---
title: 'Kubernetes'
description: "This page explains how to use Infisical to inject secrets into Kubernetes clusters."
---

The Infisical Secrets Operator is a custom Kubernetes controller that helps keep secrets in a cluster up to date by synchronizing them.
It is installed in its own namespace within the cluster and follows strict RBAC policies.
The operator uses InfisicalSecret custom resources to identify which secrets to sync and where to store them.
It is responsible for continuously updating managed secrets, and in the future may also automatically reload deployments that use them as needed.

## Install Operator

The operator can be install via [Helm](helm.sh) or [kubectl](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubectl)

<Tabs>
	 <Tab title="Helm">
		Install Infisical Helm repository 
    ```bash
    helm repo add infisical-helm-charts 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/infisical/helm-charts/helm/charts/' 
      
    helm repo update
    ```

    Install the Helm chart
    ```bash
    helm install --generate-name infisical-helm-charts/secrets-operator
    ```

   </Tab>
	 <Tab title="Kubectl">
   The operator will be installed in `infisical-operator-system` namespace
		```
    kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Infisical/infisical/main/k8-operator/kubectl-install/install-secrets-operator.yaml
		```
   </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Sync Infisical Secrets to your cluster

To retrieve secrets from an Infisical project and store them in your Kubernetes cluster, you can use the InfisicalSecret custom resource.
This resource is available after installing the Infisical operator. In order to specify the Infisical Token location and the location where the retrieved secrets should be stored, you can use the `tokenSecretReference` and `managedSecretReference` fields within the InfisicalSecret resource.

```yaml

apiVersion: secrets.infisical.com/v1alpha1
kind: InfisicalSecret
metadata:
  # Name of of this InfisicalSecret resource
  name: infisicalsecret-sample
spec:
  # The host that should be used to pull secrets from. The default value is https://app.infisical.com/api.
  hostAPI: https://app.infisical.com/api

  # The Kubernetes secret the stores the Infisical token
  tokenSecretReference:
    # Kubernetes secret name
    secretName: service-token
    # The secret namespace
    secretNamespace: default

  # The Kubernetes secret that Infisical Operator will create and populate with secrets from the above project
  managedSecretReference:
    # The name of managed Kubernetes secret that should be created
    secretName: managed-secret
    # The namespace the managed secret should be installed in
    secretNamespace: default
```

<Accordion title="tokenSecretReference">
  The `tokenSecretReference` field in the InfisicalSecret resource is used to specify the location of the Infisical Token, which is required for authenticating and retrieving secrets from an Infisical project.
  
  To create a Kubernetes secret containing an [Infisical Token](../../getting-started/dashboard/token), you can run the command below.
  ``` bash
  kubectl create secret generic service-token --from-literal=infisicalToken=<infisical-token-here> 
  ```

Once the secret is created, add the name and namespace of the secret under `tokenSecretReference` field in the InfisicalSecret custom resource.

{' '}

<Info>
  No matter what the name of the secret is or its namespace, it must contain a
  key named `infisicalToken` with a valid Infisical Token as the value
</Info>

</Accordion>

<Accordion title="managedSecretReference">
The `managedSecretReference` field in the InfisicalSecret resource is used to specify the location where secrets retrieved from an Infisical project should be stored. 
You should specify the name and namespace of the Kubernetes secret that will hold these secrets. The operator will create the secret for you, you just need to provide its name and namespace.

It is recommended that the managed secret be created in the same namespace as the deployment that will use it.

</Accordion>

### Verify managed secret creation 

To verify that the operator has successfully created the managed secret, you can check the secrets in the namespace that was specified. 

```bash
# Verify managed secret is created
kubectl get secrets -n <namespace of managed secret>
```

<Info>
  The Infisical secrets will be synced and stored into the managed secret every
  1 minutes.
</Info>

### Using managed secret in your deployment 
Incorporating the managed secret created by the operator into your deployment can be achieved through several methods. 
Here, we will highlight three of the most common ways to utilize it. Learn more about Kubernetes secrets [here](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/secret/)

<Accordion title="envFrom">
  This will take all the secrets from your managed secret and expose them to your container 

  ```yaml
    envFrom:
      - secretRef:
          name: managed-secret # managed secret name
    ```

    Example usage in a deployment
    ```yaml 
    apiVersion: apps/v1
  kind: Deployment
  metadata:
    name: nginx-deployment
    labels:
      app: nginx
  spec:
    replicas: 1
    selector:
      matchLabels:
        app: nginx
    template:
      metadata:
        labels:
          app: nginx
      spec:
        containers:
        - name: nginx
          image: nginx:1.14.2
          envFrom:
          - secretRef:
              name: managed-secret # <- name of managed secret
          ports:
          - containerPort: 80
  ```
</Accordion>


