diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/service-accounts.md b/changelog/unreleased/service-accounts.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..084ccf32c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/service-accounts.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Enhancement: Service Accounts
+
+Makes reva ready for service accounts by introducing an serviceaccounts auth manager
+
+https://github.com/cs3org/reva/pull/3926
diff --git a/pkg/auth/manager/loader/loader.go b/pkg/auth/manager/loader/loader.go
index 694cd98c29..9fcba05541 100644
--- a/pkg/auth/manager/loader/loader.go
+++ b/pkg/auth/manager/loader/loader.go
@@ -30,5 +30,6 @@ import (
 	_ "github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth/manager/oidc"
 	_ "github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth/manager/owncloudsql"
 	_ "github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth/manager/publicshares"
+	_ "github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth/manager/serviceaccounts"
 	// Add your own here
 )
diff --git a/pkg/auth/manager/registry/registry.go b/pkg/auth/manager/registry/registry.go
index aea682f79d..8d92a13e19 100644
--- a/pkg/auth/manager/registry/registry.go
+++ b/pkg/auth/manager/registry/registry.go
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
 
 package registry
 
-import "github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth"
+import (
+	"github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth"
+)
 
 // NewFunc is the function that auth implementations
 // should register to at init time.
diff --git a/pkg/auth/manager/serviceaccounts/serviceaccounts.go b/pkg/auth/manager/serviceaccounts/serviceaccounts.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dad1dcf72a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/auth/manager/serviceaccounts/serviceaccounts.go
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+package serviceaccounts
+
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	authpb "github.com/cs3org/go-cs3apis/cs3/auth/provider/v1beta1"
+	userpb "github.com/cs3org/go-cs3apis/cs3/identity/user/v1beta1"
+
+	"github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth"
+	"github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth/manager/registry"
+	"github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/auth/scope"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+)
+
+type conf struct {
+	ServiceUsers []serviceuser `mapstructure:"service_accounts"`
+}
+
+type serviceuser struct {
+	ID     string `mapstructure:"id"`
+	Secret string `mapstructure:"secret"`
+}
+
+type manager struct {
+	authenticate func(userID, secret string) error
+}
+
+func init() {
+	registry.Register("serviceaccounts", New)
+}
+
+// Configure parses the map conf
+func (m *manager) Configure(config map[string]interface{}) error {
+	c := &conf{}
+	if err := mapstructure.Decode(config, c); err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "error decoding conf")
+	}
+	// only inmem authenticator for now
+	a := &inmemAuthenticator{make(map[string]string)}
+	for _, s := range c.ServiceUsers {
+		a.m[s.ID] = s.Secret
+	}
+	m.authenticate = a.Authenticate
+	return nil
+}
+
+// New creates a new manager for the 'service' authentication
+func New(conf map[string]interface{}) (auth.Manager, error) {
+	m := &manager{}
+	err := m.Configure(conf)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return m, nil
+}
+
+// Authenticate authenticates the service account
+func (m *manager) Authenticate(ctx context.Context, userID string, secret string) (*userpb.User, map[string]*authpb.Scope, error) {
+	if err := m.authenticate(userID, secret); err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, err
+	}
+	scope, err := scope.AddOwnerScope(nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, err
+	}
+	return &userpb.User{
+		// TODO: more details for service users?
+		Id: &userpb.UserId{
+			OpaqueId: userID,
+			Type:     userpb.UserType_USER_TYPE_SERVICE,
+			Idp:      "none",
+		},
+	}, scope, nil
+}
+
+type inmemAuthenticator struct {
+	m map[string]string
+}
+
+func (a *inmemAuthenticator) Authenticate(userID string, secret string) error {
+	if secret == "" || a.m[userID] == "" {
+		return errors.New("unknown user")
+	}
+	if a.m[userID] == secret {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return errors.New("secrets do not match")
+}
diff --git a/pkg/storage/registry/spaces/spaces.go b/pkg/storage/registry/spaces/spaces.go
index 17f3cea740..aa8385f662 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/registry/spaces/spaces.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/registry/spaces/spaces.go
@@ -481,7 +481,7 @@ func (r *registry) findProvidersForResource(ctx context.Context, id string, find
 				},
 			})
 		}
-		spaces, err := r.findStorageSpaceOnProvider(ctx, address, filters, false)
+		spaces, err := r.findStorageSpaceOnProvider(ctx, address, filters, unrestricted)
 		if err != nil {
 			appctx.GetLogger(ctx).Debug().Err(err).Interface("provider", provider).Msg("findStorageSpaceOnProvider by id failed, continuing")
 			continue
diff --git a/pkg/storage/utils/decomposedfs/node/permissions.go b/pkg/storage/utils/decomposedfs/node/permissions.go
index 1e5017241b..84814a1641 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/utils/decomposedfs/node/permissions.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/utils/decomposedfs/node/permissions.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"strings"
 
