Google Secret Manager API
Browse all Google APIs✓ Official Vendor SpecSecuritySecrets Managementoauth215 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Store, version, and retrieve sensitive credentials in Google Cloud with IAM-controlled access and CMEK encryption.
Use for: Store a database password as a new secret in Secret Manager, Retrieve the latest version of an API key at runtime, Rotate a secret by adding a new version and disabling the old one, List all secret versions for a given secret
Not supported: Does not handle encryption-key management, certificate issuance, or runtime config files — use for storing and versioning opaque secret payloads only.
Google Cloud Secret Manager stores sensitive data such as API keys, passwords, certificates, and database credentials with versioning, IAM-based access control, and CMEK encryption. The API lets agents create secrets, add new versions, access specific versions, enable, disable, and destroy versions, and manage replication policies across regions. It is a managed alternative to rolling your own secret store on top of GCS or running HashiCorp Vault.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Secret Manager API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Secret Manager API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Secret Manager API.
Create named secrets with replication policies (automatic, multi-region, or user-managed)
Add new secret versions and roll back by accessing earlier versions
Access decoded secret payloads at runtime via the access endpoint
Disable, enable, and destroy individual secret versions for rotation workflows
Manage IAM bindings on a secret using setIamPolicy and getIamPolicy
List secrets and versions within a Google Cloud project or location
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Secret Manager API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Application Credential Storage
Replace hard-coded credentials in code, environment variables, or build pipelines with Secret Manager. Applications fetch the latest secret version at startup or on a refresh cycle, and operators rotate credentials by adding new versions without redeploying. IAM controls who or which service account can read each secret, and CMEK lets compliance teams hold the encryption keys.
Create a secret named 'db-password' with automatic replication, add a version with the payload bytes of the new password, and grant secretAccessor role to the app's service account.
Automated Secret Rotation
Build a rotation pipeline that issues a new credential from the upstream system (database, third-party API), adds it as a new version of the secret, switches consumers to the new version, then disables and eventually destroys the old version. The Secret Manager API exposes versioned access plus enable, disable, and destroy actions to make this safe and auditable.
Add a new version to projects/myproj/secrets/api-key with the freshly issued key, then call POST on projects/myproj/secrets/api-key/versions/1:disable to retire the previous version.
Compliance-Grade Secret Storage
Use user-managed replication and CMEK to satisfy data-residency and key-ownership requirements. Secrets can be pinned to specific GCP regions and encrypted with keys that customers control in Cloud KMS. IAM audit logs record every access, supporting SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA evidence requirements.
Create a secret with replication.userManaged.replicas pinned to us-central1 and europe-west1, each using a customer-managed KMS key.
AI Agent Credential Vault
An AI agent that calls many third-party APIs uses Secret Manager as its credential vault. Through Jentic the agent never touches the raw secret payload — Jentic resolves and injects credentials at execution time. Useful for multi-tenant agent platforms where each tenant brings their own keys.
Call GET on projects/{project}/secrets/{secret}/versions/latest:access to retrieve the decoded payload, then use it as the bearer token for a downstream API call.
Key Endpoints
15 endpoints — google cloud secret manager stores sensitive data such as api keys, passwords, certificates, and database credentials with versioning, iam-based access control, and cmek encryption.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/v1/{+parent}/secrets
List secrets in a project
POST
/v1/{+parent}/secrets
Create a new secret
POST
/v1/{+parent}:addVersion
Add a new version to a secret
GET
/v1/{+name}:access
Access a decoded secret version payload
POST
/v1/{+name}:disable
Disable a secret version
POST
/v1/{+name}:destroy
Permanently destroy a secret version
GET
/v1/{+parent}/secrets
List secrets in a project
POST
/v1/{+parent}/secrets
Create a new secret
POST
/v1/{+parent}:addVersion
Add a new version to a secret
GET
/v1/{+name}:access
Access a decoded secret version payload
POST
/v1/{+name}:disable
Disable a secret version
POST
/v1/{+name}:destroy
Permanently destroy a secret version
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
GCP service account keys and OAuth refresh tokens are stored encrypted in the Jentic MAXsystem vault. Agents receive only a short-lived access token to call Secret Manager, and the secret payloads themselves never appear in agent logs or memory beyond the immediate execution.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent (e.g. 'access the latest secret version') and Jentic returns the matching versions:access operation with its input schema, so the agent never has to navigate the GCP discovery docs.
Time to first call
Direct integration: 1-3 days to set up service accounts, IAM bindings, and a refresh-token cache. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Secret Manager API through Jentic.
What authentication does the Secret Manager API use?
Secret Manager uses OAuth 2.0 with the cloud-platform scope and IAM permissions like roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor on each secret. Through Jentic the OAuth credentials and service account keys are stored encrypted in MAXsystem and injected at execution time.
Can I rotate a secret without downtime using the Secret Manager API?
Yes. Add a new version to the secret, point consumers at the 'latest' alias or the new version number, then call the disable action on the older version once traffic has cut over. Destroy the old version when you no longer need to roll back.
What are the rate limits for the Secret Manager API?
Google enforces a default per-project quota of 90,000 access requests per minute and lower limits for write operations like AddSecretVersion (around 60 per minute per secret). Quotas can be raised via the Cloud Console quota page.
How do I retrieve a secret value at runtime through Jentic?
Run the Jentic search query 'access a secret manager secret', load the GET projects/{project}/secrets/{secret}/versions/{version}:access operation, and execute it. Jentic resolves the underlying GCP credentials so the agent only sees the decoded payload.
Does Secret Manager support customer-managed encryption keys?
Yes. When you create a secret with user-managed replication you can specify a Cloud KMS customerManagedEncryption.kmsKeyName per replica. The key must be in the same region as the replica.
Can I list every version of a secret with this API?
Yes. Use GET on projects/{project}/secrets/{secret}/versions to page through every version, including their state (ENABLED, DISABLED, DESTROYED) and create timestamps.
GET STARTED