Doppler Secrets Management

Comprehensive assistance for the Doppler secrets management platform: CLI operations, project and config management, secrets injection, integration syncs, and security best practices.

Triggers

Use this skill when the user mentions: "doppler", "secrets management", "doppler cli", "doppler secrets", "doppler run", "doppler setup", "doppler configs", "doppler projects", "secret injection", "doppler environments", "service tokens".

Quick Start

Install CLI

macOS

brew install gnupg && brew install dopplerhq/cli/doppler

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

apt-get update && apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg curl -sLf --retry 3 --tlsv1.2 --proto "=https"
'https://packages.doppler.com/public/cli/gpg.DE2A7741A397C129.key' |
gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/doppler-archive-keyring.gpg echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/doppler-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.doppler.com/public/cli/deb/debian any-version main" |
tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/doppler-cli.list apt-get update && apt-get install doppler

Shell script (any OS)

curl -sLf --retry 3 --tlsv1.2 --proto "=https" https://get.doppler.com | sh

Authenticate & Setup

Login (opens browser for auth)

doppler login

Setup project in current directory (interactive)

doppler setup

Non-interactive setup

doppler setup --project my-app --config dev --no-interactive

Common Tasks by Intent

Developer wants to... Action

List all secrets doppler secrets -p <project> -c <config>

Get a single secret doppler secrets get SECRET_NAME -p <project> -c <config>

Set a secret doppler secrets set KEY=value -p <project> -c <config>

Set multiple secrets doppler secrets set KEY1=val1 KEY2=val2

Delete a secret doppler secrets delete SECRET_NAME

Run command with secrets doppler run -- your-command --flags

Run with specific config doppler run -p backend -c dev -- npm start

Download secrets as file doppler secrets download --format env --no-file

List projects doppler projects

List configs doppler configs -p <project>

List environments doppler environments -p <project>

Clone a config doppler configs clone -p <project> -c <source> --name <new>

View activity logs doppler activity

Check current setup doppler configure debug

Open dashboard doppler open

View who is authenticated doppler me

Secrets Injection Patterns

Environment Variable Injection

Inject secrets as env vars for any command

doppler run -- node server.js doppler run -- docker compose up doppler run -- terraform apply

Run a shell command string

doppler run --command "echo $DATABASE_URL && npm start"

Only inject specific secrets

doppler run --only-secrets DATABASE_URL,API_KEY -- node server.js

Mount Secrets to File

Mount as JSON file (ephemeral, cleaned up after process exits)

doppler run --mount secrets.json -- cat secrets.json

Mount as .env file

doppler run --mount .env --mount-format env -- your-command

Mount with template

doppler run --mount config.yaml --mount-template template.yaml -- your-command

Template Substitution

Substitute secrets into a template file

doppler secrets substitute template.env.tpl > .env

Fallback for Offline/Resilience

Run with fallback file (writes encrypted secrets on success, reads on failure)

doppler run --fallback ./fallback.encrypted -- npm start

Read-only fallback (never update the fallback file)

doppler run --fallback ./fallback.encrypted --fallback-readonly -- npm start

Offline mode (read directly from fallback, no API contact)

doppler run --fallback-only --fallback ./fallback.encrypted -- npm start

Project & Config Hierarchy

Doppler organizes secrets in a hierarchy:

Workplace └── Project (e.g. "backend", "frontend") └── Environment (e.g. "development", "staging", "production") └── Config (e.g. "dev", "stg", "prd") └── Branch Config (e.g. "dev_feature-x")

Config Inheritance

• Root configs (dev, stg, prd) inherit from their environment

• Branch configs inherit from their parent config

• Overrides cascade: Environment → Config → Branch Config

• Personal configs allow individual developer overrides without affecting the team

Integration Syncs

Doppler can automatically sync secrets to external platforms:

Platform Use Case

AWS Secrets Manager / SSM ECS, Lambda, EC2 deployments

GCP Secret Manager GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions

Azure Key Vault AKS, App Service, Functions

Cloudflare Pages / Workers Edge & Jamstack deployments

Vercel Frontend/fullstack deployments

Firebase Functions / Hosting Functions config & build-time secrets

Serverless Framework Lambda/serverless function secrets

GitHub Actions CI/CD secrets

Docker / Docker Compose Container environment injection

Kubernetes Secret objects via Doppler Operator

Terraform Infrastructure as Code

Webapp.io CI/CD Layerfile secrets

Heroku PaaS deployments

Service Tokens

For CI/CD and production, use service tokens (read-only, scoped to a single config):

Generate a service token via dashboard or API

Use in CI/CD:

DOPPLER_TOKEN=dp.st.xxx doppler run -- your-command

Or set as environment variable

export DOPPLER_TOKEN=dp.st.xxx doppler secrets

Security Best Practices

• Never commit secrets to version control — use Doppler as the single source of truth

• Use service tokens in production (read-only, config-scoped)

• Use personal configs for local development overrides

• Enable change requests for production configs (requires approval before changes)

• Rotate secrets regularly — use Doppler's rotation reminders

• Use OIDC authentication where possible for short-lived tokens

• Audit access via doppler activity and dashboard audit logs

• Use branch configs to isolate feature branch secrets

• Never use --no-verify-tls in production

Reference Documents

For deep dives, consult these references:

Reference Content

CLI.md Complete CLI command reference with all subcommands and flags

INTEGRATIONS.md CI/CD, Docker, Kubernetes, cloud platform integration patterns

Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

• Run doppler me to check current auth status

• Run doppler configure debug to see active configuration

• Re-authenticate with doppler login

• Check scope: doppler configure get token --scope /path/to/project

Wrong Secrets Loaded

• Check which project/config is active: doppler configure debug

• Verify scope: doppler setup in the project directory

• Use explicit flags: doppler secrets -p project -c config

• Check for environment variable overrides: doppler run --preserve-env=false

Fallback File Issues

• Ensure fallback path is writable

• Check passphrase hasn't changed (config-dependent by default)

• Use doppler run clean to remove old fallback files

• Regenerate with a fresh doppler run --fallback ./path -- echo ok

Service Token Not Working

• Verify token is for the correct project and config

• Service tokens are read-only — cannot set/delete secrets

• Check token hasn't been revoked in the dashboard

• Ensure DOPPLER_TOKEN env var is set correctly

Workflow

When helping with Doppler:

• Identify the task: Setup, secret management, injection, integration, or debugging

• Check prerequisites: Is doppler CLI installed? Is user authenticated?

• Determine scope: Which project and config are we working with?

• Consult references: Use reference docs for detailed CLI flags and integration patterns

• Security first: Never output secret values in logs; use --only-names for listing