Keyshade is an open-source secret and configuration management tool that encrypts secrets with public key cryptography and pushes them to application runtimes in real time, built in TypeScript for teams that currently keep configuration in a cloud provider's dashboard.
What it is
Keyshade is a realtime secret and configuration management tool written in TypeScript and released under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, catalogued in this registry under Security & Privacy / Secrets Management. It spans a command-line client, a server-side API built with NestJS, and a Next.js and React web console. Secrets are stored and transferred using public key encryption backed by elliptic curve cryptography, so values remain encrypted at rest and in transit and cannot be decrypted without the holder's private key.
The concrete problem it solves is configuration sprawl inside cloud provider dashboards. An application hosted on a cloud provider needs credentials and variables to reach other APIs and run internal actions, and the usual home for those values is the project dashboard. The README lists the costs of that arrangement: sensitive data sits in plaintext or decipherable hashes, anyone with dashboard access can read it, per-secret access control does not exist, new secrets must be added manually in several places, changing a value forces an application restart, and collaborating means passing provider credentials to teammates over email or chat. Keyshade replaces that dashboard-bound workflow with an encrypted store that delivers changes to the runtime without a restart.
Key capabilities
- Public key encryption using elliptic curve cryptography keeps secrets encrypted at rest and in transit, and lets team members consume secrets in the runtime environment without ever holding the private key.
- Live updates push changed secrets to the runtime environment automatically, so the application does not need a restart.
- Multiple environments, such as
development, staging, and production, are managed separately and referenced from the codebase.
- Secret and variable versioning keeps a history of configuration so an earlier version can be restored.
- Secret rotation refreshes credentials on a schedule without requiring an application change.
- Workspaces and projects organize secrets and make them shareable with team members.
- Access control and custom roles decide which team member reaches which secrets.
Who uses it and how
- Teams running applications on a cloud provider whose secrets currently live in that provider's project dashboard, with no per-secret permissions and no audit trail.
- Teams operating several environments that need distinct values for
development, staging, and production referenced from the same codebase.
- Teams onboarding engineers who should receive access to secrets without being handed cloud provider credentials or sent values over email and chat.
- DevSecOps groups that want configuration changes to reach running services without coordinating a redeploy or restart.
- Open-source contributors, since the repository carries
good-first-issue and hacktoberfest topics alongside its cli, nestjs, nextjs, and reactjs topics.
Getting started
The README does not list a package name, Docker image, or compose file. It points to the website at https://keyshade.io and a linked documentation site for setup, and the repository topics include both cli and saas, indicating a command-line client alongside a hosted offering.
How it compares
The facts name no competing secrets managers, so Keyshade stands alone in this registry and no product-to-product comparison is available here. The README positions it against a pattern rather than a vendor: the cloud provider's project dashboard, where secrets sit unencrypted, access cannot be scoped per person, updates are manual, and changes require a restart. Against that baseline Keyshade is open source under MPL-2.0 and self-hostable, keeps secrets under the owner's private key rather than the provider's plaintext store, and requires no per-seat licence for the code itself, although the saas topic suggests a hosted option whose pricing the facts do not describe.
When to use it — and when not to
Adopting Keyshade means operating a full stack: a NestJS API, a Next.js console, and a CLI, plus custody of the private keys that decrypt everything, and the README does not detail the underlying prerequisites, so a self-hoster should confirm those from the documentation first. It is a poor fit for teams that want a fully managed service with no operational load, or that cannot take responsibility for key custody. The project is actively maintained, with a push dated 2026-04-08, but it carries 78 open issues, so expect to review the backlog before depending on it in production.
project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline
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Keyshade is designed to simplify the integration of your secrets and variables into your codebase. We prioritize the security of your data by leveraging the power of Public Key Encryption empowered by Elliptic Curve Cryptography for storing and transferring your secrets to your runtime environment in realtime.
With keyshade, managing your configurations becomes a breeze while ensuring their security.
Why Keyshade?
Any application that you host on a cloud provider would need access to configurations. These configurations help you to access other APIs or perform internal actions. You would generally be managing this from the dashboard of your project in the cloud provider. However, this comes with a few caveats:
Security: Cloud providers store your sensitive data in plaintext, or decipherable hashes. This means that anyone with access to your cloud provider's dashboard can view your secrets.
Access Control: Cloud providers don't give you the ability to control who can access your secrets. This becomes a problem since you might not want everyone to have access to everything.
Maintainability: As the application grows, you'll need to add more secrets. This means that you'll have to update your secrets in multiple places, manually.
Need to restart: Secrets are generally configured as environmental variables, which means that you'll need to restart your application to update them.
Collaboration: Collaboration is hard. You'll need to share your secrets with your team members, which means that you'll have to share your cloud provider's credentials with them. Worse, you will be sending them over insecure channels such as email, or your communication platform.
This is where Keyshade comes in. We intend to solve these shortcomings by providing you with a simple, secure, and easy-to-use solution for managing your secrets.
Features
Our goal is to enable you to manage your secrets effortlessly. We don't want to bog you down with unnecessary details or complexity, and only want you to focus on building your application. Here's how we do it:
Security: We use Public Key Encryption to encrypt your secrets. This means that your secrets are encrypted at rest and in transit. This makes it mathematically impossible for anyone to decrypt your secrets without your private key. The best part of this approach is, any of your team member can use the secrets in your runtime environment without having to know your private key.
Live Updates: Whenever you make any changes to your secrets, they're automatically updated in your runtime environment. This means that you don't have to restart your application to update your secrets.
Multiple Environments: We allow you to create multiple environments for your application. This feature enables you to manage your secrets for different environments such as development, staging, and production separately, and reference them in your codebase.
Secret and variable versioning: We maintain a history of all your secrets. This means that you can easily revert to an older version of your configuration if you need to.
Secret Rotation: We allow you to rotate your secrets regularly. This means that you can update your secrets without having to update your application.
Workspaces and projects: Managing your data in a clean and efficient goes a long way in improving your productivity. We allow you to organize your secrets into workspaces and projects. This gives you the ability to share your secrets with your team members easily.
Access Control: You are the owner of your secrets. This means that you have complete control over who can access your secrets. You can share your secrets with your team members by adding them to your workspace.
Custom Roles: We allow you to create custom roles for your team members. This will allow you to fine tune your control over who gets to do what.
Event tracking: For every event that happens, we maintain an in detailed log of what happened, accounting for who did what and when.
Auditing and anomaly detection: Our robots are continuously monitoring access to your secrets and variables. With the power of AI, it becomes near to impossible to breach your data.
Integrations: Our vast library of integration allows you to use keyshade with your favorite tools and platforms.
Setting things up
We maintain an in-detailed documentation about how to get started with keyshade. You can find it here.
Contributing
We welcome contributions from everyone. Please read our contributing guide to get started.
Contributors
