Client Certificate Authentication — also known as mutual TLS (mTLS) — is used to authenticate machine-generated requests to the platform. It allows both the client system and the platform to verify each other's identity using digital certificates, without requiring interactive user authentication. This approach is typically used for automated integrations where a system needs to query the platform directly.
During authentication, both the client and the platform present X.509 certificates. Each side verifies the certificate presented by the other, ensuring communication is established only between trusted parties.
Configuration Process
Client Certificate Authentication is set up through a request to platform support:
Obtain an X.509 certificate that supports client authentication.
Request that support create a user account associated with the certificate.
Provide support with the public certificates for the full certificate chain used by the client certificate.
Support adds the certificates to the platform trust store and creates the associated user account.
Assign roles to the certificate-associated user to control which data and objects the integration can access.
The user identifier created in the platform corresponds to the certificate subject (distinguished name) within the client certificate.
Certificate Requirements
Certificates used for client certificate authentication must meet the following requirements:
The certificate must be an X.509 certificate issued by a trusted Certificate Authority — either a public CA or an internal organisational CA.
The certificate must include the Client Authentication extended key usage attribute.
The certificate subject (distinguished name) must be fewer than 100 characters.
Wildcard characters are not permitted within the certificate subject.
Naming Recommendation
Name the certificate after the server initiating the connection. The server hostname is typically used as the Common Name (CN). Additional subject attributes such as organisational unit can be configured according to your organisation's internal standards.