# API Credential Rotation

> Store, scope, and rotate integration credentials so a leak is survivable and rotation does not cause an outage. Use when managing keys for external services.

- Skill: `amey-thakur/api-credential-rotation` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add amey-thakur/api-credential-rotation`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/amey-thakur/api-credential-rotation/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Integrations & APIs
- Author: Amey-Thakur (https://skillmd.com/u/amey-thakur)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/amey-thakur/api-credential-rotation

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# API credential rotation

Integration credentials are long-lived, broadly scoped, and shared
between systems, which makes them the most commonly leaked secret and
the most disruptive to rotate if rotation was never designed.

## Method

1. **Scope every credential to the minimum.** Read-only where possible
   and per-integration rather than one key used everywhere (see
   authz-design).
2. **Store in a secret manager, never in code or config files.** Both
   end up in version control and in logs (see secrets-management).
3. **Support two valid credentials at once.** Overlapping validity is
   what makes rotation possible without downtime, and it must be
   designed rather than improvised.
4. **Rotate on a schedule and on suspicion.** Routine rotation proves
   the process works before an incident requires it under pressure.
5. **Separate credentials per environment.** A test key with production
   access is a production incident waiting for a mistake.
6. **Alert on credential expiry ahead of time.** Expired integration
   credentials are a common and entirely preventable outage (see
   tls-and-certificates).
7. **Know the revocation path before you need it.** How fast you can
   invalidate a leaked key determines the damage window (see
   secret-scanning).

## Boundaries

Rotation limits exposure duration; it does not detect misuse, which
needs monitoring. Some providers do not support overlapping credentials,
forcing a brief outage. Credentials held by a vendor on your behalf are
outside your rotation control (see vendor-data-processing).