SmallStep

Smallstep operates the world's first Device Identity Platform. It issues hardware-backed, short-lived X.509 and SSH certificates that cryptographically prove what is acting and from where — for devices, humans, workloads, AI agents, and MCP toolchains. Smallstep co-developed ACME Device Attestation (ACME DA) with Google through the IETF, using TPM and Secure Enclave co-processors to bind non-exportable credentials to specific devices at issuance. Its OpenAPI-conformant Platform API (gateway.smallstep.com) manages device inventory, PKI (certificate authorities and provisioners), certificate issuance and revocation, credentials, and protected resources such as Wi-Fi, VPN, and SSO. Smallstep also maintains the widely used open-source step CLI and step-ca certificate authority.

SmallStep publishes 6 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Authentication API, Certificates API, Credentials API, and 3 more. Tagged areas include Company, Developer Tools, Certificate Authority, PKI, and Device Identity.

The SmallStep catalog on APIs.io includes 1 event-driven AsyncAPI specification.

SmallStep’s developer surface includes documentation, API reference, getting-started guide, engineering blog, support, pricing, authentication, and 27 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

53.6/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 30/100 agent ready saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-09-06 · rubric v0.19.0

1 APIs

Company Developer Tools Certificate Authority PKIDevice IdentityZero Trust Certificate Management mTLSACMESSH Security

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-09-06 · rubric v0.19.0

Composite quality — 53.6/100 · developing

Contract Quality 17.4 / 25

Developer Ergonomics 14.6 / 20

Access Clarity 7.6 / 20

Operational Transparency 5.8 / 13

Contract Governance 0.5 / 12

Discoverability 7.6 / 10

Agent readiness — 30/100 · agent ready

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 0 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 8 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7

Typed Event Surface 6 / 6

Agent Skills 5 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/smallstep: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

APIs 6

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 3

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

DeveloperPortal

DeveloperPortal

GettingStarted

GettingStarted

Login

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

APIReference

APIReference

Agent Surfaces 5

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

WellKnown

LLMsTxt

AgentSkill

MCPServerCandidate

MCPServerCandidate

Design & Contract 6

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Conformance

ErrorCatalog

Lifecycle

Conventions

DataModel

Webhooks

Build 4

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization

Packages

SDKs

CLI

Access & Security 5

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Authentication

Authentication

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

VulnerabilityDisclosure

VulnerabilityDisclosure

Security

Security

SecurityTxt

SecurityTxt

Operate 3

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Support

Support

StatusPage

StatusPage

ChangeLog

ChangeLog

Commercial 3

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Pricing

Pricing

TermsOfService

TermsOfService

PrivacyPolicy

PrivacyPolicy

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

Blog

Blog

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Overlay

Overlay

Source (apis.yml)

