woodpecker/docs/build/secrets.md

Secret Variables

Caution: this feature is still considered experimental

Drone allows you to store secret variables in an encrypted .drone.sec file in the root of your repository. This is useful when your build requires sensitive information that should not be stored in plaintext in your .drone.yml file.

An example .drone.sec yaml file, prior to being encryped:

checksum: f63561783e550ccd21663d13eaf6a4d252d84147
environment:
  - HEROKU_TOKEN=pa$$word

To encrypt the above yaml file

• navigate to your repository settings
• click the section labeled secret variables
• enter the plaintext yaml string in the textarea
• click the encrypt button

An encrypted string is returned to the browser. This string should be copied and pasted into a .drone.sec file in the root of your repository, alongside your .drone.yml file.

Environment

The environment section of the .drone.sec file is a list of secret variables that get injected into your .drone.yml file at runtime using the $$ notation. Secret variables are not injected as environment variables. Instead, we use a simple find and replace algorithm.

An example .drone.yml expecting the HEROKU_TOKEN private variable:

build:
  image: golang
  commands:
    - go get
    - go build
    - go test

deploy:
  heroku:
    app: pied_piper
    token: $$HEROKU_TOKEN

Pull Requests

Secret variables are not injected into to the build section of the .drone.yml if your repository is public and the build is a pull request. This is for security purposes to prevent a malicious pull request from leaking your secrets.

Please note that you may still want secrets available to plugins when building a pull request. This is possible if you include a checksum of the .drone.yml file in your .drone.sec file.

Checksum

The checksum field in the .drone.yml is a sha of your .drone.yml file. It is optional, but highly recommended. The checksum is used to verify the integrity of your .drone.yml file. If the checksum does not match, secret variables are not injected into your Yaml.

Generate a checksum on OSX or Linux:

$ shasum -a 256 .drone.yml
f63561783e550ccd21663d13eaf6a4d252d84147  .drone.yml

Generate a checksum on Windows with powershell:

$ Get-FileHash .\.drone.yml -Algorithm SHA256