bharathcoorg / interenv

1.0.1 2026-09-06 19:20 UTC

Requires

• php: >=8.1

MIT

• Bharath B R

• symfony
• php
• security
• cryptography
• laravel
• dotenv
• secrets
• phpdotenv
• api-keys
• enclave
• secret-manager
• tpm
• interlayer
• interenv
• zero-plaintext
• secure-enclave
• infisical-alternative
• doppler-alternative

Published on Packagist.org on 2026-09-06 19:20 UTC

README

🛡️ InterEnv

Hardware-backed or OS-keyring protected secrets for Terminal, AI Agents & Git

Encrypt project secrets and avoid persistent plaintext .env files

Secure project secret storage and runtime isolation in pure Rust, built for Interlayer Blockchain and open for all.

Built for macOS Secure Enclave / Keychain, Windows TPM/DPAPI credential storage, and Linux TPM / Secret Service.
Secrets are decrypted for the command lifecycle; physical erasure on SSD/CoW storage is not guaranteed.

📦 Official Packages & SDKs

InterEnv core engine, CLI, and multi-language client SDKs are officially published and immediately available across all major package ecosystems:

Ecosystem	Registry / Source	Install / Add Command	Direct Registry Links
Rust	crates.io	cargo add interenv • cargo install interenv	• crates.io/crates/interenv
Node.js / TypeScript	npm	npm install interenv • npx interenv	• npmjs.com/package/interenv
Python / AI Agents	PyPI	pip install interenv	• pypi.org/project/interenv
PHP / Laravel / Symfony	Packagist	composer require bharathcoorg/interenv	• packagist.org/packages/bharathcoorg/interenv
Go Microservices	Go Modules	go get github.com/Bharathcoorg/interenv/go/interenv@v1.0.1	pkg.go.dev/github.com/Bharathcoorg/interenv/go
Standalone Binaries	GitHub Releases	Prebuilt binaries for Linux, macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel), Windows	GitHub v1.0.1 Release Assets
Container Image	GitHub Packages (GHCR)	docker pull ghcr.io/bharathcoorg/interenv:latest	GitHub Packages

⚡ Why InterEnv?

Every software engineer, Web3 validator, and AI agent builder uses environment variables to store mission-critical credentials: INTERLAYER_VALIDATOR_KEY, ETHEREUM_PRIVATE_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, database connection strings, and webhook signing secrets.

• ❌ The Catastrophic Problem: Plaintext .env files get accidentally committed to public GitHub repositories daily. Malicious npm and pip packages scan developers' hard drives to exfiltrate plaintext secrets. In blockchain environments, a leaked .env means permanent loss of validator stake or treasury funds.
• ❌ The Flaw in Other Tools: dotenvx encrypts secrets but stores the decryption key in another plaintext file (.env.keys) on disk! Cloud secret managers (1Password, Doppler, Infisical) are cloud-locked, slow, and require expensive monthly subscriptions.
• 🛡️ The InterEnv Solution: Engineered originally to safeguard high-stakes validator keys and autonomous agent secrets for the Interlayer Blockchain ecosystem, InterEnv seals your project secrets using a hardware-backed provider where available, or the operating-system credential store as a fallback. Secrets are decrypted into the child process environment for the command lifecycle; in-memory cleanup uses Rust zeroization where supported, but cannot guarantee removal of every runtime copy.

📊 Security Architecture Comparison

Feature	Plaintext .env	dotenvx	1Password / Doppler	InterEnv (This Tool)
Storage Security	🔴 Zero (Plaintext on disk)	🟡 Key file on disk (.env.keys)	🟢 Cloud Vault	🟢 Hardware-backed or OS credential store
Disk Plaintext	🔴 Exposed	🟡 Exposes decrypted files	🟢 None	🟢 No plaintext lock payload
Cloud Dependency	🟢 Offline	🟢 Offline	🔴 Required (Vendor Lock-in)	🟢 100% Offline & Local-First
Pricing	Free	Free	$19–$39/user/month	🟢 100% Free & Open Source (MIT)
Git Pre-Commit Hook	❌ Manual	❌ Manual	❌ Complex setup	🟢 Built-in 1-Click Guard
Secure Shredding	❌ None	❌ None	❌ None	🟢 Best-effort overwrite + unlink
Runtime Speed	Instant	Slow (Node.js)	Slow CLI (Cloud round-trips)	⚡ < 1ms (Pure Rust)

🚀 Installation

Via Cargo (Rust)

cargo install interenv

Via NPM / NPX (Node.js)

npm install -g interenv
# Or run instantly without installation:
npx interenv --help

From Source

git clone https://github.com/Bharathcoorg/interenv.git
cd interenv
cargo build --release --features tpm

Note

Real TPM 2.0 Support: Linux hardware TPM 2.0 support requires building with --features tpm. Without this flag, Linux uses the OS credential store when available; it does not use a software-derived XOR KEK.

