OpenClaw Secrets Management: Secure Credential Configuration Guide

The Problem: Secrets Sprawl in OpenClaw Configs

If you've been running OpenClaw for a while, your config file probably has a bunch of plaintext API keys:

anthropic:
  apiKey: sk-ant-api03-...

openai:
  apiKey: sk-proj-...

slack:
  botToken: xoxb-...

github:
  token: github_pat_...

This works, but it's a security nightmare:

• Git risk: Accidentally commit the config with keys to a public repo
• Sharing risk: Copy-paste config snippets and leak credentials
• Rotation pain: When a key is compromised, you have to find and replace it everywhere
• Audit trail: No record of who set which secret or when it changed

OpenClaw 2026.3.3 introduces a proper secrets management system that solves all of this.

The New Workflow: openclaw secrets

OpenClaw now has a dedicated CLI subcommand for secrets:

openclaw secrets audit       # Scan config for plaintext secrets
openclaw secrets configure   # Set up secrets storage backend
openclaw secrets apply       # Migrate plaintext secrets to storage
openclaw secrets reload      # Reload secrets from storage (no restart needed)

Step 1: Audit Your Current Config

Before making changes, see what secrets you have exposed:

openclaw secrets audit

This scans your config file and reports:

• Total number of plaintext secrets found
• Breakdown by type (API keys, tokens, passwords, webhooks)
• Risk score based on entropy and format
• Recommendations for which secrets to migrate first

Example output:

🔍 OpenClaw Secrets Audit
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Config file: /Users/you/.config/openclaw/config.yml

Found 8 plaintext secrets:
  ✗ 3 API keys (high risk)
  ✗ 2 bot tokens (high risk)
  ✗ 2 webhooks (medium risk)
  ✗ 1 database URL (high risk)

Risk score: 8/10

Recommended action: Run 'openclaw secrets configure' to set up secure storage

Step 2: Configure a Secrets Backend

OpenClaw supports multiple secrets storage backends:

• Environment variables: The default. Secrets are stored as env vars and loaded at startup.
• Docker Secrets: For containerized deployments. Mount secret files into the container.
• HashiCorp Vault: For enterprise. Centralized secret management with audit logging.
• AWS Secrets Manager: For AWS deployments. Managed secrets with rotation support.
• Azure Key Vault: For Azure deployments. Similar to AWS Secrets Manager.
• 1Password: For teams already using 1Password. Integrates with your existing vault.

Run the configure wizard:

openclaw secrets configure

You'll be prompted to choose a backend and provide connection details. For most users, environment variables are the simplest starting point:

? Select secrets backend:
  ❯ Environment variables (default)
    Docker secrets
    HashiCorp Vault
    AWS Secrets Manager
    Azure Key Vault
    1Password

? Where should secrets be stored?
  ❯ ~/.config/openclaw/secrets.env (recommended)
    Custom path: ____

Step 3: Apply Secrets Migration

Once configured, migrate your plaintext secrets:

openclaw secrets apply

This does the following:

1. Extracts all plaintext secrets from your config
2. Stores them in your configured backend (e.g., writes to secrets.env)
3. Replaces the plaintext values in your config with secret references
4. Backs up your original config as config.yml.backup
5. Creates an audit log of the migration

Your config goes from this:

anthropic:
  apiKey: sk-ant-api03-ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

To this:

anthropic:
  apiKey: ${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}

The actual value sk-ant-api03-... is now stored in secrets.env:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-...

Step 4: Reload Secrets (No Restart Required)

After migration or any secret changes, reload without restarting the gateway:

openclaw secrets reload

This reloads all secret references from storage and updates the running gateway's in-memory config. Any new connections or API calls will use the fresh values.

Secret References Explained

The ${SECRET_NAME} syntax is a secret reference. When OpenClaw sees this in your config, it:

1. Looks up the value from your configured secrets backend
2. Validates that the secret exists and is non-empty
3. Uses the resolved value for the actual connection/API call

Secret references work in 64+ places across the config:

• AI providers: anthropic.apiKey, openai.apiKey, google.accessToken
• Channels: slack.botToken, discord.token, telegram.botToken
• Databases: database.url, redis.url, postgres.url
• External services: github.token, gitlab.token, jira.token, zendesk.token
• Webhooks: webhooks.send.url (if URL contains sensitive tokens)
• Custom skills: Any env: variables defined by skills

Security Best Practices

Commit the Safe Config, Ignore the Secrets

Add your config (with secret references) to Git:

git add ~/.config/openclaw/config.yml
git commit -m "chore: update OpenClaw config with secret references"

But explicitly ignore the secrets file:

echo "secrets.env" >> ~/.config/openclaw/.gitignore
echo "*.backup" >> ~/.config/openclaw/.gitignore

Now your config is shareable and version-controlled, but your actual secrets never touch Git.

