Ping foundation

ping-foundation

Platform setup, administration, and core configuration for all Ping Identity deployments. Covers tenant and environment setup, apps, directories, policies, branding, and on-premises software administration. MCP tools handle execution; this skill supplies architecture patterns, sequencing, configuration constraints, and guardrails.

What this skill does for you: Generates configuration and drives setup directly through MCP tools where they exist (PingOne, AIC); where a tool does not exist, it guides you through the docs with the correct sequencing, field constraints, and guardrails. Both modes are available — it uses whichever the platform supports for the task.

Invocation

Invoke explicitly with /ping-foundation or by saying "use ping-foundation to...".

When to use this skill

Trigger on ANY question about setting up, configuring, administering, or planning a Ping Identity platform — including advisory and planning requests:

• Set up or provision environments, tenants, or realms
• Register OIDC, SAML, WS-Federation, or OAuth 2.0 applications
• Configure SSO, Platform SSO, or workforce single sign-on
• Manage directories, identity stores, or user populations
• Configure authentication policies, sign-on policies, or branding
• Administer PingFederate, PingAccess, PingDirectory, or PingID
• Deploy or upgrade on-premises Ping software
• Automate configuration with Ping CLI (pingcli), export Terraform/CaC packages, or manage multi-environment promotion pipelines
• Advisory: "How should I structure my tenant?", "What client type should I use?"

When NOT to use this skill

• If the primary task is designing a DaVinci flow or PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud journey: use ping-orchestration
• If the task is configuring a Universal Service (Protect, Verify, IGA, Credentials) as a standalone service: use ping-universal-services. If the task is wiring a Universal Service into a journey or DaVinci flow (e.g., adding Verify to a registration journey): use ping-orchestration
• If the task is integrating Ping into an app or SDK: use ping-app-integration
• If unsure which platform: use ping-quickstart first

Multi-skill use cases

ping-foundation covers the platform layer. Compose with:

What comes next	Skill
Authentication flow or journey logic	ping-orchestration
Risk, MFA step-up, Verify, IGA, Credentials	ping-universal-services
App/SDK integration code	ping-app-integration
AI agent identity	ping-identity-for-ai

Routing — Step 1: Which platform?

Platform signal	Branch
PingOne admin console, PingOne APIs, PingOne environment	PingOne
PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud (AIC), identity cloud, PingAM, PingIDM, PingDS	PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud
PingFederate, PingAccess, PingDirectory, PingID, PingAM standalone	Ping Software Suite

PingOne

Curated anchors — pick 1–3 matching the task:

Task	Anchor
Platform orientation, org/environment structure	references/curated/cross-platform/foundation-overview.md
Create environment, enable services	references/curated/pingone-mt/tenant-and-environment-setup.md
Register OIDC, SAML, or Worker app	references/curated/pingone-mt/app-registration.md
Configure sign-on policy, MFA, step-up	references/curated/pingone-mt/sign-on-policies.md
Directory, LDAP gateway, populations, groups	references/curated/pingone-mt/directory-and-populations.md
Admin roles, onboarding administrators	references/curated/pingone-mt/admin-roles-and-access.md
Themes, branding, custom domain, email/SMS templates, DaVinci UI Studio	references/curated/pingone-mt/themes-and-branding.md
Cross-platform branding overview	references/curated/cross-platform/policy-and-branding-basics.md

PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud

Curated anchors — pick 1–3 matching the task:

Task	Anchor
Platform orientation, tenant/realm architecture	references/curated/pingone-st/foundation-overview.md
Register OIDC, OAuth 2.0, or SAML applications	references/curated/pingone-st/app-setup.md
Journeys, nodes, realm auth settings	references/curated/pingone-st/authentication-fundamentals.md
AM Services configuration (Push, OATH, WebAuthn, Social, OAuth2 Provider, Session, CORS, Base URL, PingOne Worker, etc.) — prerequisite to most journey nodes	references/curated/pingone-st/am-services.md
Themes, branding, custom CSS	references/curated/pingone-st/themes-and-customization.md
Identity store, user schema, LDAP/AD	references/curated/pingone-st/directory-setup.md

Ping Software Suite

Curated anchors — pick 1–3 matching the task:

Task	Anchor
PingFederate federation, SP/IdP connections, adapters	references/curated/ping-software/pingfederate-basics.md
PingDirectory installation, replication, schema	references/curated/ping-software/pingdirectory-basics.md
PingAccess web app and API protection	references/curated/ping-software/pingaccess-basics.md
Cross-platform admin patterns (LDAP, OIDC, APIs)	references/curated/cross-platform/core-admin-patterns.md

Cross-platform tooling

Task	Anchor
CLI-driven config, multi-env profiles, Terraform/CaC export across PingOne, DaVinci, PingFederate	references/curated/cross-platform/ping-cli-basics.md
Promote configuration between environments (PingOne native promotion, AIC self-service promotions, Ping CLI + Terraform config-as-code)	references/curated/cross-platform/config-promotion.md

MCP execution

See references/runtime/mcp-preflight.md for MCP config and Cursor preflight steps.

Retrieval and execution

Rule: (1) scan for MCP tools first — run the MCP config preflight above before executing; (2) load 1–3 curated anchors for the platform/task.

Cross-skill escalation

If the task also involves...	Reference skill
DaVinci flows or PingOne Advanced Identity Cloud journey design	ping-orchestration
Shared services (Protect, Verify, IGA, Credentials)	ping-universal-services
App/SDK code integration	ping-app-integration