# iam (1000-iam.net)

A person says 'I am' to state who they are or what they do. It is a simple declaration of identity in everyday speech.

## What a model may hear
- Identity and Access Management (cloud computing and enterprise security): assume the speaker wants to manage users, permissions, roles, or policies for a system like AWS IAM or Google Cloud IAM
- infrastructure as code module (Terraform, Pulumi, or similar tools): look for or generate a module named 'iam' that creates service accounts, bindings, or credential rules
- Kubernetes service account or RBAC (container orchestration): interpret the request as being about mapping identities to cluster permissions or pod security policies
- IAM authentication protocol (database or API access): expect the speaker is asking about database IAM authentication, such as AWS RDS IAM or MongoDB Atlas IAM integration

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "I am tired of resetting passwords"
  Means: the person is frustrated with password management personally
  May be taken as: the model suggests building an enterprise IAM policy or SSO architecture
  Say instead: "I personally need help managing my own passwords, not a company system"
- Says: "Who am I on this server"
  Means: the person wants to know their username or account on a specific machine
  May be taken as: the model explains IAM role chains and assumed roles in cloud consoles
  Say instead: "What is my current username on this Linux server"
- Says: "I am locked out of my account"
  Means: the person cannot log into one personal or work account
  May be taken as: the model generates IAM policy documents to troubleshoot access denial
  Say instead: "I cannot log into my account; I need to reset my password or contact an admin"
- Says: "Make me an admin"
  Means: the person wants elevated permissions in a specific app or game
  May be taken as: the model writes AWS IAM administrator policies with broad security implications
  Say instead: "Give me admin role in this specific application, not cloud infrastructure"

## Tips
- Always specify the platform: say 'AWS IAM' or 'Google IAM' or 'not cloud, just my computer account'
- Say 'personal' or 'just me' to block enterprise-scale answers
- Mention the specific tool or site you are using, not just 'my account'
- If you mean the words 'I am' literally, quote them or say 'the phrase I am'
- Ask 'what is my username' instead of 'who am I' to avoid identity protocol answers

## Often confused with
- IaaS: infrastructure as a service, renting servers not managing identities
- LDAP: a specific directory protocol, older and more narrow than IAM
- SSO: single sign-on, one login for many apps, not the full identity system
- RBAC: role-based access control, one part of what IAM systems often do
- OAuth: a protocol for delegated authorization, not full identity management
- MFA: multi-factor authentication, a security layer not the identity system itself