<Accordion title="env"> 
  This will allow you to select individual secrets by key name from your managed secret and expose them to your container 
  
  ```yaml
  env:
    - name: SECRET_NAME # The environment variable's name which is made available in the container
      valueFrom:
        secretKeyRef:
          name: managed-secret # managed secret name
          key: SOME_SECRET_KEY # The name of the key which  exists in the managed secret
  ```

  Example usage in a deployment
    ```yaml 
  apiVersion: apps/v1
  kind: Deployment
  metadata:
    name: nginx-deployment
    labels:
      app: nginx
  spec:
    replicas: 1
    selector:
      matchLabels:
        app: nginx
    template:
      metadata:
        labels:
          app: nginx
      spec:
        containers:
        - name: nginx
          image: nginx:1.14.2
          env:
            - name: STRIPE_API_SECRET 
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: managed-secret # <- name of managed secret
                  key: STRIPE_API_SECRET
          ports:
          - containerPort: 80
  ```
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="volumes">
  This will allow you to create a volume on your container which comprises of files holding the secrets in your managed kubernetes secret
  ```yaml
  volumes:
    - name: secrets-volume-name # The name of the volume under which secrets will be stored
      secret:
        secretName: managed-secret # managed secret name
  ```

  You can then mount this volume to the container's filesystem so that your deployment can access the files containing the managed secrets
  ```yaml
  volumeMounts:
    - name: secrets-volume-name
      mountPath: /etc/secrets
      readOnly: true
  ```

  Example usage in a deployment
  ```yaml 
  apiVersion: apps/v1
  kind: Deployment
  metadata:
    name: nginx-deployment
    labels:
      app: nginx
  spec:
    replicas: 1
    selector:
      matchLabels:
        app: nginx
    template:
      metadata:
        labels:
          app: nginx
      spec:
        containers:
        - name: nginx
          image: nginx:1.14.2
          volumeMounts:
          - name: secrets-volume-name
            mountPath: /etc/secrets
            readOnly: true
          ports:
          - containerPort: 80
        volumes:
        - name: secrets-volume-name
          secret:
            secretName: managed-secret # <- managed secrets
  ```
</Accordion>

## Auto redeployment 
Deployments using managed secrets don't reload automatically on updates, so they may use outdated secrets unless manually redeployed. 
To address this, we added functionality to automatically redeploy your deployment when its managed secret updates.

### Enabling auto redeploy 
To enable auto redeployment you simply have to add the following annotation to the deployment that consumes a managed secret
```yaml
secrets.infisical.com/auto-reload: "true"
```

<Accordion title="Deployment example with auto redeploy enabled">
```yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-deployment
  labels:
    app: nginx
  annotations: 
    secrets.infisical.com/auto-reload: "true" # <- redeployment annotation
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: nginx
        image: nginx:1.14.2
        envFrom:
        - secretRef:
            name: managed-secret
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
```
</Accordion>


## Troubleshoot

If the operator is unable to fetch secrets from the API, it will not affect the managed Kubernetes secret.
It will continue attempting to reconnect to the API indefinitely.
The InfisicalSecret resource uses the `status.conditions` field to report its current state and any errors encountered.

```yaml
$ kubectl get infisicalSecrets
NAME                     AGE
infisicalsecret-sample   12s

$ kubectl describe infisicalSecret infisicalsecret-sample
...
Spec:
...
Status:
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time:  2022-12-18T04:29:09Z
    Message:               Infisical controller has located the Infisical token in provided Kubernetes secret
    Reason:                OK
    Status:                True
    Type:                  secrets.infisical.com/LoadedInfisicalToken
    Last Transition Time:  2022-12-18T04:29:10Z
    Message:               Failed to update secret because: 400 Bad Request
    Reason:                Error
    Status:                False
    Type:                  secrets.infisical.com/ReadyToSyncSecrets
Events:                    <none>
```

## Uninstall Operator

The managed secret created by the operator will not be deleted when the operator is uninstalled.

<Tabs>
	 <Tab title="Helm">
		Install Infisical Helm repository 
    ```bash
    helm uninstall add <release name>
    ```
   </Tab>
	 <Tab title="Kubectl">
		```
    kubectl delete -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Infisical/infisical/main/k8-operator/kubectl-install/install-secrets-operator.yaml
		```
   </Tab>
</Tabs>