{"slug": "secretspec", "name": "SecretSpec", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 3.052, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2026-01-16", "latest": "2026-10-09", "why": "secretspec is not one of them. It's from the creator of https://devenv.sh and has been around for a while.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "secretspec is not one of them. 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It's from the creator of https://devenv.sh and has been around for a while.", "excerpt": "While there are absolutely a million of these env tools popping up which are absolutely vibe-coded slop, secretspec is not one of them. It's from the creator of https://devenv.sh and has been around for a while.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Where .env Went Wrong"}, {"id": 786006577, "item_id": 49125411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125411", "by": "theozero", "date": "2026-07-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been enjoying the secretspec content lately", "excerpt": "Over at varlock (https://varlock.dev -- also free, open source), we agree that .env as we know it is full of problems. But instead of abandoning it, we evolved it. We replace your .env.example with a .env.schema - using decorator style comments to add schema info, and functions to load and compose values. A big difference between our tool and many other similar tools is that we combine the schema and value setting in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Where .env Went Wrong"}, {"id": 786005600, "item_id": 49125350, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125350", "by": "domenkozar", "date": "2026-07-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You want to have flexibility of choosing between any secrets provider", "excerpt": "Two things: - Secrets don't belong in config https://secretspec.dev/blog/secrets-dont-belong-in-config/ - You want to have flexibility of choosing between any secrets provider: https://secretspec.dev/blog/but-i-use-sops/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Where .env Went Wrong"}, {"id": 746405488, "item_id": 46650343, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46650343", "by": "aszen", "date": "2026-01-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "https://devenv.sh/integrations/secretspec/", "excerpt": "https://devenv.sh/integrations/secretspec/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bubblewrap: A nimble way to prevent agents from accessing your .env files"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["secrets management for agents", "secret handling"], "compared": [{"slug": "varlock", "name": "varlock", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49124291", "title": "Where .env Went Wrong", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50018239", "title": "Once: Cache CLI commands", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49545023", "title": "Claude Code Stores OAuth Tokens in Plaintext", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49256057", "title": "What I learned by putting GitHub Copilot behind a MitM proxy", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46626836", "title": "Bubblewrap: A nimble way to prevent agents from accessing your .env files", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800332784, "item_id": 50020799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50020799", "by": "mehackernewsacc", "date": "2026-10-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Does https://secretspec.dev/ address your use case?", "excerpt": "Does https://secretspec.dev/ address your use case?", "context": "", "use_case": "Secrets management for agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Once: Cache CLI commands"}, {"id": 792729730, "item_id": 49545608, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49545608", "by": "theozero", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "secret handling tools like secretspec and varlock", "excerpt": "Related for secret handling tools like secretspec and varlock (https://varlock.dev), there's no way to securely hand claude code sensitive env vars for use with MCP. While it will do env var replacement in your MCP config, there's not really an easy way to set those vars. If using the cli you can wrap the `claude` command (bit awkward), but when running the desktop app, there is nothing. I opened an issue here - http", "context": "", "use_case": "secret handling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Code Stores OAuth Tokens in Plaintext"}, {"id": 788242480, "item_id": 49265155, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49265155", "by": "mehackernewsacc", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Do you feel that something like https://secretspec.dev/ addresses these points?", "excerpt": "Do you feel that something like https://secretspec.dev/ addresses these points?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I learned by putting GitHub Copilot behind a MitM proxy"}, {"id": 786007376, "item_id": 49125461, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125461", "by": "theozero", "date": "2026-07-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "secretspec is not one of them. It's from the creator of https://devenv.sh and has been around for a while.", "excerpt": "While there are absolutely a million of these env tools popping up which are absolutely vibe-coded slop, secretspec is not one of them. It's from the creator of https://devenv.sh and has been around for a while.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Where .env Went Wrong"}, {"id": 786006577, "item_id": 49125411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125411", "by": "theozero", "date": "2026-07-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been enjoying the secretspec content lately", "excerpt": "Over at varlock (https://varlock.dev -- also free, open source), we agree that .env as we know it is full of problems. But instead of abandoning it, we evolved it. We replace your .env.example with a .env.schema - using decorator style comments to add schema info, and functions to load and compose values. 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