# Managing Secrets using kubectl
> Creating Secret objects using kubectl command line.
---
LLMS index: [llms.txt](/llms.txt)
---
This page shows you how to create, edit, manage, and delete Kubernetes
Secrets using the `kubectl`
command-line tool.
## Before you begin
You need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must
be configured to communicate with your cluster. It is recommended to run this tutorial on a cluster with at least two nodes that are not acting as control plane hosts. If you do not already have a
cluster, you can create one by using
minikube
or you can use one of these Kubernetes playgrounds:
## Create a Secret
A `Secret` object stores sensitive data such as credentials
used by Pods to access services. For example, you might need a Secret to store
the username and password needed to access a database.
You can create the Secret by passing the raw data in the command, or by storing
the credentials in files that you pass in the command. The following commands
create a Secret that stores the username `admin` and the password `S!B\*d$zDsb=`.
### Use raw data
Run the following command:
```shell
kubectl create secret generic db-user-pass \
--from-literal=username=admin \
--from-literal=password='S!B\*d$zDsb='
```
You must use single quotes `''` to escape special characters such as `$`, `\`,
`*`, `=`, and `!` in your strings. If you don't, your shell will interpret these
characters.
Note:
The stringData field for a Secret does not work well with server-side apply.
### Use source files
1. Store the credentials in files:
```shell
echo -n 'admin' > ./username.txt
echo -n 'S!B\*d$zDsb=' > ./password.txt
```
The `-n` flag ensures that the generated files do not have an extra newline
character at the end of the text. This is important because when `kubectl`
reads a file and encodes the content into a base64 string, the extra
newline character gets encoded too. You do not need to escape special
characters in strings that you include in a file.
1. Pass the file paths in the `kubectl` command:
```shell
kubectl create secret generic db-user-pass \
--from-file=./username.txt \
--from-file=./password.txt
```
The default key name is the file name. You can optionally set the key name
using `--from-file=[key=]source`. For example:
```shell
kubectl create secret generic db-user-pass \
--from-file=username=./username.txt \
--from-file=password=./password.txt
```
With either method, the output is similar to:
```
secret/db-user-pass created
```
### Verify the Secret {#verify-the-secret}
Check that the Secret was created:
```shell
kubectl get secrets
```
The output is similar to:
```
NAME TYPE DATA AGE
db-user-pass Opaque 2 51s
```
View the details of the Secret:
```shell
kubectl describe secret db-user-pass
```
The output is similar to:
```
Name: db-user-pass
Namespace: default
Labels:
Annotations:
Type: Opaque
Data
====
password: 12 bytes
username: 5 bytes
```
The commands `kubectl get` and `kubectl describe` avoid showing the contents
of a `Secret` by default. This is to protect the `Secret` from being exposed
accidentally, or from being stored in a terminal log.
### Decode the Secret {#decoding-secret}
1. View the contents of the Secret you created:
```shell
kubectl get secret db-user-pass -o jsonpath='{.data}'
```
The output is similar to:
```json
{ "password": "UyFCXCpkJHpEc2I9", "username": "YWRtaW4=" }
```
1. Decode the `password` data:
```shell
echo 'UyFCXCpkJHpEc2I9' | base64 --decode
```
The output is similar to:
```
S!B\*d$zDsb=
```
Caution:
This is an example for documentation purposes. In practice,
this method could cause the command with the encoded data to be stored in
your shell history. Anyone with access to your computer could find the
command and decode the secret. A better approach is to combine the view and
decode commands.
```shell
kubectl get secret db-user-pass -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 --decode
```
## Edit a Secret {#edit-secret}
You can edit an existing `Secret` object unless it is
[immutable](/docs/concepts/configuration/secret/#secret-immutable). To edit a
Secret, run the following command:
```shell
kubectl edit secrets
```
This opens your default editor and allows you to update the base64 encoded
Secret values in the `data` field, such as in the following example:
```yaml
# Please edit the object below. Lines beginning with a '#' will be ignored,
# and an empty file will abort the edit. If an error occurs while saving this file, it will be
# reopened with the relevant failures.
#
apiVersion: v1
data:
password: UyFCXCpkJHpEc2I9
username: YWRtaW4=
kind: Secret
metadata:
creationTimestamp: "2022-06-28T17:44:13Z"
name: db-user-pass
namespace: default
resourceVersion: "12708504"
uid: 91becd59-78fa-4c85-823f-6d44436242ac
type: Opaque
```
## Clean up
To delete a Secret, run the following command:
```shell
kubectl delete secret db-user-pass
```
## What's next
- Read more about the [Secret concept](/docs/concepts/configuration/secret/)
- Learn how to [manage Secrets using config file](/docs/tasks/configmap-secret/managing-secret-using-config-file/)
- Learn how to [manage Secrets using kustomize](/docs/tasks/configmap-secret/managing-secret-using-kustomize/)