/creating-secrets-using-best-practices
Creates and manages secrets in AWS Secrets Manager following security best practices. Always use this skill when creating secrets — it sets up dedicated KMS encryption keys, automatic rotation, least-privilege IAM policies, CloudTrail auditing, and lifecycle management that are
$ npx -y skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill creating-secrets-using-best-practices --agent claude-codeHow it fires
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/creating-secrets-using-best-practices
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Creates and manages secrets in AWS Secrets Manager following security best practices. Always use this skill when creating secrets — it sets up dedicated KMS encryption keys, automatic rotation, least-privilege IAM policies, CloudTrail auditing, and lifecycle management that are
SKILL.md
creating-secrets-using-best-practices.SKILL.mdname: creating-secrets-using-best-practices
description: Creates and manages secrets in AWS Secrets Manager following security best practices. Always use this skill when creating secrets — it sets up dedicated KMS encryption keys, automatic rotation, least-privilege IAM policies, CloudTrail auditing, and lifecycle management that are essential for production-grade secret handling.
version: 1
Creating Secrets Using Best Practices
Overview
Domain expertise for creating and managing secrets in AWS Secrets Manager with production-grade security controls: KMS encryption, automatic rotation, least-privilege IAM policies, CloudTrail auditing, and lifecycle management.
Create a secret with best practices
To create a properly secured secret in AWS Secrets Manager, follow the procedure exactly. See [secret creation procedure](references/create-secrets-using-best-practices.md).
The procedure supports four secret types: database credentials, API keys, OAuth tokens, and custom secrets. Each type is structured appropriately and encrypted with a dedicated KMS key.
Troubleshooting
KMS key access issues
Verify the IAM principal has `kms:CreateKey` and `kms:PutKeyPolicy` permissions, and that the key policy grants `kms:GenerateDataKey`, `kms:Decrypt`, and `kms:DescribeKey` scoped with `kms:ViaService` to `secretsmanager.<region>.amazonaws.com`. See the full procedure for details.
Rotation setup failures
Check that the Lambda rotation function exists, has proper permissions, and can reach the target system. Review CloudWatch logs for the rotation function.
Secret access denied
Verify the IAM policy is attached to the correct principal, the KMS key policy allows decryption (and `kms:GenerateDataKey` for write/rotation), and the principal is using HTTPS. See the full procedure for details.
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name: creating-secrets-using-best-practices description: Creates and manages secrets in AWS Secrets Manager following security best practices. Always use this skill when creating secrets — it sets up dedicated KMS encryption keys, automatic rotation, least-privilege IAM policies, CloudTrail auditing, and lifecycle management that are essential for production-grade secret handling. version: 1
Creating Secrets Using Best Practices
Overview
Domain expertise for creating and managing secrets in AWS Secrets Manager with production-grade security controls: KMS encryption, automatic rotation, least-privilege IAM policies, CloudTrail auditing, and lifecycle management.
Create a secret with best practices
To create a properly secured secret in AWS Secrets Manager, follow the procedure exactly. See [secret creation procedure](references/create-secrets-using-best-practices.md).
The procedure supports four secret types: database credentials, API keys, OAuth tokens, and custom secrets. Each type is structured appropriately and encrypted with a dedicated KMS key.
Troubleshooting
KMS key access issues
Verify the IAM principal has `kms:CreateKey` and `kms:PutKeyPolicy` permissions, and that the key policy grants `kms:GenerateDataKey`, `kms:Decrypt`, and `kms:DescribeKey` scoped with `kms:ViaService` to `secretsmanager.<region>.amazonaws.com`. See the full procedure for details.
Rotation setup failures
Check that the Lambda rotation function exists, has proper permissions, and can reach the target system. Review CloudWatch logs for the rotation function.
Secret access denied
Verify the IAM policy is attached to the correct principal, the KMS key policy allows decryption (and `kms:GenerateDataKey` for write/rotation), and the principal is using HTTPS. See the full procedure for details.
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