openclaw/docs/reference/secretref-credential-surface.md

summary	read_when	title
Canonical supported vs unsupported SecretRef credential surface	Verifying SecretRef credential coverage Auditing whether a credential is eligible for `secrets configure` or `secrets apply` Verifying why a credential is outside the supported surface	SecretRef credential surface

This page defines the canonical SecretRef credential surface: which credential fields accept a SecretRef (env/file/exec/store-backed reference) instead of a raw secret value.

Scope:

• In scope: strictly user-supplied credentials that OpenClaw does not mint or rotate.
• Out of scope: runtime-minted or rotating credentials, OAuth refresh material, and session-like artifacts.

The lists below are generated from the source target registry and checked against docs/reference/secretref-user-supplied-credentials-matrix.json in CI; do not hand-edit entries.

Source generation fails if a present channel secret-contract artifact cannot load, rather than publishing an incomplete list. A plugin without that optional artifact contributes no channel targets. This generation check does not change runtime SecretRef owner-isolation behavior.

Supported credentials

openclaw.json targets (secrets configure + secrets apply + secrets audit)

agents

• agents.entries.*.memory.search.remote.apiKey
• agents.entries.*.tts.personas.*.providers.*.apiKey
• agents.entries.*.tts.providers.*.apiKey

channels

• channels.buzz.accounts.*.authTag
• channels.buzz.accounts.*.privateKey
• channels.buzz.authTag
• channels.buzz.privateKey
• channels.clickclack.accounts.*.token
• channels.clickclack.token
• channels.discord.accounts.*.pluralkit.token
• channels.discord.accounts.*.token
• channels.discord.accounts.*.voice.realtime.providers.*.apiKey
• channels.discord.accounts.*.voice.tts.personas.*.providers.*.apiKey
• channels.discord.accounts.*.voice.tts.providers.*.apiKey
• channels.discord.pluralkit.token
• channels.discord.token
• channels.discord.voice.realtime.providers.*.apiKey
• channels.discord.voice.tts.personas.*.providers.*.apiKey
• channels.discord.voice.tts.providers.*.apiKey
• channels.feishu.accounts.*.appSecret
• channels.feishu.accounts.*.encryptKey
• channels.feishu.accounts.*.verificationToken
• channels.feishu.appSecret
• channels.feishu.encryptKey
• channels.feishu.verificationToken
• channels.googlechat.accounts.*.serviceAccount
• channels.googlechat.serviceAccount
• channels.irc.accounts.*.nickserv.password
• channels.irc.accounts.*.password
• channels.irc.nickserv.password
• channels.irc.password
• channels.matrix.accessToken
• channels.matrix.accounts.*.accessToken
• channels.matrix.accounts.*.password
• channels.matrix.password
• channels.mattermost.accounts.*.botToken
• channels.mattermost.botToken
• channels.msteams.appPassword
• channels.nextcloud-talk.accounts.*.apiPassword
• channels.nextcloud-talk.accounts.*.botSecret
• channels.nextcloud-talk.apiPassword
• channels.nextcloud-talk.botSecret
• channels.nostr.privateKey
• channels.qqbot.accounts.*.clientSecret
• channels.qqbot.clientSecret
• channels.slack.accounts.*.appToken
• channels.slack.accounts.*.botToken
• channels.slack.accounts.*.relay.authToken
• channels.slack.accounts.*.signingSecret
• channels.slack.accounts.*.userToken
• channels.slack.appToken
• channels.slack.botToken
• channels.slack.relay.authToken
• channels.slack.signingSecret
• channels.slack.userToken
• channels.sms.accounts.*.authToken
• channels.sms.authToken
• channels.telegram.accounts.*.botToken
• channels.telegram.accounts.*.webhookSecret
• channels.telegram.botToken
• channels.telegram.webhookSecret
• channels.zalo.accounts.*.botToken
• channels.zalo.accounts.*.webhookSecret
• channels.zalo.botToken
• channels.zalo.webhookSecret

cron

• cron.webhookToken

gateway

• gateway.auth.password
• gateway.auth.token
• gateway.remote.password
• gateway.remote.token

memory

• memory.search.remote.apiKey

models

• models.providers.*.apiKey
• models.providers.*.headers.*
• models.providers.*.request.auth.token
• models.providers.*.request.auth.value
• models.providers.*.request.headers.*
• models.providers.*.request.proxy.tls.ca
• models.providers.*.request.proxy.tls.cert
• models.providers.*.request.proxy.tls.key
• models.providers.*.request.proxy.tls.passphrase
• models.providers.*.request.tls.ca
• models.providers.*.request.tls.cert
• models.providers.*.request.tls.key
• models.providers.*.request.tls.passphrase

