Variables and secrets

Apps often need a key: one for a map, an analytics ID, or the API key of an outside service. You never write such a key into an app’s code: anyone who opens the app can read its code, and kvyk.ai stops a version that holds a key. Keys and settings go in Variables and secrets instead, on Technical → Keys and secrets in the sidebar.

Only Builders and Administrators see and change them.

Variables and secrets

Each entry has a name, such as MAPS_KEY, a Preview value and a Live value, so your apps can use a test key in Preview and the real one in Live.

Each entry is one of two kinds:

• Variable. Your apps can read it in the browser, on the stage they run in. Anyone who opens the app can see it, so use this only for keys that are meant to be public, such as a Maps key you restrict to your app’s address at the provider.
• Secret. It never reaches a browser. Only code running on kvyk.ai’s servers can use it, such as your automations’ calls to other services. A new entry is a secret unless you choose otherwise.

The page lists every entry in a table: its name, its kind, In the browser (Yes for a variable, which apps may read in the browser, No for a secret, which stays on the server), its Preview and Live values, and Waiting for Publish when Live does not have it yet. A variable’s values are shown. A secret’s values are hidden as dots: once saved, they are never shown again, not even to you. Choose a row to open the entry.

Add an entry

1. Open Technical → Keys and secrets and, under Variables and secrets, choose Add.
2. Give it a name in capitals, digits and _, such as MAPS_KEY.
3. Choose its kind: Secret or Variable.
4. Type its Preview value and its Live value if you have them, and choose Add.

A secret’s value is hidden as you type it. To check it for a typo, choose the eye beside the field (Show value), and choose it again (Hide value) to hide it. A value already saved is never shown again, so the eye appears only once you type something.

To change an entry, open it. The top of its page says where its values may go: Apps can read it in the browser for a variable, Server only: never reaches a browser for a secret. A variable’s values can be edited in place; empty one to take it away. For a secret, type a new value to replace it, or choose Clear to take it away. Choose Save when you are done. Making a secret a variable asks first, because its values become visible to anyone who opens your apps.

You can also ask the assistant, for example My map needs a Google Maps key. It proposes the entry on a card in the chat, where you type the values yourself: they go straight to kvyk.ai, and the assistant never sees them. Never paste a key into the chat itself.

Preview and Live

Preview uses a change at once, so you can try it in the preview of your app straight away. Live keeps using what it had until you publish: a new entry, a new Live value, a changed kind and a removal say Saved, waits for Publish. and wait as one item under Variables and secrets in the publish panel, which Publish in the top bar opens. Tick it, together with the app that needs them, and choose Publish. See Publish and discard changes.

Use a variable in an app

When the assistant builds an app that needs a key, it reads the variable instead of writing the key into the code. A published app reads it on the stage it runs in: Preview’s value at its Preview address, Live’s at its own address. You do not need to build a new version when a value changes, only to publish the change.

Remove an entry

On the entry’s page, choose Remove and confirm. Preview loses it at once and Live once you publish; apps that read it then get nothing.

Every change is listed under Technical → Events, with the entry’s name and who made it, never its values.