What is secrets management?

What is secrets management?

API keys, database credentials, and service tokens are essential to how software runs, but managing them can feel like an afterthought. Every application depends on them, yet they are usually managed in ways that are inconsistent, insecure, or difficult to scale.

This chapter introduces secrets management, why it matters, and how Doppler helps teams bring structure, security, and automation to the way secrets are handled across environments.

What are secrets, and why do they matter?

Secrets are sensitive values that help services authenticate with APIs, access infrastructure, and manage encrypted data. Most development teams start by managing them with .env files, environment variables, or hardcoded values. These approaches can work in the short term, but become fragile as infrastructure and teams grow.

Without a system for managing secrets, it becomes difficult to track where values are stored, whether they are up to date, or who has access. This creates both operational complexity and security risk.

Where things often go wrong

Over time, scattered secrets lead to problems. Teams may accidentally commit secrets to source control, share them in chat, or lose track of which environments are using which values. When a credential needs to be rotated or revoked, it often requires multiple manual steps across different tools.

Even small inconsistencies can result in bugs, broken deploys, or outages. Without a reliable way to manage secrets, teams are forced to choose between moving quickly and maintaining security.

How Doppler helps

Doppler gives teams a centralized platform for managing secrets. It replaces local files, ad hoc scripts, and scattered config values with a single place to define, update, and access secrets across every environment.

When you create a Workplace in Doppler, you’re setting up a space to manage secrets for your company, team, or project. Each Project inside that workplace can represent a specific service or application. Projects are organized into environments like development, staging, and production. This way, secrets can be scoped to match your infrastructure.

Secrets can be added manually or imported in bulk. They are masked by default for safety but can be viewed when needed. You can also roll back changes, track updates, and sync values automatically across systems.

Running locally with the Doppler CLI

For local development, the Doppler CLI makes it easy to inject secrets at runtime. After linking a folder to a project and environment using doppler setup, you can start your application with the correct secrets already loaded.

You can also use doppler secrets to inspect values in the terminal. This keeps your local environment consistent with the rest of the team without needing to share .env files or manually copy config.

For full installation instructions and supported systems, see the CLI docs here.

Integrated with Developer workflows

Doppler integrates with a wide range of tools, supporting both local development and the systems that power your infrastructure and deployments.

For developers working locally, integrations with Visual Studio Code and IntelliJ make it easy to manage secrets directly from your editor. These tools help keep secrets close to your code without requiring manual updates or switching between platforms.

Doppler also connects with popular CI/CD services, hosting platforms, and cloud providers. Secrets can be automatically synced to tools like GitHub Actions, Vercel, AWS, and Kubernetes, ensuring that each environment always has the most up-to-date values.

Whether you are working in your editor or deploying to production, Doppler extends to meet you where you are. These integrations make it easier to keep secrets secure and in sync across your entire workflow.

Next: Managing secrets as a team

Now that secrets are centralized, the next step is managing who has access and how permissions are applied. In Chapter 3, we’ll cover how to invite teammates, assign roles, and keep secrets protected without slowing anyone down.