Managing Secrets with OpenClaw

I hate finding plaintext secrets in my configuration files. It usually happens when I’m moving fast and forget to map a credential properly, or when a legacy file stays tucked away in a directory I haven’t checked in months. Managing these refs and making sure the runtime actually picks them up without breaking production is a constant balancing act.

The openclaw secrets tool helps you manage SecretRefs and keeps your active runtime snapshot healthy. Here is how I use it to keep things clean.

What You’ll Need

An interactive TTY (required for the configure command).
Access to openclaw.json and auth-profiles.json.
Targeted agent stores if you are scoping changes to specific agents.

Quick Start

This is the recommended operator loop. It moves from auditing your current state to applying changes and reloading the gateway.

openclaw secrets audit --check
openclaw secrets configure
openclaw secrets apply --from /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json --dry-run
openclaw secrets apply --from /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json
openclaw secrets audit --check
openclaw secrets reload

Audit Your State

I start with audit to see what is actually happening in my config. It scans for plaintext storage, unresolved refs, and precedence drift where auth-profiles.json might be shadowing openclaw.json. It also catches residues in models.json or legacy auth.json files.

openclaw secrets audit
openclaw secrets audit --check
openclaw secrets audit --json

If you use audit --check in a CI pipeline, it returns 1 if it finds issues and 2 if there are unresolved refs.

Configure Interactively

The configure command is an interactive planner. It helps you set up providers and map credentials without manually editing JSON.

openclaw secrets configure
openclaw secrets configure --plan-out /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json
openclaw secrets configure --apply --yes
openclaw secrets configure --agent ops

You can skip parts of the flow if you need to:

--providers-only: Just set up the secrets.providers aliases.
--skip-provider-setup: Map credentials to providers that already exist.

Note that configure targets secret-bearing fields in openclaw.json and auth-profiles.json. It performs a preflight resolution before you apply anything.

Apply a Plan

Once you have a saved plan from the configuration step, use apply to execute it. This updates your config files and scrubs plaintext residues.

openclaw secrets apply --from /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json
openclaw secrets apply --from /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json --dry-run

I should mention that secrets apply does not write rollback backups with old plaintext values. It uses strict preflight checks and an atomic-style apply with in-memory restore if something fails.

Reload the Runtime

After applying changes, you need to swap the runtime snapshot. The reload command uses the secrets.reload gateway RPC.

openclaw secrets reload
openclaw secrets reload --json

If resolution fails during this step, the gateway keeps the last-known-good snapshot. You won’t end up with a partially broken state.

Troubleshooting

Exit Codes

Code 1: audit --check found plaintext, drift, or legacy residues.
Code 2: There are unresolved refs in your configuration.

Provider Safety

If you are on macOS and using Homebrew, your binaries might be symlinked under /opt/homebrew/bin/. You need to set allowSymlinkCommand: true and add /opt/homebrew to trustedDirs.

On Windows, if the CLI cannot verify ACLs for a provider path, it fails. You can set allowInsecurePath: true on that specific provider to bypass this if the path is trusted.

Reload Failures

If openclaw secrets reload returns an error, check the warningCount in the JSON response. The gateway will continue using the previous snapshot until you fix the resolution errors.

Need help with a specific secret provider setup? Ask the AI Setup Assistant.

What’s Next

OpenClaw Expert

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