Credential Manager

Credential Manager

STATUS: MANDATORY SECURITY FOUNDATION

Consolidate scattered API keys and credentials into a secure, centralized .env file.

⚠️ This Is Not Optional

Centralized .env credential management is a core requirement for OpenClaw security. If your credentials are scattered across multiple files, stop and consolidate them now.

THE RULE: All credentials MUST be in ~/.openclaw/.env ONLY. No workspace, no skills, no scripts directories.

See:

The Foundation

Every OpenClaw deployment MUST have:

~/.openclaw/.env (mode 600)

This is your single source of truth for all credentials. No exceptions.

Why?

Scattered credentials = scattered attack surface. This skill fixes that.

What This Skill Does

1. Scans for credentials in common locations 2. Backs up existing credential files (timestamped) 3. Consolidates into ~/.openclaw/.env 4. Secures with proper permissions (600) 5. Validates security and format 6. Enforces best practices 7. Cleans up old files after migration

Detection Parameters

The skill automatically detects credentials by scanning for:

File Patterns:

Sensitive Key Patterns:

Security Checks:

Quick Start

Full Migration (Recommended)

# Scan for credentials
./scripts/scan.py
Review and consolidate
./scripts/consolidate.py
Validate security
./scripts/validate.py

Individual Operations

# Scan only
./scripts/scan.py
Consolidate specific service
./scripts/consolidate.py --service x
Backup without removing
./scripts/consolidate.py --backup-only
Clean up old files
./scripts/cleanup.py --confirm

Common Credential Locations

The skill scans these locations:

~/.config/*/credentials.json
~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/*-creds.json
~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/*credentials*.json
~/.env (if exists, merges)

Security Features

✅ File permissions: Sets .env to mode 600 (owner only) ✅ Git protection: Creates/updates .gitignore ✅ Backups: Timestamped backups before changes ✅ Validation: Checks format, permissions, and duplicates ✅ Template: Creates .env.example (safe to share)

Output Structure

After migration:

~/.openclaw/
├── .env                     # All credentials (secure)
├── .env.example             # Template (safe)
├── .gitignore               # Protects .env
├── CREDENTIALS.md           # Documentation
└── backups/
    └── credentials-old-YYYYMMDD/  # Backup of old files

Supported Services

Common services auto-detected:

See references/supported-services.md for full list.

Security Best Practices

See references/security.md for detailed security guidelines.

Quick checklist:

Scripts

All scripts support --help for detailed usage.

scan.py

# Scan and report
./scripts/scan.py
Include custom paths
./scripts/scan.py --paths ~/.myapp/config ~/.local/share/creds
JSON output
./scripts/scan.py --format json

consolidate.py

# Interactive mode (prompts before changes)
./scripts/consolidate.py
Auto-confirm (no prompts)
./scripts/consolidate.py --yes
Backup only
./scripts/consolidate.py --backup-only
Specific service
./scripts/consolidate.py --service molten

validate.py

# Full validation
./scripts/validate.py
Check permissions only
./scripts/validate.py --check permissions
Fix issues automatically
./scripts/validate.py --fix

cleanup.py

# Dry run (shows what would be deleted)
./scripts/cleanup.py
Actually delete old files
./scripts/cleanup.py --confirm
Keep backups
./scripts/cleanup.py --confirm --keep-backups

Migration Workflow

Step 1: Discovery

./scripts/scan.py

Step 2: Backup & Consolidate

./scripts/consolidate.py

Step 3: Validation

./scripts/validate.py

Step 4: Test Test your applications/skills with the new .env file.

Step 5: Cleanup

./scripts/cleanup.py --confirm

For Skill Developers: Enforce This Standard

Other OpenClaw skills MUST validate credentials are secure before using them:

Python Skills

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import sys
from pathlib import Path
Add credential-manager scripts to path
sys.path.insert(0, str(Path.home() / '.openclaw/skills/credential-manager/scripts'))
Enforce secure .env (exits if not compliant)
from enforce import require_secure_env, get_credential
require_secure_env()
Now safe to load credentials
api_key = get_credential('SERVICE_API_KEY')

Bash Skills

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
Validate .env exists and is secure
if ! python3 ~/.openclaw/skills/credential-manager/scripts/enforce.py; then
    exit 1
fi
Now safe to load
source ~/.openclaw/.env

This creates a fail-fast system: If credentials aren't properly secured, skills refuse to run. Users are forced to fix it.

Loading Credentials

After migration, load from .env:

Python

import os
from pathlib import Path
Load .env
env_file = Path.home() / '.openclaw' / '.env'
with open(env_file) as f:
    for line in f:
        if '=' in line and not line.strip().startswith('#'):
            key, val = line.strip().split('=', 1)
            os.environ[key] = val
Use credentials
api_key = os.getenv('SERVICE_API_KEY')

Bash

# Load .env
set -a
source ~/.openclaw/.env
set +a
Use credentials
echo "$SERVICE_API_KEY"

Using Existing Loaders

from load_credentials import get_credentials
creds = get_credentials('x')

Adding New Credentials

Edit ~/.openclaw/.env:

# Add new service
NEW_SERVICE_API_KEY=your_key_here
NEW_SERVICE_SECRET=your_secret_here

Update template too:

# Edit .env.example
NEW_SERVICE_API_KEY=your_key_here
NEW_SERVICE_SECRET=your_secret_here

Rollback

If something goes wrong:

# Find your backup
ls -la ~/.openclaw/backups/
Restore specific file
cp ~/.openclaw/backups/credentials-old-YYYYMMDD/x-credentials.json.bak \
   ~/.config/x/credentials.json

Notes

Full Migration (Recommended)

# Scan for credentials
./scripts/scan.py
Review and consolidate
./scripts/consolidate.py
Validate security
./scripts/validate.py

Individual Operations

# Scan only
./scripts/scan.py
Consolidate specific service
./scripts/consolidate.py --service x
Backup without removing
./scripts/consolidate.py --backup-only
Clean up old files
./scripts/cleanup.py --confirm