Supabase Vault — Enhanced Secret Storage

Replaces the local secrets.json vault with Supabase Vault. All OpenClaw API keys, tokens, and auth credentials are stored AES-256 encrypted in your Supabase Postgres database. Bootstrap credentials (the Supabase URL + service_role key needed to reach the vault) are encrypted locally using OS keychain or machine-derived AES-256-GCM.

See references/architecture.md for the full threat model and design rationale.

Prerequisites

A Supabase project (free tier works). Get one at supabase.com.
Project URL + service_role key (from Supabase Dashboard → Settings → API).
Node.js 18+ (already available in OpenClaw's environment).

Installation

Step 1 — Install @supabase/supabase-js

npm install --prefix ~/.openclaw/skills/supabase-vault @supabase/supabase-js

Step 2 — Run setup.sql in Supabase

Open your Supabase project → SQL Editor → paste and run assets/setup.sql.

This creates four wrapper functions (insert_secret, read_secret, delete_secret, list_secret_names) restricted to service_role only.

Verify with:

SELECT proname FROM pg_proc
WHERE proname IN ('insert_secret','read_secret','delete_secret','list_secret_names');
-- Should return 4 rows

Step 3 — Install the gateway RPC handler

Copy assets/rpc-handler.ts to src/gateway/server-methods/supabase-vault.ts in the OpenClaw source, then register it in the server-methods index:

// In src/gateway/server-methods.ts (or equivalent)
import { createSupabaseVaultHandlers } from "./supabase-vault.js";
// ...
Object.assign(handlers, createSupabaseVaultHandlers());

Step 4 — Install the dashboard UI

Copy the UI files to their destinations:

assets/controller.ts → ui/src/ui/controllers/supabase-vault.ts
assets/views.ts      → ui/src/ui/views/supabase-vault.ts

Register as an Integrations tab using the plugin architecture (same pattern as pipedream-connect or discord-connect):

// In the plugin registration or plugins-ui.ts:
{
  id: "supabase-vault",
  label: "Supabase Vault",
  icon: "🔐",
  section: "integrations",
  controller: "supabase-vault",
  view: "supabase-vault",
}

Step 5 — Rebuild & restart

cd ~/openclaw && npm run build
(sleep 3 && systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway) &

Step 6 — Connect via dashboard

Open the Control UI → Integrations → Supabase Vault. Enter your Project URL and service_role key, then click Connect & Test.

Exec Provider Config

After connecting, the skill automatically adds this to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "secrets": {
    "providers": {
      "supabase": {
        "source": "exec",
        "command": "node",
        "args": ["~/.openclaw/skills/supabase-vault/scripts/fetch-secrets.js"],
        "jsonOnly": true,
        "trustedDirs": ["~/.openclaw/skills/supabase-vault"],
        "timeoutMs": 8000
      }
    }
  }
}

After migrating secrets, SecretRefs in config will point to this provider:

{ "source": "exec", "provider": "supabase", "id": "/OPENAI_API_KEY" }

How It Works

Gateway starts
  → exec provider triggers fetch-secrets.js
      → keychain.js retrieves SUPABASE_URL + SERVICE_ROLE_KEY
          (macOS: Keychain Access / Linux: GNOME Keyring / fallback: AES-256-GCM file)
      → @supabase/supabase-js createClient(url, key)
      → supabase.rpc('read_secret', { secret_name }) for each requested key
      → outputs: { protocolVersion: 1, values: { "/KEY": "value" }, errors: {} }
  → OpenClaw runtime snapshot populated — secrets in memory only

Bootstrap Credential Storage by Platform

Platform	Method	Storage
macOS	`security` CLI	Keychain Access (hardware-backed on Apple Silicon)
Linux (desktop)	`secret-tool`	GNOME Keyring / KWallet
WSL2 / headless	AES-256-GCM	`~/.openclaw/supabase-vault-config.enc` (machine-derived key)
Any	AES-256-GCM	Fallback always available

The AES-256-GCM fallback uses PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512 (600,000 iterations) with a key derived from /etc/machine-id + $USER + app-salt. The encrypted file is unreadable on any other machine or as any other user.

Migration

From the dashboard: Integrations → Supabase Vault → Migrate from Local Vault.

Or from the CLI:

node ~/.openclaw/skills/supabase-vault/scripts/migrate.js
node ~/.openclaw/skills/supabase-vault/scripts/migrate.js --yes      # non-interactive
node ~/.openclaw/skills/supabase-vault/scripts/migrate.js --dry-run  # preview only

Migration moves all keys from secrets.json to Supabase Vault and updates all SecretRefs in openclaw.json from file → exec/supabase. The local secrets.json is left in place as a safety backup.

Security Notes

Vault secrets: AES-256 encrypted at rest via libsodium. Encryption key never in DB — database dumps are useless without it.
Bootstrap creds: Encrypted via OS keychain or AES-256-GCM with machine-derived key. Not readable on another machine.
Service_role key: Bypasses Supabase RLS — keep this project dedicated to OpenClaw secrets only.
Memory only at runtime: No decrypted values on disk. Secrets in RAM during gateway session only.
exec provider security: OpenClaw validates trustedDirs and file permissions on fetch-secrets.js before execution.

Supabase Vault