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Secrets · Getting started

Quickstart

From a new project to a server with its .env in five steps. You need a machine with bash and curl for the last two.

1. Add Secrets to a project

At id.my-beast.com, pick Secrets and a package, name your project and pay. The project starts with three environments: development, staging and production.

Then open it: on the project's page at id, Secrets' name opens the project in Secrets. Its tabs are Overview, Variables and Tokens.

2. Add your variables

Open Variables, then development. The quickest way in is the .env your app already has: choose Import a .env and paste it.

.env
APP_NAME="My Shop"
APP_URL=https://shop.example.com
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PASSWORD=change-me
STRIPE_SECRET=sk_test_…

Check shows what each line would do (Adds, Changes, Same already or Skipped, and why) before anything changes. Each new name is Secret unless you tick Visible; an address or a host is ticked for you. Then Import 5 into development: the lines arrive as one numbered change in the environment's history.

You can add a variable at a time instead, with Add a variable. Names are UPPER_SNAKE: Names and values has the rules.

3. Make a service token

Open Tokens and choose Make a token. Pick the environment it reads, development, and give it a label that says where it runs, such as laptop. Making a token takes Admin in the project.

The next page shows the token once, in the two lines a machine needs:

Terminal
export MYBEAST_SECRETS_URL=https://services.my-beast.com/secrets
export MYBEAST_SECRETS_TOKEN=st_….…

Copy it now

Only a hash of the token is kept, so it can never be shown again. Anyone with it reads every value of its environment: keep it where you keep passwords, never in a repository.

4. Install the CLI

mybeast-secrets is one file from the latest release of my-beast/cli on GitHub. Put it in a folder on your PATH:

Terminal
curl -fsSLo ~/.local/bin/mybeast-secrets https://github.com/my-beast/cli/releases/latest/download/mybeast-secrets
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/mybeast-secrets
mybeast-secrets --version

CLI shows how to check the download against the release's checksums.

5. Pull the variables

In the shell, set the two lines from step 3. Then print the environment without writing anything, to check:

Terminal
mybeast-secrets pull --out -

The first line names the project and the environment, such as # MyBeast Secrets · shop/development · change #1 · 5 variables · …, then come the variables. When that looks right, write the file in the app's folder:

Terminal
mybeast-secrets pull

It writes .env, readable by its owner only. To start the app with the variables and write nothing to disk, use run instead:

Terminal
mybeast-secrets run -- php artisan serve

On the Tokens page, the token now says Up to date. The read is in the project's audit log.

Next steps