plugins

• plugins.entries.acpx.config.mcpServers.*.env.*
• plugins.entries.brave.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.codex.config.appServer.authToken
• plugins.entries.codex.config.appServer.headers.*
• plugins.entries.comfy.config.headers.*
• plugins.entries.exa.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.facetime.config.realtime.providers.*.apiKey
• plugins.entries.firecrawl.config.webFetch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.firecrawl.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.google-meet.config.realtime.providers.*.apiKey
• plugins.entries.google.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.google.config.webSearch.headers.*
• plugins.entries.imap.config.accounts.*.password
• plugins.entries.minimax.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.moonshot.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.parallel.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.perplexity.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.tavily.config.webSearch.apiKey
• plugins.entries.team-reports.config.discord.token
• plugins.entries.team-reports.config.github.token
• plugins.entries.typesafe.config.apiKey
• plugins.entries.voice-call.config.realtime.providers.*.apiKey
• plugins.entries.voice-call.config.streaming.providers.*.apiKey
• plugins.entries.voice-call.config.tts.providers.*.apiKey
• plugins.entries.voice-call.config.twilio.authToken
• plugins.entries.webhooks.config.routes.*.secret
• plugins.entries.xai.config.webSearch.apiKey

skills

• skills.entries.*.apiKey

talk

• talk.providers.*.apiKey
• talk.realtime.providers.*.apiKey

tts

• tts.personas.*.providers.*.apiKey
• tts.providers.*.apiKey

SQLite auth-profile targets (secrets configure + secrets apply + secrets audit)

• profiles.*.keyRef (type: "api_key"; unsupported when auth.profiles.<id>.mode = "oauth")
• profiles.*.tokenRef (type: "token"; unsupported when auth.profiles.<id>.mode = "oauth")

Node-host connection targets

• gateway.cloudflareAccess.clientId
• gateway.cloudflareAccess.clientSecret

These fields live in the node host's canonical nodeHost.config SQLite machine-state value, not openclaw.json. They accept the same SecretInput forms and resolve through the configured SecretRef providers when the node starts. The conventional CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID / CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET fallback persists env refs for these fields automatically. They are not targets for secrets configure or secrets apply.

Notes:

• Store refs use names matching ^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]{0,127}$ and resolve only from the Gateway-wide team scope; no other store scope exists. A typical ref is {"source":"store","provider":"default","id":"OPENAI_API_KEY"}.
• Auth-profile plan targets require agentId; plan entries target profiles.*.key / profiles.*.token and write sibling refs (keyRef / tokenRef). Auth-profile refs are included in runtime resolution and audit coverage.
• In openclaw.json, SecretRefs must use structured objects such as {"source":"env","provider":"default","id":"DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"}. Legacy secretref-env:<ENV_VAR> marker strings are rejected on SecretRef credential paths; run openclaw doctor --fix to migrate valid markers.
• OAuth policy guard: auth.profiles.<id>.mode = "oauth" cannot be combined with SecretRef inputs for that profile. Startup/reload and auth-profile resolution fail fast when this policy is violated.
• For SecretRef-managed model providers, generated agents/*/agent/models.json entries persist non-secret markers (not resolved secret values) for apiKey/header surfaces. Marker persistence is source-authoritative: OpenClaw writes markers from the active source config snapshot (pre-resolution), not from resolved runtime secret values.
• Cold Gateway startup can isolate retryable resolution failures for mapped, non-Gateway owners. Current mapped classes include model providers and skills, media/TTS/cron providers, eligible auth profiles, per-agent memory, sandbox SSH, channel accounts, and manifest-declared plugin routes. Startup keeps each failed owner's explicit refs in the runtime snapshot, reports the owner through status and doctor, and rejects requests for that owner without trying lower-precedence credentials. Reload and config-write preflight use the same owner-aware policy: healthy owners refresh; an eligible failed owner stays stale only when its ref identities, provider definitions, and complete non-secret owner contract are unchanged; a new or changed failure becomes cold. Gateway ingress auth, structurally invalid refs or values, fail-closed owners, and currently unmapped owners remain strict.
• For web search: in explicit provider mode (tools.web.search.provider set), only the selected provider key is active. In auto mode (tools.web.search.provider unset), only the first provider key that resolves by precedence is active, and non-selected provider refs are treated as inactive until selected. Provider credentials use plugins.entries.<plugin>.config.webSearch.*.
• Slack identity: "user" uses channels.slack.userToken with channels.slack.appToken for Socket Mode or channels.slack.signingSecret for HTTP mode. The same pairing applies under channels.slack.accounts.*; no bot token is required for this identity.

Unsupported credentials

These credentials are minted, rotated, session-bearing, or OAuth-durable classes that do not fit read-only external SecretRef resolution:

• hooks.token
• hooks.gmail.pushToken
• hooks.mappings[].sessionKey
• auth-profiles.oauth.*
• channels.discord.accounts.*.threadBindings.webhookToken
• channels.discord.threadBindings.webhookToken
• channels.whatsapp.accounts.*.creds.json
• channels.whatsapp.creds.json

Related

• Secrets management
• Secrets CLI
• Auth credential semantics