aboutsummaryrefslogblamecommitdiffstats
path: root/railties/lib/rails/commands/credentials/USAGE
blob: ea429f58d84f7d4fbca0b0ce91884c7c5fc2eb5c (plain) (tree)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12











                                                                                  
                                                                                                


                                                                               
                                                                                                 






















                                                                                             
=== Storing Encrypted Credentials in Source Control

The Rails `credentials` commands provide access to encrypted credentials,
so you can safely store access tokens, database passwords, and the like
safely inside the app without relying on a mess of ENVs.

This also allows for atomic deploys: no need to coordinate key changes
to get everything working as the keys are shipped with the code.

=== Setup

Applications after Rails 5.2 automatically have a basic credentials file generated
that just contains the secret_key_base used by MessageVerifiers/MessageEncryptors, like the ones
signing and encrypting cookies.

For applications created prior to Rails 5.2, we'll automatically generate a new
credentials file in `config/credentials.yml.enc` the first time you run `rails credentials:edit`.
If you didn't have a master key saved in `config/master.key`, that'll be created too.

Don't lose this master key! Put it in a password manager your team can access.
Should you lose it no one, including you, will be able to access any encrypted
credentials.

Don't commit the key! Add `config/master.key` to your source control's
ignore file. If you use Git, Rails handles this for you.

Rails also looks for the master key in `ENV["RAILS_MASTER_KEY"]`, if that's easier to manage.

You could prepend that to your server's start command like this:

   RAILS_MASTER_KEY="very-secret-and-secure" server.start

=== Editing Credentials

This will open a temporary file in `$EDITOR` with the decrypted contents to edit
the encrypted credentials.

When the temporary file is next saved the contents are encrypted and written to
`config/credentials.yml.enc` while the file itself is destroyed to prevent credentials
from leaking.