Secrets Manager

Secure secrets store for OpenClaw agents. AES-256-GCM encryption. Store, retrieve, rotate, and audit secrets. Inject secrets into commands. Zero external dependencies.

Stop hardcoding secrets. Start managing them securely.

The Problem

API keys, tokens, passwords — they end up in shell history, logs, or committed to git. No local secrets store means every agent session is a potential leak.

Secrets Manager fixes this with AES-256-GCM encrypted local storage and zero dependencies.

⚠️ Security Warning

Secrets Manager is a local agent tool, not a production secrets vault. Raw secrets printed via --get --raw or embedded via --inject can leak to shell history, terminal scrollback, logs, CI output, and process listings. Prefer environment-variable injection for sensitive contexts. See the Security Notes section below.

Quick Start

Store a secret

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --store openai-key sk-abc123

Get a secret (masked, to stderr)

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --get openai-key
# Output (stderr): [secrets-manager] openai-key: sk-a****23

Get raw value (⚠️ to stdout — avoid when possible)

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --get --raw openai-key
# ⚠️ WARNING: Outputs raw secret to stdout

List all secrets

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --list

Delete a secret

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --delete old-key

Rotate a secret

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --rotate openai-key
# Generates a new random value, archives old as "retired"
# New value is never printed — secure by default

Rotate all secrets

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --rotate --all

Audit for security issues

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --audit
node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --audit --expired
node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --audit --stale

Inject secrets into a command (⚠️)

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --inject "curl -H 'Authorization: Bearer {{openai-key}}' https://api.openai.com/v1/chat"
# ⚠️ WARNING: Output contains plaintext secrets. Piping to a shell
#            exposes them to history, process listings, and logs.
# Prefer: export TOKEN=$(... --get --raw); curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" ...

Status overview

bash

node skills/secrets-manager/secrets-manager.js --status

Features

AES-256-GCM Encryption

• 256-bit master key (auto-generated or set via SECRETS_MASTER_KEY env var)
• Per-secret random 96-bit IVs
• GCM authenticated encryption detects tampering
• Master key stored in memory/secrets/.master-key (mode 0600)
• Secrets stored in memory/secrets/secrets.json (mode 0600)

Rotation Tracking

• 90-day default rotation cycle per secret
• Automatic expiration warnings in audit
• One-command rotation generates new random values
• Old values archived as "retired" for recovery
• New rotated values are never printed

Audit System

• Detects expired secrets past rotation date
• Flags secrets approaching rotation deadline
• Identifies weak patterns (common prefixes, short length)
• Reports rotation age for each secret

Command Injection (use with care)

• {{secret_name}} placeholders replaced with stored values
• Confirmation printed to stderr, injected command to stdout
• ⚠️ Result contains plaintext secrets — do not pipe to shell casually
• Prefer environment-variable injection for production use

Configuration

• Secrets stored in: memory/secrets/secrets.json
• Master key: memory/secrets/.master-key or SECRETS_MASTER_KEY env var
• Override storage location: --dir /path/to/secrets

Agent Protocol

When handling secrets:

1. Never hardcode — always use --store first
2. Masked output — use --get (not --get --raw) for display
3. Audit regularly — run --audit during health checks
4. Rotate proactively — rotate secrets flagged as expiring
5. Inject carefully — prefer env-var injection over --inject

Security Notes

• Encryption: AES-256-GCM with 256-bit master key and per-secret random IVs
• Authenticated encryption detects tampering or corruption
• Master key stored separately from ciphertext (not in same file)
• All files set to mode 0600 (owner read/write only)
• ⚠️ Raw retrieval (--get --raw) prints secrets to stdout — exposes to logs, scrollback, CI
• ⚠️ Command injection (--inject) embeds plaintext secrets — exposes to shell history, ps, /proc
• For production-grade secret management, use a dedicated vault (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
• Secrets directory should be gitignored
• Back up the master key securely — if lost, all secrets become unrecoverable

Comparison

Approach	Encryption	Audit	Rotation	Warnings
Environment vars	None	None	Manual	None
.env files	None	None	Manual	None
Secrets Manager	AES-256-GCM	Auto	Auto	Built-in
Vault service	AES-256-GCM	Auto	Auto	Enterprise

Secrets Manager gives you authenticated encryption + rotation + auditing with zero external dependencies.

Design Principles

1. Real encryption — AES-256-GCM, not base64 obfuscation
2. Zero setup — Auto-generates master key on first use
3. No dependencies — Pure Node.js crypto, no npm packages
4. Safe by default — Masked output, never prints rotated values
5. Transparent — Audit reports show exactly what's wrong
6. Honest — Clear warnings about raw/inject modes, not false security claims