Implementing TLS

Purpose

Implement Transport Layer Security (TLS) for encrypting network communications and authenticating services. Generate certificates, automate certificate lifecycle management with Let's Encrypt or internal CAs, configure TLS 1.3, implement mutual TLS for service authentication, and debug common certificate issues.

When to Use This Skill

Trigger this skill when:

• Setting up HTTPS for web applications or APIs
• Securing service-to-service communication in microservices
• Implementing mutual TLS (mTLS) for zero-trust networks
• Generating certificates for development or production
• Automating certificate renewal and rotation
• Debugging certificate validation errors
• Configuring TLS termination at load balancers
• Setting up internal PKI for corporate networks

Quick Start

For Development (Local HTTPS)

Use mkcert for trusted local certificates:

# Install mkcert
brew install mkcert  # macOS
# sudo apt install mkcert  # Linux

# Install local CA
mkcert -install

# Generate certificate
mkcert example.com localhost 127.0.0.1
# Creates: example.com+2.pem and example.com+2-key.pem

For Production (Public HTTPS)

Kubernetes with cert-manager:

# Install cert-manager
helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager \
  --namespace cert-manager --create-namespace \
  --set installCRDs=true

# Create Let's Encrypt issuer
kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: admin@example.com
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-prod-key
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          class: nginx
EOF

Traditional servers with Certbot:

# Install certbot
sudo apt install certbot

# Obtain certificate
sudo certbot certonly --standalone -d example.com -d www.example.com
# Certificates saved to /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/