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Secrets Management

Secure secrets management for CI/CD pipelines using Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, and native platform

Rating: 4.4 (275 reviews)
Downloads: 2,451 downloads
Version: 1.0.0

Overview

Secure secrets management for CI/CD pipelines using Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, and native platform solutions.

Complete Documentation

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Secrets Management

Secure secrets management for CI/CD pipelines using Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, and native platform solutions.

Description

USE WHEN:

Storing API keys and credentials securely
Managing database passwords
Handling TLS certificates
Setting up automatic secret rotation
Implementing least-privilege access patterns
Integrating secrets into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
Deploying to Kubernetes with external secrets

DON'T USE WHEN:

Only need local dev values (use .env files not in git)
Cannot secure access to the secrets backend
Planning to hardcode secrets (don't do that)

Secrets Management Tools Comparison

Tool	Best For	Key Features
HashiCorp Vault	Enterprise, multi-cloud	Dynamic secrets, rotation, audit logging
AWS Secrets Manager	AWS-native workloads	RDS integration, auto-rotation
Azure Key Vault	Azure workloads	HSM-backed, certificate management
Google Secret Manager	GCP workloads	Versioning, IAM integration
GitHub Secrets	GitHub Actions	Simple, per-repo/org/environment
GitLab CI Variables	GitLab CI	Protected branches, masked variables

HashiCorp Vault

Setup

bash

# Start Vault dev server
vault server -dev

# Set environment
export VAULT_ADDR='http://127.0.0.1:8200'
export VAULT_TOKEN='root'

# Enable secrets engine
vault secrets enable -path=secret kv-v2

# Store secret
vault kv put secret/database/config username=admin password=secret

GitHub Actions with Vault

yaml

name: Deploy with Vault Secrets

on: [push]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Import Secrets from Vault
      uses: hashicorp/vault-action@v2
      with:
        url: https://vault.example.com:8200
        token: ${{ secrets.VAULT_TOKEN }}
        secrets: |
          secret/data/database username | DB_USERNAME ;
          secret/data/database password | DB_PASSWORD ;
          secret/data/api key | API_KEY

    - name: Use secrets
      run: |
        echo "Connecting to database as $DB_USERNAME"
        # Use $DB_PASSWORD, $API_KEY

GitLab CI with Vault

yaml

deploy:
  image: vault:latest
  before_script:
    - export VAULT_ADDR=https://vault.example.com:8200
    - export VAULT_TOKEN=$VAULT_TOKEN
    - apk add curl jq
  script:
    - |
      DB_PASSWORD=$(vault kv get -field=password secret/database/config)
      API_KEY=$(vault kv get -field=key secret/api/credentials)
      echo "Deploying with secrets..."

AWS Secrets Manager

Store Secret

bash

aws secretsmanager create-secret \
  --name production/database/password \
  --secret-string "super-secret-password"

Retrieve in GitHub Actions

yaml

- name: Configure AWS credentials
  uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
  with:
    aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
    aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
    aws-region: us-west-2

- name: Get secret from AWS
  run: |
    SECRET=$(aws secretsmanager get-secret-value \
      --secret-id production/database/password \
      --query SecretString \
      --output text)
    echo "::add-mask::$SECRET"
    echo "DB_PASSWORD=$SECRET" >> $GITHUB_ENV

- name: Use secret
  run: ./deploy.sh  # $DB_PASSWORD available

Terraform Integration

hcl

data "aws_secretsmanager_secret_version" "db_password" {
  secret_id = "production/database/password"
}

resource "aws_db_instance" "main" {
  allocated_storage    = 100
  engine              = "postgres"
  instance_class      = "db.t3.large"
  username            = "admin"
  password            = jsondecode(data.aws_secretsmanager_secret_version.db_password.secret_string)["password"]
}

Kubernetes: External Secrets Operator

yaml

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: SecretStore
metadata:
  name: vault-backend
  namespace: production
spec:
  provider:
    vault:
      server: "https://vault.example.com:8200"
      path: "secret"
      version: "v2"
      auth:
        kubernetes:
          mountPath: "kubernetes"
          role: "production"

---
apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ExternalSecret
metadata:
  name: database-credentials
  namespace: production
spec:
  refreshInterval: 1h
  secretStoreRef:
    name: vault-backend
    kind: SecretStore
  target:
    name: database-credentials
    creationPolicy: Owner
  data:
  - secretKey: username
    remoteRef:
      key: database/config
      property: username
  - secretKey: password
    remoteRef:
      key: database/config
      property: password

