OpenBao Secrets Importer

A CLI tool to export secrets from various sources (AWS Secrets Manager, etc.) and import them into OpenBao (HashiCorp Vault fork) KV v2 secrets engine.

Features

• Export/Import Workflow: Explicit two-step process with intermediate JSON file
• Pluggable Sources: Extensible architecture for adding new secret sources
• Path Filtering: Include/exclude patterns with glob syntax
• Conflict Resolution: Skip existing, overwrite all, or interactive per-secret prompts
• Custom Headers: Support for WAF/proxy authentication headers
• Parallel Import: Configurable worker pool for faster imports
• Dry Run Mode: Preview operations without making changes

Installation

From Source

go install github.com/GlueOps/openbao-secrets-importer/cmd/openbao-secrets-importer@latest

Build Locally

git clone https://github.com/GlueOps/openbao-secrets-importer.git
cd openbao-secrets-importer
go build -o openbao-secrets-importer ./cmd/openbao-secrets-importer

Workflow

1. List secrets from source to preview what will be exported
2. Export secrets to a JSON file
3. Validate the export file (optional)
4. Import secrets from the file to OpenBao

Usage

List Secrets

Preview secrets from a source without fetching values:

# List all secrets from AWS Secrets Manager
openbao-secrets-importer list --source aws-secrets-manager

# List with filters
openbao-secrets-importer list --source aws-secrets-manager \
  --include "prod/**" \
  --exclude "**/temp/*"

Export Secrets

Export secrets to a JSON file:

# Export all secrets
openbao-secrets-importer export \
  --source aws-secrets-manager \
  --output secrets.json

# Export with filters
openbao-secrets-importer export \
  --source aws-secrets-manager \
  --include "prod/**" \
  --exclude "**/temp/*" \
  --output secrets.json

# Dry run to preview
openbao-secrets-importer export \
  --source aws-secrets-manager \
  --output secrets.json \
  --dry-run

Validate Export File

Check the export file before importing:

openbao-secrets-importer validate --input secrets.json

Import Secrets

Import secrets from an export file to OpenBao:

# Basic import
openbao-secrets-importer import \
  --input secrets.json \
  --openbao-addr https://openbao.example.com:8200 \
  --openbao-token hvs.xxx \
  --mount secret

# Import with path prefix
openbao-secrets-importer import \
  --input secrets.json \
  --openbao-addr https://openbao.example.com:8200 \
  --openbao-token hvs.xxx \
  --mount secret \
  --path-prefix "aws-imported/"

# Import with custom headers (for WAF/proxy)
openbao-secrets-importer import \
  --input secrets.json \
  --openbao-addr https://openbao.example.com:8200 \
  --openbao-token hvs.xxx \
  --mount secret \
  --header "X-Custom-Auth: token" \
  --header "X-Forwarded-For: internal"

# Interactive mode
openbao-secrets-importer import \
  --input secrets.json \
  --openbao-addr https://openbao.example.com:8200 \
  --openbao-token hvs.xxx \
  --mount secret \
  --interactive

# Overwrite all existing secrets
openbao-secrets-importer import \
  --input secrets.json \
  --openbao-addr https://openbao.example.com:8200 \
  --openbao-token hvs.xxx \
  --mount secret \
  --overwrite-all

AWS Configuration

The tool uses the standard AWS SDK credential chain:

• Environment variables: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SESSION_TOKEN
• Shared credentials file (~/.aws/credentials)
• IAM role (if running on EC2/ECS/Lambda)

Set the region via:

• --region flag
• AWS_REGION environment variable

Export File Format

The export file follows a versioned JSON schema:

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "metadata": {
    "source": "aws-secrets-manager",
    "exported_at": "2025-12-04T10:30:00Z",
    "region": "us-east-1",
    "total_secrets": 3
  },
  "secrets": [
    {
      "path": "prod/myapp/database",
      "data": {
        "username": "admin",
        "password": "secret"
      },
      "metadata": {
        "source_id": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:...",
        "description": "Database credentials"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Secret Value Handling

AWS Secret Type	Handling
JSON string	Parsed into individual key-value pairs
Plain text	Stored as {"value": <value>} (configurable via --default-key)
Binary	Base64 encoded, stored as {"value": <base64-string>} (configurable via --default-key)

Use --default-key to customize the key name for non-JSON secrets:

# Use custom key name for plain text secrets
openbao-secrets-importer export \
  --source aws-secrets-manager \
  --output secrets.json \
  --default-key "secret_value"

Conflict Resolution

Flag	Behavior
--skip-existing	Skip secrets that already exist (default)
--overwrite-all	Overwrite all existing secrets without prompt
--interactive	Prompt per secret: Yes / No / Yes-to-all / No-to-all / Abort

Path Prefix

Value	Result
(omitted)	Paths used as-is
--path-prefix "aws/"	Prepends aws/ to all paths
--path-prefix "" or --path-prefix "/"	No prefix (root namespace)

Available Sources

• aws-secrets-manager - AWS Secrets Manager

Adding New Sources

Implement the Source interface in pkg/source/source.go:

type Source interface {
    Name() string
    Description() string
    Configure(ctx context.Context, opts map[string]interface{}) error
    List(ctx context.Context, patterns []string) ([]SecretInfo, error)
    Get(ctx context.Context, path string) (*Secret, error)
    Export(ctx context.Context, patterns []string) (<-chan *Secret, <-chan error)
}

Register the source in an init() function:

func init() {
    source.Register("my-source", NewMySource)
}

License

MIT