# Env File Secret Rotation Planner

Paste a .env file and get a staged secret-rotation plan. Detects database URLs, API keys, auth tokens, private keys, cloud credentials, payment keys and encryption secrets, scores each by exposure and age, and schedules them across a 4-week rotation timeline with a dual-key checklist and a generated .env.example. Optional last-rotated dates and a configurable cadence (30/90/180/365 days) drive compliance scoring.

> Canonical page: https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/env-file-secret-rotation-planner

- **Category:** Security

- **Keywords:** env file, secret rotation, .env, credential rotation, security compliance, api key rotation, supply chain, secrets management, devsecops, key rotation plan, leaked credentials, dotenv, configuration security, zero downtime rotation, secret hygiene

## Overview

A secret-rotation planner for DevSecOps, platform and backend engineers:

1. Paste the contents of a .env file (quotes, comments and export prefixes are tolerated).
2. The classifier recognises database URLs, API keys, auth tokens, private keys, cloud and payment credentials, encryption secrets, OAuth client secrets, webhooks and SMTP passwords, and suppresses obvious non-secrets like ports and public config.
3. Each detected secret is scored by exposure (high/medium/low) and by age versus the chosen cadence (30/90/180/365 days).
4. Secrets are bucketed into a 4-week staged timeline: critical first, then high, medium, and routine, with a due date per item.
5. A dual-key checklist walks through a zero-downtime rotation (create new -> dual window -> switch -> revoke old -> update metadata), and a generated .env.example blanks out secrets while leaving public config for documentation.

Offline and read-only: nothing is uploaded, and no real credential is validated. Use the output to drive your secrets-manager workflow.

## Inputs

- **.env file content** (textarea): DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_abc123... JWT_SECRET=supersecret GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxx... PORT=3000
- **Rotation cadence** (select)
- **Assume today is** (date)
- **Last-rotated dates (KEY=YYYY-MM-DD, one per line, optional)** (textarea): JWT_SECRET=2026-01-15 DATABASE_URL=2026-03-01
- **Show generated .env.example** (checkbox)
- **Show staged timeline (Gantt-style)** (checkbox)

## When to use

- When preparing for a security audit or compliance review and you need to establish a structured rotation schedule for application credentials.
- When migrating hardcoded environment variables from a local .env file to a secure secrets manager like AWS Secrets Manager or HashiCorp Vault.
- When responding to a potential credential exposure incident and you need to quickly map out a prioritized, zero-downtime rotation plan.

## How it works

- Paste your .env file content and optionally specify the last-rotated dates for your keys along with your target rotation cadence.
- The tool parses the variables, filters out public configurations like ports or environments, and classifies sensitive credentials by exposure risk and age.
- It generates a staged 4-week timeline prioritizing critical and expired secrets, accompanied by a step-by-step dual-key checklist for zero-downtime rotation.
- A sanitized .env.example file is generated automatically, stripping out secret values while preserving public configuration keys for documentation.

## Use cases

- Auditing legacy development environments to identify expired database credentials and third-party API tokens.
- Generating clean .env.example templates for onboarding new developers without exposing production secrets.
- Planning compliance-driven credential rotation cycles for SOC2 or ISO 27001 security standards.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does this tool upload my .env file or validate my credentials?

No. The tool runs entirely offline in your browser; no credentials are uploaded, stored, or validated against external APIs.

### What types of secrets can the planner detect?

It identifies database connection strings, API keys, OAuth client secrets, private keys, payment gateway credentials, cloud provider tokens, and encryption secrets.

### How does the tool calculate the rotation timeline?

It compares the last-rotated dates against your selected rotation cadence (e.g., 90 days) and groups secrets by exposure risk into a 4-week schedule.

### What is a dual-key checklist?

It is a step-by-step workflow for zero-downtime rotation: generating a new key, running both keys concurrently, updating the application, and revoking the old key.

### Can I use this tool if my .env file contains comments or export prefixes?

Yes, the parser tolerates comments, quotes, and export prefixes, extracting only the relevant key-value pairs.

## Related tools

- [RSA Key Pair Generator](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/rsa-key-generator): Generate an RSA key pair (2048/3072/4096-bit) as PEM-encoded public and private keys. Optionally encrypt the private key with a passphrase. PKCS#8 (recommended) or PKCS#1 private key format. Everything runs locally.
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- [AGEX Keypair Generator](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/agex-keypair-generator): Generate an Ed25519 keypair for AGEX bundle signing and verification
- [Shamir Secret Sharing](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/shamir-secret-sharing): Split a secret into n shares where any k (the threshold) are required to reconstruct it — Shamir's k-of-n scheme over GF(256). Pure in-process cryptography (crypto.randomBytes for polynomial coefficients), no network. Split a password/key/passphrase into shares held by separate people, then combine any k of them to recover it. Confidentiality only — no authenticity.
- [Tailwind Color Palette Sync](https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/tailwind-color-palette-sync): Generate theme.extend.colors for tailwind.config.ts from HEX colors, with WCAG contrast levels and optional dark mode.

## Samples

- [Environment Variables (.env) Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/env-samples): Environment variables configuration examples for different application types and environments
- [Android Image Processing Java Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/android-image-processing-java): Android Java image processing examples including reading/saving images, scaling, and format conversion
- [Android Image Processing Kotlin Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/android-image-processing-kotlin): Android Kotlin image processing examples including reading/saving images, scaling, and format conversion
- [Web Image Processing Python Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/web-image-processing-python): Web Python image processing examples using PIL/Pillow including reading, saving, resizing, and format conversion

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