// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// * installing/installing_aws/manually-creating-iam.adoc
// * installing/installing_gcp/manually-creating-iam-gcp.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: CONCEPT
[id="mint-mode_{context}"]
= Mint mode

Mint mode is the default Cloud Credential Operator (CCO) credentials mode for {product-title} on platforms that support it. In this mode, the CCO uses the provided administrator-level cloud credential to run the cluster. Mint mode is supported for AWS and GCP.

In mint mode, the `admin` credential is stored in the `kube-system` namespace and then used by the CCO to process the `CredentialsRequest` objects in the cluster and create users for each with specific permissions.

The benefits of mint mode include:

* Each cluster component has only the permissions it requires
* Automatic, on-going reconciliation for cloud credentials, including additional credentials or permissions that might be required for upgrades

One drawback is that mint mode requires `admin` credential storage in a cluster `kube-system` secret.