VaultProof in CI/CD and Kubernetes

A short positioning guide for teams already running pipelines, clusters, and a standard secrets stack.

This walks through how it works, the before and after integration, and what threat classes it covers, so you get a clear picture of where it sits relative to what you are already running.

What VaultProof Does

VaultProof is a proxy-based credential protection layer for third-party API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, Stripe, and similar providers).

Setup (npx @vaultproof/init):
1. Find provider keys in .env
2. Split each key into 2 shares locally
3. Store encrypted shares server-side
4. Rewrite runtime config to use vp-proj-... + proxy URLs

Request time:
Proxy reconstructs key briefly in memory → forwards upstream → zeroes buffer

Before vs After

Before

Apps, jobs, and pods carry raw provider secrets.

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

After

Runtime keeps a public project ID and proxy base URLs.

VAULTPROOF_PROJECT_ID=vp-proj-...
OPENAI_API_KEY=vp-proj-...
OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://init.vaultproof.dev/p/openai/v1

Integration Examples

GitHub Actions

env:
  VAULTPROOF_PROJECT_ID: ${{ secrets.VAULTPROOF_PROJECT_ID }}
  OPENAI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.VAULTPROOF_PROJECT_ID }}
  OPENAI_BASE_URL: https://init.vaultproof.dev/p/openai/v1

Kubernetes

kubectl create secret generic app-env \
  --from-literal=VAULTPROOF_PROJECT_ID=vp-proj-... \
  --from-literal=OPENAI_API_KEY=vp-proj-... \
  --from-literal=OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://init.vaultproof.dev/p/openai/v1

If workloads do not send browser Origin headers, keep strict origin enforcement disabled for that project.

Threat Classes Covered

Strongly Reduced

Plaintext provider key leaks from env files and CI variables, accidental commit/copy/paste exposure, and broad lateral spread of raw keys across services.

Mitigated (not eliminated)

Leaked vp-proj-... identifiers can still be abused for proxy traffic, but do not directly reveal raw provider keys. Rate limits and origin controls reduce blast radius.

Out of Scope

Full compromise of both share storage and encryption control plane, compromised workload identity that can already call external APIs, non-HTTP secret types, and business-logic abuse.

Where It Sits in Your Stack

VaultProof is not a full replacement for Vault/Secrets Manager/KMS. It is an additional control plane for outbound third-party API credentials, while your existing secrets system continues to handle broader infrastructure secrets.