=== 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 === Set up Git to Diff Credentials Rails provides `rails credentials:diff --enable` to instruct Git to call `rails credentials:diff` when `git diff` is run on a credentials file. Any credentials files are set to use the "rails_credentials" diff driver in .gitattributes. Since Git requires the diff driver to be set up in a config file, the command uses the project local .git/config. Since that config isn't stored in Git each team member must enable separately. Or set up the "rails_credentials" diff driver globally with: git config --global diff.rails_credentials.textconv "bin/rails credentials:diff" === 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. === Environment Specific Credentials The `credentials` command supports passing an `--environment` option to create an environment specific override. That override will take precedence over the global `config/credentials.yml.enc` file when running in that environment. So: rails credentials:edit --environment development will create `config/credentials/development.yml.enc` with the corresponding encryption key in `config/credentials/development.key` if the credentials file doesn't exist. The encryption key can also be put in `ENV["RAILS_MASTER_KEY"]`, which takes precedence over the file encryption key. In addition to that, the default credentials lookup paths can be overridden through `config.credentials.content_path` and `config.credentials.key_path`.