In one embodiment, a network controller identifies a first sign of life for an edge device in a communication network (e.g., when the network controller receives an encapsulated workflow request for the edge device over a control plane of the communication network). The network controller further imports the encapsulated workflow request from the edge device over the control plane, determines configuration parameters for a tenant and a tenant network from the encapsulated workflow request, and transmits the configuration parameters to the edge device to provision the edge device for the tenant according to the configuration parameters.