Skip to main content Implement secure secrets management for CI/CD pipelines using Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or native platform solutions. Use when handling sensitive credentials, rotating secrets, or securing CI/CD environments.
npx skills add ngxtm/devkit --skill secrets-management agent ai automation claude cli coding-assistant
Secrets Management
Secure secrets management practices for CI/CD pipelines using Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, and other tools.
Purpose
Implement secure secrets management in CI/CD pipelines without hardcoding sensitive information.
Use this skill when
Store API keys and credentials
Manage database passwords
Handle TLS certificates
Rotate secrets automatically
Implement least-privilege access
Do not use this skill when
You plan to hardcode secrets in source control
You cannot secure access to the secrets backend
You only need local development values without sharing
Instructions
Identify secret types, owners, and rotation requirements.
Choose a secrets backend and access model.
Integrate CI/CD or runtime retrieval with least privilege.
Validate rotation and audit logging.
Safety
Never commit secrets to source control.
Limit access and log secret usage for auditing.
Secrets Management Tools
HashiCorp Vault
Centralized secrets management
Dynamic secrets generation
Secret rotation
Audit logging
Fine-grained access control
AWS Secrets Manager
Automatic rotation
Integration with RDS
CloudFormation support
Azure Key Vault
Azure-native solution
HSM-backed keys
Certificate management
RBAC integration
Google Secret Manager
GCP-native solution
Versioning
IAM integration
HashiCorp Vault Integration
Setup Vault # 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 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, $API_KEY
GitLab CI with Vault deploy:
image: vault:latest
before_script:
- export VAULT_ADDR=https://vault.example.com:8200
- export VAULT_TOKEN=$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..."
# Use $DB_PASSWORD, $API_KEY
Reference: See references/vault-setup.md
AWS Secrets Manager
Store Secret aws secretsmanager create-secret \
--name production/database/password \
--secret-string "super-secret-password"
Retrieve in GitHub Actions - 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: |
# Use $DB_PASSWORD
./deploy.sh
Terraform with AWS Secrets Manager 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"]
}
GitHub Secrets
Organization/Repository Secrets - name: Use GitHub secret
run: |
echo "API Key: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}"
echo "Database URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}"
Environment Secrets deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
environment: production
steps:
- name: Deploy
run: |
echo "Deploying with ${{ secrets.PROD_API_KEY }}"
Reference: See references/github-secrets.md
GitLab CI/CD Variables
Project Variables deploy:
script:
- echo "Deploying with $API_KEY"
- echo "Database: $DATABASE_URL"
Protected and Masked Variables
Protected: Only available in protected branches
Masked: Hidden in job logs
File type: Stored as file
Best Practices
Never commit secrets to Git
Use different secrets per environment
Rotate secrets regularly
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
Secret Rotation
Automated Rotation with AWS 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
External Secrets Operator
Kubernetes Integration 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 Scanning
Pre-commit Hook #!/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 secret-scan:
stage: security
image: trufflesecurity/trufflehog:latest
script:
- trufflehog filesystem .
allow_failure: false
Reference Files
references/vault-setup.md - HashiCorp Vault configuration
references/github-secrets.md - GitHub Secrets best practices
Related Skills
github-actions-templates - For GitHub Actions integration
gitlab-ci-patterns - For GitLab CI integration
deployment-pipeline-design - For pipeline architecture
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