+	userpb "github.com/cs3org/go-cs3apis/cs3/identity/user/v1beta1"
 	provider "github.com/cs3org/go-cs3apis/cs3/storage/provider/v1beta1"
 	"github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/appctx"
 	ctxpkg "github.com/cs3org/reva/v2/pkg/ctx"
@@ -84,6 +85,21 @@ func OwnerPermissions() provider.ResourcePermissions {
 	}
 }
 
+// ServiceAccountPermissions defines the permissions for nodes when requested by a service account
+func ServiceAccountPermissions() provider.ResourcePermissions {
+	// TODO: Different permissions for different service accounts
+	return provider.ResourcePermissions{
+		Stat:                 true,
+		ListContainer:        true,
+		GetPath:              true, // for search index
+		InitiateFileUpload:   true, // for personal data export
+		InitiateFileDownload: true, // for full-text-search
+		RemoveGrant:          true, // for share expiry
+		ListRecycle:          true, // for purge-trash-bin command
+		PurgeRecycle:         true, // for purge-trash-bin command
+	}
+}
+
 // Permissions implements permission checks
 type Permissions struct {
 	lu PathLookup
@@ -113,6 +129,10 @@ func (p *Permissions) assemblePermissions(ctx context.Context, n *Node, failOnTr
 		return NoPermissions(), nil
 	}
 
+	if u.GetId().GetType() == userpb.UserType_USER_TYPE_SERVICE {
+		return ServiceAccountPermissions(), nil
+	}
+
 	// are we reading a revision?
 	if strings.Contains(n.ID, RevisionIDDelimiter) {
 		// verify revision key format
diff --git a/pkg/utils/grpc.go b/pkg/utils/grpc.go
index 3945d32e8c..90547443fa 100644
--- a/pkg/utils/grpc.go
+++ b/pkg/utils/grpc.go
@@ -11,19 +11,8 @@ import (
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/metadata"
 )
 
-// Impersonate returns an authenticated reva context and the user it represents
-func Impersonate(userID *user.UserId, gwc gateway.GatewayAPIClient, machineAuthAPIKey string) (context.Context, *user.User, error) {
-	usr, err := GetUser(userID, gwc, machineAuthAPIKey)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, err
-	}
-
-	ctx, err := ImpersonateUser(usr, gwc, machineAuthAPIKey)
-	return ctx, usr, err
-}
-
 // GetUser gets the specified user
-func GetUser(userID *user.UserId, gwc gateway.GatewayAPIClient, machineAuthAPIKey string) (*user.User, error) {
+func GetUser(userID *user.UserId, gwc gateway.GatewayAPIClient) (*user.User, error) {
 	getUserResponse, err := gwc.GetUser(context.Background(), &user.GetUserRequest{UserId: userID})
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -35,19 +24,19 @@ func GetUser(userID *user.UserId, gwc gateway.GatewayAPIClient, machineAuthAPIKe
 	return getUserResponse.GetUser(), nil
 }
 
-// ImpersonateUser impersonates the given user
-func ImpersonateUser(usr *user.User, gwc gateway.GatewayAPIClient, machineAuthAPIKey string) (context.Context, error) {
-	ctx := revactx.ContextSetUser(context.Background(), usr)
+// GetServiceUserContext returns an authenticated context of the given service user
+func GetServiceUserContext(serviceUserID string, gwc gateway.GatewayAPIClient, serviceUserSecret string) (context.Context, error) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
 	authRes, err := gwc.Authenticate(ctx, &gateway.AuthenticateRequest{
-		Type:         "machine",
-		ClientId:     "userid:" + usr.GetId().GetOpaqueId(),
-		ClientSecret: machineAuthAPIKey,
+		Type:         "serviceaccounts",
+		ClientId:     serviceUserID,
+		ClientSecret: serviceUserSecret,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	if authRes.GetStatus().GetCode() != rpc.Code_CODE_OK {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error impersonating user: %s", authRes.Status.Message)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error authenticating service user: %s", authRes.Status.Message)
 	}
 
 	return metadata.AppendToOutgoingContext(ctx, revactx.TokenHeader, authRes.Token), nil