The best way to retailer keys in env information?

Utilizing the Surroundings in Vapor 4

Similar to many fashionable server aspect frameworks, your Vapor primarily based backend utility can load a file referred to as .env. It’s attainable to retailer key-value primarily based (secret) configuration values inside this file. Whenever you run the app, one of many following file will likely be loaded, primarily based on the present surroundings:

• Manufacturing (.env)
• Growth (.env.growth)
• Testing (.env.testing)

Whenever you execute your checks the .env.testing file will likely be used. When you begin the app utilizing the serve Vapor command it’s also possible to change the surroundings utilizing the --env or -e flag. The out there choices are manufacturing and growth, and the corresponding .env file will likely be loaded. It’s attainable to create a customized surroundings, you possibly can learn extra about this within the official Vapor docs. The .env file normally comprises one key and worth per line, now the issue begins if you wish to retailer a multiline secret key within the file. So what can we do about this? 🤔

Base64 encoded secret keys

Sure, we are able to encode the key key utilizing a base64 encoding. No, I do not wish to copy my secrets and techniques into an on-line base64 encoder, as a result of there’s a fairly easy shell command that I can use.

echo "<my-secret-key>" | base64

When you do not like unix instructions, we are able to all the time put collectively a bit of Swift script and use an extension on the String sort to encode keys. Simply save the snippet from beneath right into a base64.swift file, put your key into the important thing part, give the file some executable permission & run it utilizing the chmod o+x && ./base64.swift one-liner command and voilá…

#! /usr/bin/swift

import Basis

extension String {

    func base64Encoded() -> String? {
        return knowledge(utilizing: .utf8)?.base64EncodedString()
    }
}

let key = """
    <my-secret-key-comes-here>
"""

print(key.base64Encoded()!)

You’ll be able to copy & paste the encoded worth of the key key into your personal .env.* file, exchange the asterix image along with your present surroundings after all, earlier than you do it. 🙈

//e.g. .env.growth
SECRET_KEY="<base64-encoded-secret-key>"

Now we simply should decode this key in some way, earlier than we are able to begin utilizing it…

Decoding the key key

You’ll be able to implement a base64 decoder as a String extension with just some strains of Swift code.

import Basis

extension String {

    func base64Decoded() -> String? {
        guard let knowledge = Knowledge(base64Encoded: self) else { return nil }
        return String(knowledge: knowledge, encoding: .utf8)
    }
}

Now in my initiatives I like to increase the Surroundings object and place all my customized variables there as static constants, this manner I can entry them in a extremely handy manner, plus if one thing goes improper (normally once I do not re-create the .env file after a git reset or I haven’t got all of the variables current within the dotenv file) the app will crash due to the pressured unwraps, and I will know for certain that one thing is improper with my surroundings. It is a crash for my very own security. 💥

import Vapor

extension Surroundings {
    static let secretKey = Self.get("SECRET_KEY")!.base64Decoded()!
}


Surroundings.secretKey

I believe this strategy may be very helpful. After all you must place the .env.* sample into your .gitignore file, in any other case in the event you place some secrets and techniques into the dotenv file and also you push that into the distant… nicely, everybody else will know your keys, passwords, and so on. You do not need that, proper? ⚠️

Be at liberty to make use of this methodology when it’s important to implement a Check in With Apple workflow, or a Apple Push Notification service (APNs). In these instances you may undoubtedly should move one ore extra secret keys to your Vapor primarily based backend utility. That is it for now, thanks for studying.