "Token configuration" blade
- Choose Add Optional Claim
- ID token type
- Select email and preferred_username
- Choose Add
- Go to Manage -> Authentication blade and choose + Add Redirect URI
- Choose type "Web" and enter the URL:
https://api.smallstep.com/auth/openid/callback - Choose "Configure"
- Choose type "Web" and enter the URL:
- Now choose the Settings tab in the Authentication blade.
- Under Supported Account Types, select multi-tenant.
- Only the users
- Choose Save
- Finally, return to the Overview blade.
- Select 🌐Endpoints and copy the OpenID Connect metadata document URL for later.
In Smallstep
- Go to Connect an Entra ID IdP
- Fill the Client ID, Client Secret, Tenant ID, and OIDC metadata URL you saved.
Step 3. Enable user provisioning
- Smallstep will send you a SCIM URL and Secret Token.
- In Entra ID, return to your Smallstep Enterprise Application.
- Go to Manage → Provisioning
- Create a new provisioning configuration.
- For Admin Credentials:
- Use Bearer Authentication
- Supply the SCIM Tenant URL and Secret Token you received from Smallstep.
- Choose Test Connection and make sure that it works.
- Save.
Step 4. Turn on provisioning
- Return to the Provisioning panel.
- Choose Start Provisioning.
Step 5. Adjust user attribute mappings
-
In your Smallstep Enterprise Application, the Manage → Attribute Mappings blade should now be accessible. Choose it.
-
Choose “Provision Microsoft Entra ID Users"
-
The mappings you’ll want for Smallstep are:

Most of these are part of the default mappings.
The only one you will need to customize is:
externalIdshould map toobjectId. This is a unique ID representing the user that is not reusable.
-
Remove any other default attributes that are not in the list above. The only attributes you need to send to Smallstep are:
userNamedisplayNameemails[type eq "work"].valuename.givenNamename.familyNameexternalId
-
Save your user attribute mappings.
-
Change "Provisioning Status" to "On", and save the settings.
It may take up to 40 minutes to enable provisioning.
Step 6. Confirm the directory connection
- Return to the Smallstep dashboard.
- In the Users tab, you should now see your Entra ID users
- Sign out
- You should be offered the option to sign in with SSO.
- Finally, let Smallstep know which of your SSO users should be team Owners or Admins in Smallstep.
- Admins have dashboard read/write privileges (users, devices, etc.)
- Owners have all the same privileges as Admins, with the additional privilege that Owners can create Admins.
Don't see your users and groups? Microsoft's SCIM service may add a 40-minute delay after you set it up. You can force an update by clicking Restart provisioning in the Provisioning panel. Even then, it may take a minute to sync with Smallstep.
Last updated on February 3, 2026
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