fnox

HashiCorp Vault ​

HashiCorp Vault provides advanced secret management with dynamic secrets, leasing, and fine-grained access control.

Prerequisites ​

  • Vault server running (self-hosted or HCP Vault)
  • Vault CLI installed
  • Vault token with appropriate policies

Installation ​

bash
# macOS
brew install vault

# Linux
wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install vault

Configuration ​

toml
[providers]
vault = { type = "vault", path = "secret/myapp" } # address and token are optional
  • address: (Optional) The Vault server address. Falls back to FNOX_VAULT_ADDR or VAULT_ADDR.
  • path: (Required) The base path for secrets in Vault (e.g., secret/myapp).
  • token: (Optional) Vault token. Falls back to FNOX_VAULT_TOKEN or VAULT_TOKEN.
  • namespace: (Optional) Vault namespace. Falls back to FNOX_VAULT_NAMESPACE or VAULT_NAMESPACE.
  • credential_command: (Optional) Shell command that prints a Vault token to stdout when no token is configured. The command is rendered as a Tera template and receives address, path, and namespace.

Provider-scoped Login ​

Use credential_command when different Vault/OpenBao providers need different tokens:

toml
[providers.vault_team_a]
type = "vault"
address = "https://vault.example.com"
namespace = "team-a"
path = "secret/team-a"
credential_command = "vault login -method=oidc -token-only"

fnox sets VAULT_ADDR and VAULT_NAMESPACE for the command from the provider config. The command runs through the platform shell, so shell features like pipes and redirects work. Output is cached briefly for the current fnox process so resolving multiple secrets from the same provider does not repeat the login.

Setup ​

1. Configure Vault Access ​

bash
# Set Vault address
export VAULT_ADDR="https://vault.example.com:8200"

# Login and get token
vault login -method=userpass username=myuser

# Or export existing token
export VAULT_TOKEN="hvs.CAESIJ..."

2. Create Policy ​

hcl
# policy.hcl
path "secret/data/myapp/*" {
  capabilities = ["read"]
}

path "secret/metadata/myapp/*" {
  capabilities = ["list"]
}
bash
vault policy write fnox-policy policy.hcl

3. Store Secrets in Vault ​

bash
# KV v2 engine
vault kv put secret/myapp/database url="postgresql://prod.example.com/db"
vault kv put secret/myapp/api-key value="sk_live_abc123"

4. Reference in fnox ​

toml
[secrets]
DATABASE_URL = { provider = "vault", value = "database/url" }  # → secret/myapp/database/url
API_KEY = { provider = "vault", value = "api-key/value" }  # → secret/myapp/api-key/value

Usage ​

bash
# Set token
export VAULT_TOKEN="hvs.CAESIJ..."

# Get secrets
fnox get DATABASE_URL

# Run commands
fnox exec -- ./app

Pros ​

  • ✅ Advanced features (dynamic secrets, leasing)
  • ✅ Fine-grained access policies
  • ✅ Audit logging
  • ✅ Multi-cloud support
  • ✅ Self-hosted option

Cons ​

  • ❌ Complex to set up and operate
  • ❌ Requires Vault infrastructure
  • ❌ Token management

Next Steps ​

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