Secret Management

Secret Management is an enterprise-only feature and requires the enterprise Vikat image and a PostgreSQL config store.

Connect an external secret manager so provider keys and other credentials are never stored in Vikat’s database. Configure vault_store under config_store in config.json. Once connected, any secret field in config.json accepts a vault.<path> reference in place of a plaintext value or env.* reference. See Secret Management for the full list of supported fields, access modes, and secret rotation.

Configuration

AWS Secrets Manager
GCP Secret Manager
HashiCorp Vault

IAM role (recommended)
Static credentials
Role assumption

Attach an IAM role to your instance, ECS task, or EKS pod. No credentials needed in config - the AWS SDK inherits the role automatically.

{
  "config_store": {
   ...
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "aws-secrets-manager",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_only",
      "aws": {
        "region": "us-east-1"
      }
    }
  }
}

For EKS with IRSA, annotate your service account with the role ARN and leave credentials unset.

{
  "config_store": {
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "aws-secrets-manager",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_only",
      "aws": {
        "region": "us-east-1",
        "access_key_id": "env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID",
        "secret_access_key": "env.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

access_key_id and secret_access_key must be set together.

Assume a cross-account or restricted IAM role on top of any existing credential source.

{
  "config_store": {
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "aws-secrets-manager",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_only",
      "aws": {
        "region": "us-east-1",
        "role_arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/VikatSecretsReader"
      }
    }
  }
}

AWS fields

Field	Required	Description
`region`	No	AWS region (e.g. `us-east-1`). Falls back to `AWS_DEFAULT_REGION` or instance metadata if unset.
`access_key_id`	No	Required when not using IAM roles. Must be set with `secret_access_key`.
`secret_access_key`	No	Must be set with `access_key_id`.
`session_token`	No	For STS-issued temporary credentials.
`role_arn`	No	IAM role to assume via STS.
`kms_key_id`	No	KMS key for encrypting new secrets (`read_and_write` only).

Minimum IAM policy for read_only:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "secretsmanager:GetSecretValue",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:us-east-1:*:secret:vikat/*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "secretsmanager:ListSecrets",
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Add secretsmanager:CreateSecret, secretsmanager:PutSecretValue, and secretsmanager:DeleteSecret for read_and_write.

Workload Identity (recommended)
Service account key

Bind a GCP service account to your GKE pod or Compute Engine instance and omit credentials - Application Default Credentials are used automatically.

{
  "config_store": {
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "gcp-secret-manager",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_only",
      "gcp": {
        "project_id": "my-gcp-project"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "config_store": {
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "gcp-secret-manager",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_only",
      "gcp": {
        "project_id": "my-gcp-project",
        "credentials_json": "env.GCP_CREDENTIALS_JSON"
      }
    }
  }
}

credentials_json accepts a JSON string (the full key file contents) or a file path on disk.

GCP fields

Field	Required	Description
`project_id`	Yes	GCP project containing your secrets.
`credentials_json`	No	Service account key JSON string or file path. If omitted, Application Default Credentials are used.

Required IAM role: roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor for read_only. For read_and_write, also grant roles/secretmanager.secretCreator, roles/secretmanager.secretVersionAdder, and roles/secretmanager.secretDeleter.

Vikat uses the KV v2 secrets engine. Auth is resolved in order: explicit token → AppRole → ambient VAULT_TOKEN env var.

Token
AppRole
Ambient token

{
  "config_store": {
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "hashicorp-vault",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_only",
      "hashicorp": {
        "address": "https://vault.internal:8200",
        "token": "env.VAULT_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "config_store": {
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "hashicorp-vault",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_only",
      "hashicorp": {
        "address": "https://vault.internal:8200",
        "mount_path": "secret",
        "role_id": "env.VAULT_ROLE_ID",
        "secret_id": "env.VAULT_SECRET_ID"
      }
    }
  }
}

If VAULT_TOKEN is set in the environment and no token or AppRole is configured, Vikat inherits it automatically. Useful with Vault Agent injection.

{
  "config_store": {
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "hashicorp-vault",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_only",
      "hashicorp": {
        "address": "https://vault.internal:8200"
      }
    }
  }
}

HashiCorp fields

Field	Required	Description
`address`	No	Vault server URL. Reads `VAULT_ADDR` env var if unset.
`token`	No	Vault token.
`namespace`	No	Vault namespace (HCP Vault / Vault Enterprise).
`mount_path`	No	KV v2 mount path. Defaults to `secret`.
`role_id`	No	AppRole role ID. Must be set together with `secret_id`.
`secret_id`	No	AppRole secret ID. Must be set together with `role_id`.

Minimum Vault policy for read_only:

path "secret/data/vikat/*" {
  capabilities = ["read"]
}
path "secret/metadata/vikat/*" {
  capabilities = ["list"]
}

Add create, update, and delete on both paths for read_and_write.

Common fields

These apply regardless of backend:

Field	Required	Description
`enabled`	Yes	Enable vault integration.
`type`	Yes	Backend: `aws-secrets-manager`, `gcp-secret-manager`, or `hashicorp-vault`.
`prefix`	No	Path prefix for Vikat-managed secrets. Defaults to `vikat`.
`access_mode`	No	`read_only` (default) - resolve refs only. `read_and_write` - also auto-store plaintext values and delete owned secrets on removal.

Using vault references

Once configured, any secret field accepts a vault.<path> reference:

{
  "providers": {
    "openai": {
      "keys": [
        {
          "models": ["gpt-4o", "gpt-4o-mini"],
          "value": "vault.vikat/providers/openai/key"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Full example

{
  "config_store": {
    "enabled": true,
    "type": "postgres",
    "config": {
      "host": "env.PG_HOST",
      "port": "5432",
      "user": "env.PG_USER",
      "password": "env.PG_PASSWORD",
      "db_name": "vikat",
      "ssl_mode": "require"
    },
    "vault_store": {
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "aws-secrets-manager",
      "prefix": "vikat",
      "access_mode": "read_and_write",
      "aws": {
        "region": "us-east-1"
      }
    }
  },
  "providers": {
    "openai": {
      "keys": [
        {
          "models": ["gpt-4o", "gpt-4o-mini"],
          "value": "vault.vikat/providers/openai/key"
        }
      ]
    },
    "anthropic": {
      "keys": [
        {
          "models": ["claude-opus-4-8", "claude-sonnet-4-6"],
          "value": "vault.vikat/providers/anthropic/key"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Platform specific guides

Config as Code

Enterprise Deployment

Common setup instructions

Secret Management

Configuration

AWS fields

GCP fields

HashiCorp fields

Common fields

Using vault references

Full example

​Configuration

​AWS fields

​GCP fields

​HashiCorp fields

​Common fields

​Using vault references

​Full example

Configuration

AWS fields

GCP fields

HashiCorp fields

Common fields

Using vault references

Full example