---
title: Encrypting secrets for the REST API
intro: In order to create or update a secret with the REST API, you must encrypt the value of the secret.
versions:
  fpt: '*'
  ghes: '*'
  ghec: '*'
topics:
  - API
shortTitle: Encrypt secrets
---

## About encrypting secrets

Several REST API endpoints let you create secrets on {% data variables.product.company_short %}. To use these endpoints, you must encrypt the secret value using libsodium. For more information, see the [libsodium documentation](https://libsodium.gitbook.io/doc/bindings_for_other_languages).

In order to encrypt a secret, you need a Base64 encoded public key. You can get a public key from the REST API. To determine which endpoint to use to get the public key, look at the documentation for the `encrypted_value` parameter in the endpoint that you will use to create a secret .

## Example encrypting a secret using Node.js

If you are using Node.js, you can encrypt your secret using the libsodium-wrappers library. For more information, see [libsodium-wrappers](https://www.npmjs.com/package/libsodium-wrappers).

In the following example, replace `YOUR_SECRET` with the plain text value that you want to encrypt. Replace `YOUR_BASE64_KEY` with your Base64 encoded public key. The documentation for the endpoint that you will use to create a secret will tell you which endpoint you can use to get the public key. `ORIGINAL` is not a placeholder; it is a parameter for the libsodium-wrappers library.

```javascript copy
const sodium = require('libsodium-wrappers')

const secret = 'YOUR_SECRET'
const key = 'YOUR_BASE64_KEY'

//Check if libsodium is ready and then proceed.
sodium.ready.then(() => {
  // Convert the secret and key to a Uint8Array.
  let binkey = sodium.from_base64(key, sodium.base64_variants.ORIGINAL)
  let binsec = sodium.from_string(secret)

  // Encrypt the secret using libsodium
  let encBytes = sodium.crypto_box_seal(binsec, binkey)

  // Convert the encrypted Uint8Array to Base64
  let output = sodium.to_base64(encBytes, sodium.base64_variants.ORIGINAL)

  // Print the output
  console.log(output)
});
```

## Example encrypting a secret using Python

If you are using Python 3, you can encrypt your secret using the PyNaCl library. For more information, see [PyNaCl](https://pynacl.readthedocs.io/en/latest/public/#nacl-public-sealedbox).

In the following example, replace `YOUR_SECRET` with the plain text value that you want to encrypt. Replace `YOUR_BASE64_KEY` with your Base64 encoded public key. The documentation for the endpoint that you will use to create a secret will tell you which endpoint you can use to get the public key.

```python copy
from base64 import b64encode
from nacl import encoding, public

def encrypt(public_key: str, secret_value: str) -> str:
  """Encrypt a Unicode string using the public key."""
  public_key = public.PublicKey(public_key.encode("utf-8"), encoding.Base64Encoder())
  sealed_box = public.SealedBox(public_key)
  encrypted = sealed_box.encrypt(secret_value.encode("utf-8"))
  return b64encode(encrypted).decode("utf-8")

encrypt("YOUR_BASE64_KEY", "YOUR_SECRET")
```

## Example encrypting a secret using C#

If you are using C#, you can encrypt your secret using the Sodium.Core package. For more information, see [Sodium.Core](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Sodium.Core/).

In the following example, replace `YOUR_SECRET` with the plain text value that you want to encrypt. Replace `YOUR_BASE64_KEY` with your Base64 encoded public key. The documentation for the endpoint that you will use to create a secret will tell you which endpoint you can use to get the public key.

```csharp copy
var secretValue = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("YOUR_SECRET");
var publicKey = Convert.FromBase64String("YOUR_BASE64_KEY");

var sealedPublicKeyBox = Sodium.SealedPublicKeyBox.Create(secretValue, publicKey);

Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBase64String(sealedPublicKeyBox));
```

## Example encrypting a secret using Ruby

If you are using Ruby, you can encrypt your secret using the RbNaCl gem. For more information, see [RbNaCl](https://github.com/RubyCrypto/rbnacl).

In the following example, replace `YOUR_SECRET` with the plain text value that you want to encrypt. Replace `YOUR_BASE64_KEY` with your Base64 encoded public key. The documentation for the endpoint that you will use to create a secret will tell you which endpoint you can use to get the public key.

```ruby copy
require "rbnacl"
require "base64"

key = Base64.decode64("YOUR_BASE64_KEY")
public_key = RbNaCl::PublicKey.new(key)

box = RbNaCl::Boxes::Sealed.from_public_key(public_key)
encrypted_secret = box.encrypt("YOUR_SECRET")

# Print the base64 encoded secret
puts Base64.strict_encode64(encrypted_secret)
```