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Credentials as Environment Variables · growthxai | DecimalAI

devopsby growthxai

Credentials as Environment Variables

growthxai/output-credentials-env-vars

Source growthxai/output ↗License Apache-2.0

Wire encrypted credentials to environment variables using the credential: convention.

SkillScore86Maintained

Automatic

DevOps & SRE pack

Last verified 8/20/2026

What it changes

Passed 19 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 4 of 22 without it.

Without skill18%

With skill86%

Checks it passed that the model alone missed

Explains that credential resolution is idempotent.
Imports resolveCredentialRefs from @outputai/credentials.
States that the variable value prefix must explicitly be credential:.

and 25 more in the full report

15 fixed4 passed either way3 still failing0 broke

Pass-rate lift: +68 pp
Tokens: -10%
Agent turns: 0%
Response time: -61%

Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/20/2026v1 · latest is v219 of 22 cases passed with skill

Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.

This benchmark measured an earlier version of the skill.

A newer attempt on gemini-3.6-flash on 10/3/2026 did not produce a publishable comparison (not comparable). The snapshot above is the previously measured run.

Use this skill

Save it into your project's skills folder. Claude Code picks it up in its next session.

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars/SKILL.md

Want it pinned and updatable? pip install "decimalai>=0.15", then decimalai skills add growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars, and start Claude Code with claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.agents"

1 · One-time — install the CLI (docs ↗)

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"

2 · Get the skill — writes .agents/skills/growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars/ and pins it in .decimal/skills.lock

decimalai skills add growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars

No CLI? Get the same file — curl · raw file

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars/SKILL.md

Raw file: /s/growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars/SKILL.md ↗ · machine-readable summary at /s/growthxai-output-credentials-env-vars.json ↗

Safety checks: 3 of 3 passed

Code scan CleanIntent PassedContent Clean

See it in action

One of 15 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.

1 of 15

Prompt

If our application accidentally invokes the credential resolution logic twice during startup, will the second execution throw an error or attempt to re-decrypt values?

What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked	Without skill	With skill
Explains that credential resolution is idempotent.	Missed	Passed
Clarifies that subsequent calls are no-ops because resolved values no longer start with credential:.	Missed	Passed

case-13 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/20/2026 · answers are capped and redacted

What's inside

The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.

SKILL.md105 linessingle file

Credentials as Environment Variables

When to Use This Skill

Setting up ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or OPENAI_API_KEY from encrypted credentials
Wiring any credential path to a process.env variable automatically
Migrating from plaintext .env secrets to encrypted credentials
Understanding why an env var is being resolved at worker startup

The `credential:` Convention

Any env var whose value starts with credential: is resolved from encrypted credentials at worker startup. The format is:

ENV_VAR_NAME=credential:<dot.path>

Example `.env`

# These are resolved automatically from the global credentials
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=credential:anthropic.api_key
OPENAI_API_KEY=credential:openai.api_key

# Any credential path works
MY_SERVICE_TOKEN=credential:my_service.token
DATABASE_URL=credential:postgres.url

Encrypted credentials (`config/credentials.yml.enc`)

anthropic:
  api_key: sk-ant-...        # → resolves ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

openai:
  api_key: sk-...            # → resolves OPENAI_API_KEY

my_service:
  token: tok_live_...        # → resolves MY_SERVICE_TOKEN

Track record

Benchmark

19 / 22

test cases passed, vs 4 / 22 without

Adoption

Users: 0
Times used: 0

Safety and source details

SkillSafety

✓ 3 of 3 passed

Code scan15 of 15 checks clean

0 critical · 0 warning · 0 info — scanner v5 — 10/2/2026

View 15 scanner checks

live_secretremote_code_executionreverse_shelldata_exfiltrationssrf_metadataagent_snoopinganti_refusaldestructive_commandsobfuscated_unicodeunicode_homoglyphopaque_blobsuspicious_urltool_overreachtrigger_abuseprompt_injection_phrasing

IntentSafe

LLM judge · does the skill do what it claims

ContentClean

LLM judge · policy & harmful-content review

Source

Imported

growthxai / output

coding_assistants/claude/plugins/outputai/skills/output-credentials-env-vars/SKILL.md

View on GitHub ↗

License Apache-2.0Imported 10/2/2026Version v2

More skills from the same source and nearby in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.

Ready to supercharge your AI agents?

See it in action

What's inside

Credentials as Environment Variables

When to Use This Skill

The credential: Convention

Example .env

Encrypted credentials (config/credentials.yml.enc)

Track record

Benchmark

Adoption

SkillSafety

Source

Related skills

The `credential:` Convention

Example `.env`

Encrypted credentials (`config/credentials.yml.enc`)