Skip to content

Hosting & deployment

Environment variables & secrets

How to add API keys without putting them in files.

3 min read

Why not just put them in .env

Secrets in files are a footgun: they end up in git, in agent context, in screenshots. Vibe stores secrets encrypted in the database and injects them as env vars only at container runtime.

Adding a secret

  1. Open Settings → SecretsOr ask the agent: “add a secret named STRIPE_API_KEY.”
  2. Paste the valueIt's encrypted before it touches the DB. No file is created.
  3. Use it in codeRead it via process.env.STRIPE_API_KEY from any backend route.
Secrets panel showing key names with masked values

The agent can request secrets

If you ask the agent to build a Stripe checkout, it will say something like “I need a STRIPE_API_KEY.” It can declare the secret slot, but you fill in the value — the agent never sees it.
Ready to build

Skip the docs.
Just describe it.

Tadabase AI builds it, hosts it and keeps it running. Real backend, real domain, real app.

Start Building