First Steps with Kānuka

After installing Kānuka, you can check that it is available by running the kanuka command:

$ kanuka
Welcome to Kānuka! Run 'kanuka --help' to see available commands.

Run kanuka --help to see a list of all the available commands.

Note

Kānuka is under very active development, and so features will be constantly added and changed over time. It is NOT production ready.

Quick Start

Kānuka provides secrets management for securely sharing environment variables and API keys across your team.

1. Initialize Your First Project

# Navigate to your project
cd my-project

# Initialize Kānuka
kanuka secrets init

If this is your first time using Kānuka, you’ll be prompted to set up your identity (email, name, and device name). This only happens once.

2. Encrypt Your Secrets

# Encrypt all .env files
kanuka secrets encrypt

This creates encrypted .kanuka files that are safe to commit to version control.

3. Share with Your Team

Commit the .kanuka directory and encrypted files:

git add .kanuka/ *.kanuka
git commit -m "Add encrypted secrets"
git push

4. Team Members Decrypt

When a team member clones the repo and has been registered, they can decrypt:

kanuka secrets decrypt

The Kānuka Workflow

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│  kanuka secrets │     │  kanuka secrets │     │     git push    │
│       init      │ ──▶ │     encrypt     │ ──▶ │                 │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
        │                       │                       │
        ▼                       ▼                       ▼
  Sets up identity      .env → .env.kanuka      Share with team
  Creates project       Safe to commit

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│    git clone    │     │  kanuka secrets │     │  kanuka secrets │
│     git pull    │ ──▶ │     create      │ ──▶ │     decrypt     │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
        │                       │                       │
        ▼                       ▼                       ▼
  Get latest secrets    Create your keys       .env.kanuka → .env
                        (if new to project)    Access your secrets

Next Steps

• User Setup - Configure your identity
• Project Initialization - Initialize a new project
• Encryption - Encrypt your secrets
• Registration - Add team members

Getting Help

• Run kanuka --help to see all available commands
• Use kanuka <command> --help for specific command help
• Check the CLI reference for comprehensive documentation
• See the FAQ for common questions