Secrets apply plan contract

This page defines the strict contract enforced by openclaw secrets apply.

If a target does not match these rules, apply fails before mutating configuration.

Plan file shape

openclaw secrets apply --from <plan.json> expects a targets array of plan targets:

{
  version: 1,
  protocolVersion: 1,
  targets: [
    {
      type: "models.providers.apiKey",
      path: "models.providers.openai.apiKey",
      pathSegments: ["models", "providers", "openai", "apiKey"],
      providerId: "openai",
      ref: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "OPENAI_API_KEY" },
    },
    {
      type: "auth-profiles.api_key.key",
      path: "profiles.openai:default.key",
      pathSegments: ["profiles", "openai:default", "key"],
      agentId: "main",
      ref: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "OPENAI_API_KEY" },
    },
  ],
}

Supported target scope

Plan targets are accepted for supported credential paths in:

SecretRef Credential Surface

Target type behavior

General rule:

target.type must be recognized and must match the normalized target.path shape.

Compatibility aliases remain accepted for existing plans:

models.providers.apiKey
skills.entries.apiKey
channels.googlechat.serviceAccount

Path validation rules

Each target is validated with all of the following:

type must be a recognized target type.
path must be a non-empty dot path.
pathSegments can be omitted. If provided, it must normalize to exactly the same path as path.
Forbidden segments are rejected: __proto__, prototype, constructor.
The normalized path must match the registered path shape for the target type.
If providerId or accountId is set, it must match the id encoded in the path.
auth-profiles.json targets require agentId.
When creating a new auth-profiles.json mapping, include authProfileProvider.

Failure behavior

If a target fails validation, apply exits with an error like:

Invalid plan target path for models.providers.apiKey: models.providers.openai.baseUrl

No writes are committed for an invalid plan.

--dry-run skips exec SecretRef checks by default.
Plans containing exec SecretRefs/providers are rejected in write mode unless --allow-exec is set.
When validating/applying exec-containing plans, pass --allow-exec in both dry-run and write commands.

Runtime and audit scope notes

Ref-only auth-profiles.json entries (keyRef/tokenRef) are included in runtime resolution and audit coverage.
secrets apply writes supported openclaw.json targets, supported auth-profiles.json targets, and optional scrub targets.

Operator checks

# Validate plan without writes
openclaw secrets apply --from /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json --dry-run

# Then apply for real
openclaw secrets apply --from /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json

# For exec-containing plans, opt in explicitly in both modes
openclaw secrets apply --from /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json --dry-run --allow-exec
openclaw secrets apply --from /tmp/openclaw-secrets-plan.json --allow-exec

If apply fails with an invalid target path message, regenerate the plan with openclaw secrets configure or fix the target path to a supported shape above.