SOPS Encryption

Encrypt secrets in configuration files while keeping structure visible.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Encrypting secrets in Git
• Implementing GitOps with secrets
• Managing Kubernetes secrets as code
• Encrypting configuration files

Prerequisites

• SOPS installed
• KMS access (AWS, GCP, Azure) or PGP key

Installation

# macOS
brew install sops

# Linux
wget https://github.com/getsops/sops/releases/download/v3.8.0/sops-v3.8.0.linux.amd64
chmod +x sops-v3.8.0.linux.amd64
mv sops-v3.8.0.linux.amd64 /usr/local/bin/sops

Basic Usage

# Encrypt with AWS KMS
sops --encrypt --kms arn:aws:kms:region:account:key/key-id secrets.yaml > secrets.enc.yaml

# Decrypt
sops --decrypt secrets.enc.yaml

# Edit encrypted file
sops secrets.enc.yaml

# Encrypt in place
sops --encrypt --in-place secrets.yaml

Configuration

# .sops.yaml
creation_rules:
  - path_regex: .*\.prod\.yaml$
    kms: arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:account:key/prod-key
  - path_regex: .*\.dev\.yaml$
    kms: arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:account:key/dev-key
  - path_regex: .*
    pgp: fingerprint

Kubernetes Integration

# encrypted secret
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: myapp-secrets
type: Opaque
stringData:
  password: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:encrypted...]
sops:
  kms:
    - arn: arn:aws:kms:region:account:key/key-id

# With ArgoCD
# Install ksops plugin for ArgoCD to decrypt secrets

Best Practices

• Store .sops.yaml in repository
• Use different keys per environment
• Rotate encryption keys regularly
• Never commit unencrypted secrets
• Use key aliases for readability

Related Skills

• hashicorp-vault – Centralized secrets
• argocd-gitops – GitOps integration