Secret Rotation

Automated (AWS Lambda)

python

import boto3
import json

def lambda_handler(event, context):
    client = boto3.client('secretsmanager')

    # Get current secret
    response = client.get_secret_value(SecretId='my-secret')
    current_secret = json.loads(response['SecretString'])

    # Generate new password
    new_password = generate_strong_password()

    # Update database password
    update_database_password(new_password)

    # Update secret
    client.put_secret_value(
        SecretId='my-secret',
        SecretString=json.dumps({
            'username': current_secret['username'],
            'password': new_password
        })
    )

    return {'statusCode': 200}

Manual Rotation Process

Generate new secret
Update secret in secret store
Update applications to use new secret
Verify functionality
Revoke old secret

Secret Scanning

Pre-commit Hook

bash

#!/bin/bash
# .git/hooks/pre-commit

# Check for secrets with TruffleHog
docker run --rm -v "$(pwd):/repo" \
  trufflesecurity/trufflehog:latest \
  filesystem --directory=/repo

if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "❌ Secret detected! Commit blocked."
  exit 1
fi

CI/CD Secret Scanning

yaml

secret-scan:
  stage: security
  image: trufflesecurity/trufflehog:latest
  script:
    - trufflehog filesystem .
  allow_failure: false

Best Practices

Never commit secrets to Git
Use different secrets per environment
Rotate secrets regularly (90 days max)
Implement least-privilege access
Enable audit logging
Use secret scanning (GitGuardian, TruffleHog)
Mask secrets in logs
Encrypt secrets at rest
Use short-lived tokens when possible
Document secret requirements

Related Skills

vulnerability-scanner - For detecting exposed secrets in code
api-security - For securing API credentials

Installation

Terminal bash


openclaw install secrets-management

Copied!

💻Code Examples

echo "Deploying with secrets..."

-echo-deploying-with-secrets.txt

---

## AWS Secrets Manager

### Store Secret

}

.txt

---

## Kubernetes: External Secrets Operator

property: password

-property-password.txt

---

## Secret Rotation

### Automated (AWS Lambda)

return {'statusCode': 200}

-return-statuscode-200.txt

### Manual Rotation Process

1. Generate new secret
2. Update secret in secret store
3. Update applications to use new secret
4. Verify functionality
5. Revoke old secret

---

## Secret Scanning

### Pre-commit Hook

example.sh

# Start Vault dev server
vault server -dev

# Set environment
export VAULT_ADDR='http://127.0.0.1:8200'
export VAULT_TOKEN='root'

# Enable secrets engine
vault secrets enable -path=secret kv-v2

# Store secret
vault kv put secret/database/config username=admin password=secret

example.yml

name: Deploy with Vault Secrets

on: [push]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Import Secrets from Vault
      uses: hashicorp/vault-action@v2
      with:
        url: https://vault.example.com:8200
        token: ${{ secrets.VAULT_TOKEN }}
        secrets: |
          secret/data/database username | DB_USERNAME ;
          secret/data/database password | DB_PASSWORD ;
          secret/data/api key | API_KEY

    - name: Use secrets
      run: |
        echo "Connecting to database as $DB_USERNAME"
        # Use $DB_PASSWORD, $API_KEY

example.yml

deploy:
  image: vault:latest
  before_script:
    - export VAULT_ADDR=https://vault.example.com:8200
    - export VAULT_TOKEN=$VAULT_TOKEN
    - apk add curl jq
  script:
    - |
      DB_PASSWORD=$(vault kv get -field=password secret/database/config)
      API_KEY=$(vault kv get -field=key secret/api/credentials)
      echo "Deploying with secrets..."

example.sh

aws secretsmanager create-secret \
  --name production/database/password \
  --secret-string "super-secret-password"

example.yml

- name: Configure AWS credentials
  uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
  with:
    aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
    aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
    aws-region: us-west-2

- name: Get secret from AWS
  run: |
    SECRET=$(aws secretsmanager get-secret-value \
      --secret-id production/database/password \
      --query SecretString \
      --output text)
    echo "::add-mask::$SECRET"
    echo "DB_PASSWORD=$SECRET" >> $GITHUB_ENV

- name: Use secret
  run: ./deploy.sh  # $DB_PASSWORD available

example.txt

data "aws_secretsmanager_secret_version" "db_password" {
  secret_id = "production/database/password"
}

resource "aws_db_instance" "main" {
  allocated_storage    = 100
  engine              = "postgres"
  instance_class      = "db.t3.large"
  username            = "admin"
  password            = jsondecode(data.aws_secretsmanager_secret_version.db_password.secret_string)["password"]
}