secretzero

SecretZero Skill Router

This skill is retained for backwards compatibility and publishing stability. Use one of the focused skills below for all new work.

Absolute rule: SecretZero only — never secrets in context

Agents must never consume secret values in LLM or tool context. That includes reading, receiving, pasting, transcribing, “debugging with,” summarizing, or inferring plaintext from files the user shares in chat.

Use SecretZero entirely for secrets handling — discovery, authoring, validation, seeding, sync, rotate, drift, and human entry. The agent orchestrates metadata-only CLI/API/MCP results; SecretZero and approved human surfaces hold the values.

Forbidden	Use instead
User pastes API keys/passwords into chat	secretzero agent sync --web, secretzero web, or Vector 1 instructions
read_file / grep / cat on .env, .env.*, *.pem, credential files	secretzero detect, discover, ingest preseed, or MCP sz_discover (metadata / hashes only)
secretzero get --reveal, render, backup restore --print under agents	agent sync --json, sz_status / status, list secrets, lockfile hashes
MCP sampling or host-LLM scans over secret file contents	sz_discover / secretzero discover / detect (names, paths, confidence — no values)
Putting literals in Secretfile.yml during agent authoring	null, ${VAR}, .szvar; SZ_AGENT_MODE=true + secretzero-handle

On spill-sensitive hosts set SZ_AGENT_MODE=true (see skills/secretzero-handle/SKILL.md). The MCP server (secretzero-mcp) sets this by default when unset. All focused skills below inherit this rule.

MCP-capable hosts

When the agent host registers secretzero-mcp (see docs/mcp-setup.md):

Task	Skill	MCP tools
Author / edit Secretfile.yml	secretzero-author	sz_discover, then CLI validate / edit
Bootstrap / seed pending secrets	secretzero-agent	CLI/API only — agent sync --json [--web] (not on MCP)
Status, sync, rotate, drift	secretzero-agent	sz_status, sz_sync, sz_rotate, sz_drift_check
.env / spill-safe file workflows	secretzero-handle	MCP inherits SZ_AGENT_MODE; use sz_discover + ingest preseed via CLI

Install: uv tool install -U "secretzero[mcp]" then secretzero mcp config generate --workspace /path/to/repo.

Use secretzero-author when

• Creating or editing Secretfile.yml (guided: manifest root, inventory table, add/edit loop, optional detect/discover, optional secretzero web; Hermes + MCP notes in skill).
• Discovering valid generator/target kinds: secretzero catalog --format json (machine-complete registry).
• Performing schema-first, high-quality manifest authoring.
• Doing safe, contextless discovery and .szvar environment breakout.
• Adding least-privilege provider identity policy binding for targets.

File: skills/secretzero-author/SKILL.md

Use secretzero-agent when

• Running agentic sync workflows (Vector 1/2/3).
• Operating CLI/API/MCP orchestration flows (sz_status, sz_sync, sz_rotate, sz_drift_check).
• Managing secure human-in-the-loop runtime scenarios.
• Handling install/onboarding/automation checks.

File: skills/secretzero-agent/SKILL.md

Universal installation baseline

uv tool install -U "secretzero[all]"

For MCP hosts add the mcp extra: uv tool install -U "secretzero[mcp]".

The focused skills include detailed workflows, safety rules, and usage examples.