x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-07-21'
  status: enriched
  artifacts_added: 23
  pass: local-v1
aid: smallstep
name: SmallStep
description: Smallstep operates the world's first Device Identity Platform. It issues hardware-backed, short-lived X.509 and
  SSH certificates that cryptographically prove what is acting and from where — for devices, humans, workloads, AI agents,
  and MCP toolchains. Smallstep co-developed ACME Device Attestation (ACME DA) with Google through the IETF, using TPM and
  Secure Enclave co-processors to bind non-exportable credentials to specific devices at issuance. Its OpenAPI-conformant
  Platform API (gateway.smallstep.com) manages device inventory, PKI (certificate authorities and provisioners), certificate
  issuance and revocation, credentials, and protected resources such as Wi-Fi, VPN, and SSO. Smallstep also maintains the
  widely used open-source step CLI and step-ca certificate authority.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/smallstep/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: true
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: high
  source:
  - openapi
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source:
  - authentication
  - security
  generated: '2026-09-03'
  method: derived
image: https://smallstep.imgix.net/logo_bfa4201fe5.svg
x-type: company
x-source: vc-portfolio
x-backed-by:
- accel
- bain-capital-ventures
x-tier: enriched
x-tier-reason: portfolio-lead-enriched
specificationVersion: '0.23'
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-21'
tags:
- Company
- Developer Tools
- Certificate Authority
- PKI
- Device Identity
- Zero Trust
- Certificate Management
- mTLS
- ACME
- SSH
- Security
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
- FN: APIs.json
  email: info@apis.io
apis:
- aid: smallstep:smallstep-authentication-api
  name: SmallStep Authentication API
  description: Create API tokens
  humanURL: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  baseURL: https://gateway.smallstep.com/api
  tags:
  - Authentication
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smallstep-authentication-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://gateway.smallstep.com/v2025-01-01
- aid: smallstep:smallstep-certificates-api
  name: SmallStep Certificates API
  description: Query certificates and their statuses issued by authorities
  humanURL: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  baseURL: https://gateway.smallstep.com/api
  tags:
  - Certificates
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smallstep-certificates-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://gateway.smallstep.com/v2025-01-01
- aid: smallstep:smallstep-credentials-api
  name: SmallStep Credentials API
  description: Manage credentials
  humanURL: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  baseURL: https://gateway.smallstep.com/api
  tags:
  - Credentials
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smallstep-credentials-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://gateway.smallstep.com/v2025-01-01
- aid: smallstep:smallstep-device-inventory-api
  name: SmallStep Device Inventory API
  description: Manage your device inventory
  humanURL: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  baseURL: https://gateway.smallstep.com/api
  tags:
  - Device Inventory
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smallstep-device-inventory-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://gateway.smallstep.com/v2025-01-01
- aid: smallstep:smallstep-pki-architecture-api
  name: SmallStep PKI Architecture API
  description: Manage certificate authorities and provisioners
  humanURL: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  baseURL: https://gateway.smallstep.com/api
  tags:
  - PKI Architecture
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smallstep-pki-architecture-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://gateway.smallstep.com/v2025-01-01
- aid: smallstep:smallstep-protect-api
  name: SmallStep Protect API
  description: Manage access to protected resources
  humanURL: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  baseURL: https://gateway.smallstep.com/api
  tags:
  - protect
  tags_raw:
  - Protect
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/smallstep-protect-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://gateway.smallstep.com/v2025-01-01
common:
- type: Overlay
  url: overlays/smallstep-platform-overlay.yaml
- type: Website
  url: http://www.smallstep.com
- type: DeveloperPortal
  url: https://smallstep.com/docs/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform
- type: APIReference
  url: https://smallstep.com/docs/platform/smallstep-api/
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://smallstep.com/docs/certificate-manager/getting-started/
- type: Blog
  url: https://smallstep.com/blog
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/smallstep
- type: Support
  url: https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/discussions
- type: Pricing
  url: https://smallstep.com/pricing
- type: Login
  url: https://smallstep.com/app/
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://smallstep.com/terms-of-use
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://smallstep.com/privacy-policy
- type: StatusPage
  url: https://status.smallstep.com
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/smallstep-authentication.yml
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/smallstep-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/smallstep-domain-security.yml
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/smallstep-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: Security
  url: https://smallstep.com/security/
- type: SecurityTxt
  url: well-known/smallstep-security.txt
- type: WellKnown
  url: well-known/smallstep-well-known.yml
- type: Packages
  url: packages/smallstep-packages.yml
- type: SDKs
  url: packages/smallstep-packages.yml
- type: CLI
  url: cli/smallstep-cli.yml
- type: LLMsTxt
  url: llms/smallstep-llms.txt
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/smallstep-conformance.yml
- type: ErrorCatalog
  url: errors/smallstep-problem-types.yml
- type: Lifecycle
  url: lifecycle/smallstep-lifecycle.yml
- type: Conventions
  url: conventions/smallstep-conventions.yml
- type: ChangeLog
  url: changelog/smallstep-changelog.yml
- type: DataModel
  url: data-model/smallstep-data-model.yml
- type: Webhooks
  url: asyncapi/smallstep-webhooks.yml
- type: AgentSkill
  url: skills/_index.yml
- type: MCPServerCandidate
  url: mcp/smallstep-mcp.yml

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