Environment-Specific Secrets

Use different secrets files for different environments:

~/.config/openclaw/
  config.yml              # Shared across environments
  secrets.dev.env         # Development
  secrets.staging.env     # Staging
  secrets.prod.env        # Production

Load the appropriate file when switching environments:

export OPENCLAW_SECRETS_FILE=secrets.prod.env
openclaw secrets reload

Secret Rotation Strategy

When rotating a compromised key:

1. Update the value in your secrets backend (e.g., edit secrets.env)
2. Run openclaw secrets reload
3. Verify the new value works (check logs, test a query)
4. Revoke the old key at the provider
5. Audit the secret reference audit log to see where the old key was used

The audit log (stored at ~/.config/openclaw/secrets-audit.jsonl) tracks every secret change with timestamps and the user who made the change.

Team Collaboration

For teams sharing an OpenClaw config:

• Commit config.yml (with secret references) to the shared repo
• Never commit secrets — each team member has their own secrets.env
• Document required secrets in a README.md alongside the config:

# Required Secrets

Copy `secrets.example.env` to `secrets.env` and fill in:

- ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: Get from https://console.anthropic.com/
- SLACK_BOT_TOKEN: Create an app at https://api.slack.com/apps

Enterprise Secrets Backends

HashiCorp Vault

For centralized secret management at scale:

openclaw secrets configure
? Select secrets backend: HashiCorp Vault

? Vault address: https://vault.internal.company.com
? Auth method:
  ❯ Token
    Kubernetes
    AWS IAM
    LDAP

? Vault token (will not be echoed): ******************
? Secrets path prefix: openclaw/

Secrets are stored at paths like openclaw/ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and fetched at startup. Vault handles rotation, audit logging, and access control.

Cloud Provider Secrets Managers

For AWS:

openclaw secrets configure
? Select secrets backend: AWS Secrets Manager

? AWS region: us-east-1
? Secret name prefix: openclaw-

? Use IAM role for auth? Yes

For Azure:

openclaw secrets configure
? Select secrets backend: Azure Key Vault

? Key Vault name: openclaw-kv-prod
? Azure tenant ID: your-tenant-id

Both support automatic secret rotation (AWS Secrets Manager native, Azure Key Vault via rotation policies).

Docker and Kubernetes Deployment

Docker Secrets

In your docker-compose.yml:

version: '3.8'
services:
  openclaw:
    image: openclaw/gateway:latest
    secrets:
      - anthropic_api_key
      - slack_bot_token
    environment:
      OPENCLAW_SECRETS_BACKEND: docker

Define the secrets:

secrets:
  anthropic_api_key:
    file: ./secrets/anthropic_api_key.txt
  slack_bot_token:
    file: ./secrets/slack_bot_token.txt

OpenClaw reads /run/secrets/anthropic_api_key and resolves the ${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY} reference automatically.

Kubernetes Secrets

Create a Kubernetes secret:

kubectl create secret generic openclaw-secrets \
  --from-literal=anthropic-api-key='sk-ant-api03-...' \
  --from-literal=slack-bot-token='xoxb-...'

Mount as environment variables in your deployment:

env:
  - name: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
    valueFrom:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: openclaw-secrets
        key: anthropic-api-key

OpenClaw picks up the env vars and resolves secret references as usual.

Troubleshooting

"Secret not found" Error

Symptom: OpenClaw logs Secret ANTHROPIC_API_KEY not found in storage

Cause: The secret reference in your config doesn't exist in the secrets backend.

Fix: Run openclaw secrets audit to find missing secrets, then add them to your secrets file or backend.

"Secret failed validation" Error

Symptom: Secret SLACK_BOT_TOKEN failed validation: invalid format

Cause: The secret value doesn't match the expected format (e.g., Slack tokens must start with xoxb-)

Fix: Verify the secret value in your secrets backend. Check for typos or truncated values.

Secrets Not Reloading

Symptom: You edited secrets.env but OpenClaw is still using old values.

Cause: Changes to the secrets file don't auto-reload. You need to trigger reload.

Fix: Run openclaw secrets reload or restart the gateway.

Migration Checklist

Use this checklist when migrating an existing OpenClaw deployment:

• ✅ Run openclaw secrets audit — confirm all secrets are found
• ✅ Run openclaw secrets configure — choose and set up your backend
• ✅ Run openclaw secrets apply — migrate secrets to storage
• ✅ Verify config has secret references (no plaintext values remain)
• ✅ Run openclaw secrets reload — load secrets without restarting
• ✅ Test all integrations (channels, skills, webhooks) — confirm everything works
• ✅ Add secrets.env to .gitignore — prevent accidental commits
• ✅ Commit the updated config (with secret references) to Git
• ✅ Document required secrets in a README or wiki for team onboarding

Need help securing your OpenClaw deployment? We set up enterprise-grade secrets management with HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or Azure Key Vault. Includes audit logging, rotation policies, and team training.

Book a free consultation or explore our Enterprise package.