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https://github.com/r-lib/keyring
:closed_lock_with_key: Access the system credential store from R
https://github.com/r-lib/keyring
keyring r security
Last synced: 1 day ago
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:closed_lock_with_key: Access the system credential store from R
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/r-lib/keyring
- Owner: r-lib
- License: other
- Created: 2017-01-27T16:18:55.000Z (almost 8 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2024-12-29T14:35:32.000Z (27 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-01-17T18:09:38.630Z (8 days ago)
- Topics: keyring, r, security
- Language: R
- Homepage: https://keyring.r-lib.org/
- Size: 5.52 MB
- Stars: 197
- Watchers: 7
- Forks: 29
- Open Issues: 23
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.Rmd
- Changelog: NEWS.md
- License: LICENSE
- Code of conduct: .github/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
- jimsghstars - r-lib/keyring - :closed_lock_with_key: Access the system credential store from R (R)
README
---
output: github_document
---
```{r, setup, echo = FALSE, message = FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(
comment = "#>",
tidy = FALSE,
error = FALSE,
fig.width = 8,
fig.height = 8)
```
# keyring
[](https://github.com/r-lib/keyring/actions/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml) [](https://www.r-pkg.org/pkg/keyring) [](https://www.r-pkg.org/pkg/keyring) [](https://app.codecov.io/gh/r-lib/keyring?branch=main)
keyring provides a way to securely manage secrets using your operating system's credential store.
Once a secret is defined, it persists in a "keyring" across multiple R sessions.
keyring is an alternative to using environment variables that's a bit more secure because your secret is never stored in plain text, meaning that you can for instance never accidentally upload it to GitHub.
For more security, you can also store secrets in a custom keyring that always requires a password to unlock.
keyring currently supports:
- The macOS Keychain (`backend_macos`).
- The Windows Credential Store (`backend_wincred`).
- The Linux Secret Service API (`backend_secret_service`).
It also provides two backends that are available on all platforms:
- Encrypted files (`backend_file`)
- Environment variables (`backend_env`).
## Installation
Install the package from CRAN:
```{r eval = FALSE}
# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("keyring")
```
We recommend using pak to install keyring as it will ensure that Linux system requirements are automatically installed (for instance Ubuntu requires `libsecret-1-dev`, `libssl-dev`, and `libsodium-dev`).
To install the development version from GitHub, use:
```{r eval = FALSE}
pak::pak("r-lib/keyring")
```
## Usage
The simplest usage only requires `key_set()` and `key_get()`:
```{r}
#| eval: false
# Interactively save a secret. This avoids typing the value of the secret
# into the console as this could be recorded in your `.Rhistory`
key_set("secret-name")
# Later retrieve that secret
key_get("secret-name")
```
Each secret is associated with a keyring.
By default, keyring will use the OS keyring (see `default_backend()` for details), which is automatically unlocked when you log into your computer account.
That means while the secret is stored securely, it can be accessed by other processes.
If you want greater security you can create a custom keyring that you manually lock and unlock.
That will require you to enter a custom password every time you want to access your secret.
```{r}
#| eval: FALSE
keyring_create("mypackage")
key_set("secret-name", keyring = "mypackage")
key_get("secret-name", keyring = "mypackage")
```
Accessing the key unlocks the keyring, so if you're being really careful, you might want to lock it after you've retrieved the value with `keyring_lock()`.
### GitHub
When you use keyring on GitHub, it will fall back to the environment variable backend.
That means if you want to use `key_get("mysecret")` you need to do two things:
- Add a [new action secret](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-guides/using-secrets-in-github-actions#creating-secrets-for-a-repository) to your repository.
- Make the secret available in your workflow `.yml`, for instance
``` yaml
env:
GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
R_KEEP_PKG_SOURCE: yes
MY_SECRET: ${{ secrets.my_secret }}
```
The envvar backend doesn't support custom keyrings, so if you're using one locally you'll need to use the default keyring on GitHub.
## Development documentation
Please see our [writeup of some `keyring` internals](https://github.com/r-lib/keyring/blob/main/inst/development-notes.md), and as always, use the source code.