# Move a hardcoded credential into the secret manager

A credential stored in the repository, moved to the secret manager, replaced, and checked at startup.

Category: Security patching
Source: https://letsship.ai/use-cases/move-a-hardcoded-credential-into-the-secret-manager
Published: 2026-08-25

## Goal

Move a hardcoded credential into the secret manager, rotate it, and confirm the service reads the new reference.

## Acceptance criteria

- The value is gone from the working tree and from configuration
- The service reads it from the secret manager at runtime
- A boot check fails loudly when it is missing, rather than falling back to a default
- The old value is rotated and the rotation is recorded

## What lands as proof

A clean secret scan, and a boot check that refuses to start when the reference is absent.

## Prompt

Copy this to an agent to open the ticket:

```text
Create a Linear issue in my team and assign it to the SHIP agent.

Title: Move {credential} into the secret manager

Description: A credential is hardcoded in the repository. Move it to the secret manager, read it at runtime, and fail loudly when it is missing.

Acceptance criteria:
- The value is gone from the working tree and from configuration
- The service reads it from the secret manager at runtime
- A boot check fails loudly when it is missing, rather than falling back to a default
- The rotation is recorded in the pull request

Before you create the issue, run a secret scan over this repository and replace {credential} with a real hit. Do not put the value itself in the issue. Rotation stays with a human: say so in the description.
```

## Questions

### What does the agent actually change?

The ticket is scoped to one outcome: move a hardcoded credential into the secret manager, rotate it, and confirm the service reads the new reference. Work that serves that outcome is in scope, and anything outside it is left for a separate ticket, so the pull request stays reviewable.

### How do I know the work is done?

The pull request carries the evidence, not only the diff. Here that means scanner clean and a boot check that reads the new reference, so a reviewer can confirm the result without reproducing the work locally.

### How much oversight does this need?

The run stops for the plan, and the review bar is raised afterwards so that smaller suggestions block the merge too, not only serious findings.