▸ Agent Skills
6 min read

Git credentials

The Git credential helper is available in SecretSpec 0.20+. It lets ordinary git clone, git fetch, git pull, and git push commands retrieve HTTPS credentials from any SecretSpec provider. It also supports SMTP authentication for git send-email.

Use it when your Git token already lives in a provider such as 1Password, Bitwarden, or Vault and you do not want to copy it into a separate Git credential store. The integration does not manage SSH keys or inject secrets into repositories.

Prerequisites

  • Git
  • SecretSpec 0.20 or newer, including git-credential-secretspec on PATH

Configure Git

These commands are available in SecretSpec 0.20+.

Register the helper, keeping the non-secret username in Git:

$ secretspec git configure \  --url https://github.com \  --username YOUR_USERNAME

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Then store the password or token through your configured default provider:

$ secretspec git login https://github.com? Enter value for PASSWORD (profile: default):

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The built-in manifest declares a required PASSWORD and optional USERNAME. It is embedded in the binary: the helper never searches the current directory for secretspec.toml, so clone, fetch, and push resolve the same declarations inside or outside a repository. Git configuration records no manifest path.

Each canonical credential target has a separate provider namespace. The identity includes the protocol and host, plus the configured path when useHttpPath is enabled, so credentials for different hosts or path scopes cannot share a value accidentally.

To keep the username in the provider too, omit --username from configure and supply it when logging in:

$ secretspec git configure --url https://github.com$ secretspec git login https://github.com --username YOUR_USERNAME

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login prompts securely on a terminal and reads the password or token from standard input when piped. Use the same --provider override on configure and login when the credential should not use your default provider.

The helper checks the URL independently before loading the provider. A token configured for https://github.com is not returned for another host or for an HTTP remote.

To limit a credential to part of a host, include the path in the URL:

$ secretspec git configure \  --url https://github.com/cachix \  --username YOUR_USERNAME$ secretspec git login https://github.com/cachix

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SecretSpec also enables Git’s useHttpPath setting for that URL. This example answers for repositories below https://github.com/cachix/, but not for another GitHub organization. The path-scoped credential is stored separately from one configured for all of https://github.com.

Send patches with SMTP

SMTP credential support is available in SecretSpec 0.20+. Git queries credential helpers when sendemail.smtpUser is set and sendemail.smtpPass is omitted:

$ git config --global sendemail.smtpServer smtp.example.com$ git config --global sendemail.smtpServerPort 587$ git config --global sendemail.smtpEncryption tls$ git config --global sendemail.smtpUser [email protected]$ secretspec git configure \  --url smtp://smtp.example.com:587 \  --username [email protected] \  --global$ secretspec git login smtp://smtp.example.com:587

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The SMTP URL must include the port that Git uses. The username on configure must match sendemail.smtpUser. login and logout read it back from Git configuration; pass --username explicitly if the helper has already been unconfigured or another account is being managed. Protocol, server, port, and username form the embedded storage identity, so two accounts on the same SMTP server never share a password.

Git resolves a single helper per credential URL, so one account is configured for a given server and port at a time. Running configure again with a different --username switches to that account and says which entry it replaced. The other account’s password stays in its own storage identity and is used again as soon as you switch back, and logout is what removes a stored password.

Server names are matched case-insensitively, so smtp://SMTP.Example.COM:587 and smtp://smtp.example.com:587 are the same target.

The smtp URL is Git’s credential-context name, not a transport-security setting. Encryption remains controlled by sendemail.smtpEncryption=tls|ssl. SecretSpec never writes sendemail.smtpPass or any other sendemail.* setting, and the helper rejects HTTP(S), a different port, or another username when answering an SMTP request.

Clone private repositories

Configure the embedded credential globally before the destination repository exists:

$ secretspec git configure \  --url https://github.com \  --username YOUR_USERNAME \  --global$ secretspec git login https://github.com

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Then clone normally:

$ git clone https://github.com/OWNER/REPOSITORY.git

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Git invokes the SecretSpec credential helper automatically. The token does not need to appear in the clone URL or your shell history.

