If your development projects rely on secrets, use this tool to store that sensitive information in an encrypted vault.
When you’re working on a complex project that requires secrets, you don’t want to keep those secrets in an unsecured file on your network. Should someone hack the system with that file, he could get hold of the keys to many a kingdom. Instead, you should store those secrets in an encrypted vault.
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Secrets can be a variety of things, but most importantly are private bits of information that are used as keys to unlock protected resources. Secrets can be passwords, tokens, SSH keys, certificates, API keys, encryption keys, and more. Because secrets vary, sometimes a typical password manager isn’t enough. That’s why there are apps like Project path.
Project Path allows management of secret credentials and server information that developers need to do their jobs. The app consists of two parts: a GUI and a command line utility.
What you need to install Projectpad
Project Path can be installed on Linux and macOS. To install the app on macOS, use cargo and you must first install the rust-compiler-toolchain, gtk+3, gtksourceview3, adwaita-icon-theme on homebrew, and the sqlcipher library of development headers.
I’m going to demonstrate the installation on Pop!_OS Linux, but Project Path can be installed on any distribution that supports flatpak.
Install project path
To install Projectpad, log into your Linux machine, point a browser to the Projectpad Flathub page and click Install to download the necessary flatpakref file. Save that file to your Downloads folder.
Once the file has downloaded, open a terminal window and issue the command:
flatpak install ~/Downloads/com.github.emmanueltouzery.projectpad.flatpakref
Answer the questions and let the installation complete. Once the installation is complete, log out and back in so that the Project Path entry is added to your desktop menu.
Use project path
When you first launch Project Path, you are prompted to create an encryption password for the database (Image A).
Image A
Type and confirm your password and click Start.
After creating your encryption password, click + in the top left corner of the Project Path window (Figure B).
Figure B
In the resulting popup (Figure C), give the new project a name, select the environment(s) to which the project should be associated and click Save.
Figure C
After creating the new project, click the gear icon and select Add project item (Figure D).
Figure D
In the next pop-up, select the type of item to be added (Figures E).
Figures E
For example, say you want to add a server. To do this, click on Add server. In the resulting popup, type all the necessary information for the server (Figure F).
Figure F
When you’re done, click Save and your new item is added. After adding the server, you can add items to the server.
To do that, select the newly added server and click on the gear icon in the top right corner. In the resulting popup, click Add Server Item, then select the type of item you want to add (Figure G).
Figure G
Secret storage made easy
Once you get started with Projectpad, you’ll find it can become a must-have application to help developers and teams access the secrets they need to get their work done. The only caveat with Projectpad is that it is a client-based application, so there is no group access. However, you can export an item and then import it into another Project Path instance.
Give this app a try and see if it doesn’t become a must-have for your development project workflow.
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