envsave

envsave is a local encrypted vault for API keys, tokens, and passwords, built by AI Agents Lab so that LLM coding agents never see real secret values. Instead of reading plaintext keys or a .env file, agents use opaque identifiers (es_...) that resolve to the real value only through the vault on the user's machine. It ships as a CLI and library for Node.js/Bun and Python, with a Claude Code skill, and is released under the MIT license.

What It Is

envsave is a command-line secrets manager aimed at developers who run AI assistants or coding agents on their codebases. Secrets are stored in a single AES-256-GCM encrypted vault file at ~/.envsave/vault.enc, with PBKDF2 key derivation and an optional SSH key as a second factor. Key names are stored as HMAC-SHA256 hashes, so the opaque keys carry no trace of the original names and, per the project, cannot be reversed or enumerated without the master password.

How the Workflow Works

A user installs the CLI via npm or pip, runs envsave init to create the vault, and stores a secret with envsave set NAME value. The command returns an opaque key such as es_7a3f..., which code then passes to get() in Node.js/Bun or Python to retrieve the real value at runtime. Further commands cover revealing, searching, listing, renaming, deleting, importing from and exporting to .env files, and scanning a project for hardcoded environment references. Re-running set on an existing name updates the value while keeping the same opaque key, so code does not need to change.

Safeguards Against Agent Access

• envsave get is rate-limited, with a configurable maximum per minute, to blunt scraping from a compromised session.
• On macOS, Touch ID can approve vault commands; AI agents cannot approve the prompt, so password-gated commands still need the user.
• A session cache keeps decrypted secrets in memory so repeated reads do not require the password each time.

Deployment, Backup and Agent Skill

envsave vercel pushes selected secrets to a Vercel project under both the opaque id and the clean name, so deployed code works without a local vault. Cloud backup, restore, and sync of the encrypted vault across machines require a license; the server stores only encrypted bytes. An envsave skill can be installed for Claude Code via npx skills add or envsave install-skill, so the agent uses opaque keys when it touches secrets.