How to securely store API keys in a Docker container?
Posted by Alice on 2025-09-08 14:32
I’m deploying a microservice that needs to access several third‑party APIs.
The Docker container runs on a Kubernetes cluster.
What are the best practices for keeping the API keys secret
without baking them into the image or exposing them in environment variables
that might be leaked?
Any recommendations for tools or patterns (e.g., Vault, KMS, secrets‑manager)
that work well with Docker/K8s?
Bob • 2025-09-08 16:05
You should avoid hard‑coding credentials. Use Kubernetes Secrets to inject them
as environment variables or mounted files at runtime. For extra encryption,
store the secret values in a vault (e.g., HashiCorp Vault) and have your
pods fetch them on startup. Don’t forget to enable RBAC so only the
required service accounts can read the secrets.
Carol • 2025-09-09 09:12
If you’re on a cloud provider, their secret manager (AWS Secrets Manager,
GCP Secret Manager, Azure Key Vault) integrates nicely with K8s via
external‑secrets operators. The secret is fetched and automatically synced
as a Kubernetes Secret, keeping the rotation process seamless.