# Secrets

Secrets allow you to securely store sensitive configuration data like API keys and database credentials in your deployed MindedJS agents.

## Overview

Secrets are configured through the platform dashboard and automatically injected into `process.env` when your agent is deployed. They are only available in deployed agents, not during local development.

**Key Features:**

* Secure storage on the platform backend
* Automatic injection into `process.env` for deployed agents
* Environment-specific configuration (dev/staging/production)
* Deploy-time access only

## Usage

### Basic Access

```typescript
// Access secrets via process.env in deployed agents
const apiKey = process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY;
const databaseUrl = process.env.DATABASE_URL;

// Always validate required secrets
if (!apiKey) {
  throw new Error('OPENAI_API_KEY secret not configured');
}
```

### In Tools

```typescript
import { Tool } from 'mindedjs';

const weatherTool: Tool<{ city: string }, any> = {
  name: 'getWeather',
  description: 'Get weather information for a city',
  parameters: {
    type: 'object',
    properties: {
      city: { type: 'string', description: 'The city to get weather for' }
    },
    required: ['city']
  },
  handler: async ({ city }) => {
    const apiKey = process.env.WEATHER_API_KEY;
    
    if (!apiKey) {
      throw new Error('WEATHER_API_KEY secret not configured');
    }
    
    const response = await fetch(`https://api.weather.com/v1/current?key=${apiKey}&q=${city}`);
    return await response.json();
  }
};
```

## Configuration

### Platform Management

Configure secrets in the MindedJS platform dashboard:

* Navigate to your agent's settings
* Use the secrets management interface to add/edit secrets
* Configure different values per environment
* Changes require redeployment to take effect

### Naming Conventions

Use `UPPER_SNAKE_CASE` with descriptive names:

* `OPENAI_API_KEY`
* `DATABASE_URL`
* `WEBHOOK_SECRET`
* `JWT_SIGNING_KEY`

## Local Development

When developing locally, you can use the `.env` file (in the root of your project) to set the secrets or environment variables.

```bash
# .env file
MINDED_CONNECTION_TOKEN=abc
API_KEY=xyz
```

## Best Practices

* **Always validate** that required secrets exist before use
* **Never log** secret values in console output or logs
* **Use descriptive names** for clarity
* **Separate environments** with different secret values
* **Never commit** `.env` files or hardcode secrets
* **Regular rotation** of secrets through the platform

## Troubleshooting

* **Secret not available**: Verify it's configured in platform dashboard with exact name (case-sensitive) and agent is deployed
* **Local development**: Remember secrets only work in deployed agents - use `.env` files or fallbacks locally
* **Changes not applied**: Secret changes require redeployment to take effect


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.minded.com/platform/secrets.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.