hermes-wincred

Resolve Hermes environment variables from the current user's Windows Credential Manager at startup, instead of keeping provider keys in plaintext in .env or auth.json. Config is secrets.wincred.map, an ENV_VAR -> generic-credential-target mapping (bare names or wincred:// names); each value is read with CredReadW in the current user's vault and handed to the secret-source orchestrator, which applies it with the usual precedence, provenance and conflict rules. Values may be UTF-8 or UTF-16LE (cmdkey and the Credential UI write UTF-16); anything that does not decode to text, or that contains interior NULs, is skipped with a warning instead of being injected as a mangled key. Disclosure - this source reads your Windows Credential Manager: only the generic credentials named in the map, with no enumeration of the vault. Resolved values become environment variables of the Hermes process and its children, exactly like .env entries, so anything that can read that environment can see them. The package is read-only and stdlib-only (ctypes): it never creates, updates or deletes credentials, writes no files, starts no subprocesses, makes no network calls and does not self-update. Windows only. Credential Manager is user-scoped, so this raises the at-rest bar for backups, cloud sync and dotfiles; it is not a boundary against code already running as the same user. Applying fetched values stays the orchestrator's job; the plugin never writes os.environ itself. Disclosure — when enabled, reads only the Windows Credential Manager generic credentials named in secrets.wincred.map (no vault enumeration) and injects them as environment variables of the Hermes process and its children, exactly like .env entries; read-only, stdlib ctypes, no subprocesses, no network, no file writes; user-scoped at-rest protection, not a boundary against code already running as the same user.

Yicheng-MarkToolsv0.1.0Updated 7 days ago

About

hermes-wincred

Resolve Hermes provider keys from the current user's Windows Credential Manager at
startup, instead of keeping them in plaintext in ~/.hermes/.env or auth.json.

# config.yaml
secrets:
  wincred:
    enabled: true
    map:
      ZAI_API_KEY: hermes/zai
      OPENAI_API_KEY: wincred://hermes/openai

Each mapped value is the target name of a generic credential. Hermes reads it once per
process, applies the value to the environment with its normal precedence and provenance,
and never writes the secret anywhere.

Why this exists

Hermes already ships Bitwarden and 1Password sources and a generic command helper. On a
Windows desktop none of those is the natural store: there is no pass, and running a
vault CLI or a service account for one machine is more moving parts than the problem
deserves. Windows has had an OS-managed credential vault since Vista — Credential
Manager, per-user, DPAPI-protected, backed up with the user profile.

This plugin makes that vault a first-class SecretSource, so a provider key can live in
one place and be resolved by every Hermes process at startup. auth.json can then keep a
env:ZAI_API_KEY reference rather than the key itself.

Requirements

Windows 10 or 11.
Hermes 0.21.4 or newer.
Nothing else: stdlib only (ctypes), no Python dependencies, no child processes, no
network calls.

Install

hermes plugins install Yicheng-Mark/hermes-wincred
hermes plugins enable hermes-wincred

Then add the mapping to config.yaml:

secrets:
  wincred:
    enabled: true
    map:
      ZAI_API_KEY: hermes/zai
      OPENAI_API_KEY: hermes/openai

Storing a credential

Use the target name you put in map as the generic credential name.

Credential Manager UI (no shell history, no command line): open Control Panel →
Credential Manager → Windows Credentials → Add a generic credential, set the target
name to hermes/zai, any user name (it is ignored), and paste the key as the password.

Command line (note: the key becomes part of the shell history and of the process
command line while cmdkey runs):

cmdkey /generic:hermes/zai /user:hermes /pass:sk-...

Check the names with cmdkey /list. To update a value, store it again with the same
target name; to remove one, cmdkey /delete:hermes/zai.

The value may be UTF-8 or UTF-16 (the Credential UI and PowerShell write UTF-16; most CLI
tools write UTF-8). Anything that does not decode as text is skipped with a warning
rather than injected as a mangled key.

What it does at startup

For every entry in map, it calls CredReadW for a generic credential with that
target name in the current user's vault. Results are returned to the secret-source
orchestrator, which applies them like any other source:

mapped sources beat bulk sources; within a shape, secrets.sources order decides;
override_existing follows the standard secrets.wincred config key;
provenance is reported as (from Windows Credential Manager).

The plugin never writes os.environ, never caches values to disk, and never calls back
into Hermes outside the plugin API.

Disclosure

Reads your credential vault. Any Hermes process with the plugin enabled reads the
current user's generic credentials named in map. It reads only the mapped targets —
there is no enumeration of the vault.
Injects into the environment. Resolved values become environment variables for the
Hermes process and its children, exactly like a .env entry. Anything that can read
the process environment (including shell commands you approve in the terminal tool)
can see them; secrets.<name>.override_existing and the usual secret scrubbing rules
are unchanged.
Not a boundary against same-user code. Windows Credential Manager is DPAPI-backed
and scoped to your user account. Another process running as you can read the same
credentials. This raises the at-rest bar (backups, cloud sync, a dotfiles repo no
longer carry the key in plaintext); it is not a sandbox.
Read-only. The shipped package exposes CredReadW only. The tests carry their own
CredWriteW helper to seed and delete a uniquely named credential.
No network, no subprocesses, no self-update. Updates arrive only through the
catalog pin and hermes plugins update.

Limitations

Windows only; on other platforms the source reports BINARY_MISSING and resolves
nothing.
Generic credentials only (not domain credentials or certificates).
The credential blob is small by design (Windows caps it at 2,560 bytes); that is far
larger than any API key.
No caching: reads happen once per process at startup, in-process only.

Development

python -m pytest tests/test_config.py tests/test_decode.py -q     # any platform
python -m pytest tests                                  -q         # needs Hermes core on PYTHONPATH
HERMES_WINCRED_LIVE=1 python -m pytest tests/test_live_wincred.py -q   # writes real credentials

tests/test_source.py and the live test import agent.secret_sources.base from a Hermes
checkout (PYTHONPATH=/path/to/hermes-agent); the catalog validator exercises the same
contract against the pinned tree. See VALIDATION.md for the measurements
behind the encoding and failure-mode choices.

README from the reviewed commit 5bad3fb; it updates when the author re-pins.

More by Yicheng-Mark

14 plugins by Yicheng-Mark in the catalog.

Yicheng-Markhermes-dpapi-secretsResolve Hermes environment variables at startup from a single secret file encrypted with the Windows Data Protection API, instead of keeping provider keys in plaintext in .env or auth.json. Config is secrets.dpapi.map, an ENV_VAR -> store-name mapping (bare names or dpapi:// names) plus an optional file path (default <HERMES_HOME>/secrets.dpapi). The file is one DPAPI blob keyed by the current Windows user profile, so it is unreadable by another Windows account and worthless off the machine; it is written by the bundled CLI (python -m hermes_dpapi_secrets set NAME, value read from a prompt or stdin, never from argv) and only read at runtime. Mapped names that are missing or empty are skipped with a warning; a file that is not ours, a blob this user cannot decrypt, or a payload that is not a flat string map is reported as an error with nothing injected. 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