Global changes require a confirmation that defaults to No. Pass --yes only for non-interactive setup.

configure records --provider and --reason in the generated helper only when you pass them on the command line. An exported SECRETSPEC_PROVIDER or SECRETSPEC_REASON still applies to the command you are running, but is never written into Git configuration, so a variable set for one shell session cannot pin the helper to a provider or attribute every later fetch to an unrelated reason. login and logout honour the exported variables as usual.

Use a custom manifest

Custom Git helper configuration is available in SecretSpec 0.20+.

Pass --file when the credential should use declarations from a project or company manifest. In this mode, --token-secret is required and --username-secret and --profile are available:

[project]name = "company-git"revision = "1.0"
[profiles.default]GITHUB_TOKEN = { description = "GitHub token for HTTPS authentication" }
$ secretspec set GITHUB_TOKEN --file company-git.toml$ secretspec --file company-git.toml git configure \  --url https://github.com \  --token-secret GITHUB_TOKEN \  --username YOUR_USERNAME

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The managed helper records the custom manifest’s absolute path and resolved profile. Only a --file passed on the command line selects a custom manifest: secretspec git ignores an exported SECRETSPEC_FILE so that a variable set for a project cannot silently redirect credential configuration. Use ordinary secretspec set and delete commands with the same file to manage custom credential values; git login and logout intentionally operate only on the embedded store and reject an explicit --file.

Remove stored values

secretspec git logout is available in SecretSpec 0.20+.

Remove the embedded username and password or token for one exact target:

$ secretspec git logout https://github.com

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This leaves the Git helper configured. Repeat login to replace the credential, or use unconfigure when Git should stop invoking SecretSpec for that target. If login used a provider override, pass the same override to logout.

Remove the configuration

secretspec git unconfigure is available in SecretSpec 0.20+.

Remove one credential helper from the current repository:

$ secretspec git unconfigure --url https://github.com

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Remove every Git credential helper that SecretSpec configured in the current repository:

$ secretspec git unconfigure --all

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Add --global to operate on global configuration. Global removal also defaults to No and accepts --yes for non-interactive use:

$ secretspec git unconfigure --all --global

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SecretSpec stores generated entries in its own included Git configuration file. Configure and unconfigure never replace existing credential helpers, usernames, or unrelated includes. Removing the final managed credential removes the SecretSpec include and its file. If that file contains anything SecretSpec does not recognize, the command refuses to modify it and asks you to inspect it manually.

Manual configuration

The Git credential helper is available in SecretSpec 0.20+.

The default convenience command is equivalent to registering the embedded helper yourself. In embedded mode, PASSWORD and USERNAME are stable aliases: the helper maps them to the target-specific secret names used by git login. For example:

$ git config --local credential.https://github.com.username YOUR_USERNAME$ git config --local credential.https://github.com.helper \  'secretspec --url https://github.com --password-secret PASSWORD --username-secret USERNAME'

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When configuring a path manually, set useHttpPath and use the same URL in the helper:

$ git config --local credential.https://github.com/cachix.useHttpPath true$ git config --local credential.https://github.com/cachix.helper \  'secretspec --url https://github.com/cachix --password-secret PASSWORD --username-secret USERNAME'

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These entries are not recorded in SecretSpec’s managed file, so secretspec git unconfigure does not remove them. Remove manually configured entries with git config as well.

For SMTP, include the expected username in the helper command and keep transport settings under sendemail.*:

$ git config --global credential.smtp://smtp.example.com:587.helper \  "secretspec --url smtp://smtp.example.com:587 --username [email protected] \  --password-secret PASSWORD --username-secret USERNAME"

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Read-only behavior

In SecretSpec 0.20+, the helper only answers Git’s get operation. It safely ignores automatic store and erase requests, so a rejected credential cannot delete or overwrite a value in a shared provider. Manage embedded values explicitly with secretspec git login and logout, or custom-manifest values with secretspec set and delete.

Git can continue to try another configured helper or prompt when SecretSpec has no stored value for the selected target.

Last updated Oct 08, 2026