---
title: Kubernetes Secrets provider
description: Provides access to the Kubernetes Secrets API. Use the format ${kubernetes_secrets.<default>.<somesecret>.<value>} to reference a Kubernetes Secrets variable,...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/2439/reference/fleet/kubernetes_secrets-provider
products:
  - Elastic Agent
  - Fleet

This applies to:
- Generally available for Serverless
- Generally available in 9.0+ for Stack
---

# Kubernetes Secrets provider
Provides access to the Kubernetes Secrets API.
Use the format `${kubernetes_secrets.<default>.<somesecret>.<value>}` to reference a Kubernetes Secrets variable, where `default` is the namespace of the Secret, `somesecret` is the name of the Secret and `value` is the field of the Secret to access.
To obtain the values for the secrets, a request to the API Server is made. To avoid multiple requests for the same secret and to not overwhelm the API Server, a cache to store the values is used by default. This configuration can be set by using the variables `cache_*` (see below).
The provider needs a `kubeconfig` file to establish connection to the Kubernetes API. It can automatically reach the API if it’s run in an InCluster environment (Elastic Agent runs as pod).
```yaml
providers.kubernetes_secrets:
  #kube_config: /Users/elastic-agent/.kube/config
  #kube_client_options:
  #  qps: 5
  #  burst: 10
  #cache_disable: false
  #cache_refresh_interval: 60s
  #cache_ttl: 1h
  #cache_request_timeout: 5s
```

<definitions>
  <definition term="kube_config">
    (Optional) Use the given config file as configuration for the Kubernetes client. If `kube_config` is not set, `KUBECONFIG` environment variable will be checked and will fall back to InCluster if it’s not present.
  </definition>
  <definition term="kube_client_options">
    (Optional) Configure additional options for the Kubernetes client. Supported options are `qps` and `burst`. If not set, the Kubernetes client’s default QPS and burst settings are used.
  </definition>
  <definition term="cache_disable">
    (Optional) Disables the cache for the secrets. When disabled (set to `true`), code makes a request to the API Server to obtain the value. To continue using the cache, set the variable to `false`. Default is `false`.
  </definition>
  <definition term="cache_refresh_interval">
    (Optional) Defines the period to update all secret values kept in the cache. Defaults to `60s`.
  </definition>
  <definition term="cache_ttl">
    (Optional) Defines for how long a secret should be kept in the cache if not being requested. The default is `1h`.
  </definition>
  <definition term="cache_request_timeout">
    (Optional) Defines how long the API Server can take to provide the value for a given secret. Defaults to `5s`.
  </definition>
</definitions>

If you run agent on Kubernetes, the proper rule in the `ClusterRole` is required to provide access to the Elastic Agent pod in the Secrets API:
```yaml
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources:
    - secrets
  verbs: ["get"]
```

<warning>
  The above rule will give permission to Elastic Agent pod to access Kubernetes Secrets API. Anyone who has access to the Elastic Agent pod (`kubectl exec` for example) will also have access to the Kubernetes Secrets API. This allows access to a specific secret, regardless of the namespace that it belongs to. This option should be carefully considered.
</warning>