diff --git a/cmd/kops-controller/main.go b/cmd/kops-controller/main.go
index a82127d111..1ac9d498da 100644
--- a/cmd/kops-controller/main.go
+++ b/cmd/kops-controller/main.go
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import (
 	nodeidentitydo "k8s.io/kops/pkg/nodeidentity/do"
 	nodeidentitygce "k8s.io/kops/pkg/nodeidentity/gce"
 	nodeidentityhetzner "k8s.io/kops/pkg/nodeidentity/hetzner"
+	nodeidentitymetal "k8s.io/kops/pkg/nodeidentity/metal"
 	nodeidentityos "k8s.io/kops/pkg/nodeidentity/openstack"
 	nodeidentityscw "k8s.io/kops/pkg/nodeidentity/scaleway"
 	"k8s.io/kops/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup"
@@ -307,6 +308,12 @@ func addNodeController(ctx context.Context, mgr manager.Manager, vfsContext *vfs
 			return fmt.Errorf("error building identifier: %w", err)
 		}
 
+	case "metal":
+		identifier, err = nodeidentitymetal.New()
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("error building metal node identifier: %w", err)
+		}
+
 	case "":
 		return fmt.Errorf("must specify cloud")
 
diff --git a/pkg/nodeidentity/metal/identify.go b/pkg/nodeidentity/metal/identify.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..255a79c500
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/nodeidentity/metal/identify.go
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2024 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package metal
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	"k8s.io/kops/pkg/nodeidentity"
+)
+
+// nodeIdentifier identifies a node in a bare-metal cloud
+type nodeIdentifier struct {
+}
+
+// New creates and returns a nodeidentity.Identifier for Nodes running on bare metal
+func New() (nodeidentity.Identifier, error) {
+	return &nodeIdentifier{}, nil
+}
+
+// IdentifyNode returns the node identity information
+func (i *nodeIdentifier) IdentifyNode(ctx context.Context, node *corev1.Node) (*nodeidentity.Info, error) {
+	return nil, fmt.Errorf("metal::IdentifyNode not implemented")
+}