Non-Human Identity
NHI.
An identity belonging to a service, machine, agent, or automated process rather than a human, the fastest-growing identity category in 2026.
The 2026 best practice for NHI: short-lived credentials minted from a central authority (cloud IAM, CIAM with NHI primitives), automatic rotation, scope-bounded permissions, and separate audit logging so NHI traffic doesn't drown out human-identity events. AI agents are a fast-growing NHI subcategory with their own emerging best practices around scope design and consent.
Common questions
What's the difference between NHI and human identity?
How do I rotate NHI credentials?
Are AI agents NHIs?