See INSTALL.md for full installation guides across Cargo, NPM, PyPI, Go, PHP, and Docker.

💡 Quickstart in 10 Seconds

1. Seal Your .env into protected key storage

Inside any project with an existing .env file:

interenv lock

What happens:

1. Generates an XChaCha20-Poly1305 master project key and seals it with the strongest available hardware-backed or OS credential provider.
2. Creates an encrypted, git-safe .interenv.lock file.
3. Best-effort overwrites and removes the plaintext .env; SSDs, snapshots, copy-on-write filesystems, and wear-leveling can retain historical blocks.

2. Run Any App with Secrets in Volatile Memory

Execute any tool, test runner, validator node, or web server:

# Interlayer Blockchain Node / Validator / Contract Deployment
interenv run interlayer-node --validator

# Node / Next.js / Web3
interenv run npm run dev

# Rust
interenv run cargo run

# Python / AI Agents
interenv run python app.py

# Docker / Go / Any Binary
interenv run docker compose up

Secrets are injected directly into child process memory. Nothing ever touches disk.

3. Edit Secrets Safely

Need to add a new API key?

interenv edit

Opens your default $EDITOR in a secure temporary buffer, updates keys, re-encrypts into .interenv.lock, and securely shreds the temp buffer.

4. Install Git Pre-Commit Protection

interenv hook install

Installs an automated guard in .git/hooks/pre-commit that detects and immediately aborts any accidental staging or commit of .env files or hardcoded API keys.

💻 Multi-Language Programmatic SDKs

InterEnv provides native, zero-dependency SDKs across all major programming ecosystems. Secrets are injected directly into process memory without creating or touching plaintext .env files on disk.

Node.js & TypeScript

npm install interenv

import { config } from "interenv";
config(); // Injects into process.env in-memory

console.log(process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY);

Python & AI Agents

pip install interenv

import interenv, os
interenv.load_env() # Injects into os.environ in-memory

print(os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"))

Go Microservices

go get github.com/Bharathcoorg/interenv/go/interenv

package main
import (
    "fmt"
    "os"
    "github.com/Bharathcoorg/interenv/go/interenv"
)

func main() {
    interenv.Load() // Injects into os.Setenv in-memory
    fmt.Println(os.Getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY"))
}

PHP & Laravel

composer require bharathcoorg/interenv

use InterEnv\InterEnv;
InterEnv::load(); // Injects into $_ENV, $_SERVER, and putenv()

echo getenv('OPENAI_API_KEY');

🛠️ Command Reference

Command	Description
interenv lock [file]	Encrypt .env into hardware enclave and securely shred the plaintext
interenv run <cmd...>	Execute command with secrets injected into child process memory
interenv edit	Open decrypted secrets in $EDITOR and re-seal automatically on save
interenv show	Display sealed environment keys (masked by default, --reveal to unmask)
interenv status	Inspect repository security status and hardware enclave binding
interenv doctor	Audit filesystem CoW behavior, swap configuration, and enclave status
interenv hook install	Install Git pre-commit hook to prevent secret leaks
interenv shred <file>	Best-effort overwrite and remove a sensitive file

🔒 Security Model & Guarantees

1. Authenticated Encryption (AEAD): All environment payloads are encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305 using 192-bit (24-byte) random nonces sourced from the OS RNG (rand::rngs::OsRng).
2. Key Provider Sealing: Master encryption keys use the strongest available provider without mislabeling fallbacks:
   • macOS: Apple Secure Enclave when available; otherwise the OS Keychain provider.
   • Windows: Microsoft Platform Crypto Provider/TPM when available; otherwise DPAPI/OS credential storage.
   • Linux: TPM 2.0 when the tpm feature is enabled and hardware is available; otherwise the OS Secret Service credential store. No software-derived XOR KEK is used.
3. Headless & CI/CD Support: For automated CI runners and Docker containers, pass --passphrase or set INTERENV_PASSPHRASE to derive master keys via Argon2id (memory-hard password hashing with OWASP defaults: 19 MiB RAM, 2 iterations, parallelism = 1).
4. Memory Zeroization: Plaintext secret buffers implement zeroize::ZeroizeOnDrop, ensuring keys and values are actively wiped from RAM upon release.

Security Guarantees Table

Vector	Guarantee	Implementation
Disk Inspection	No plaintext lock payload	Master key protected by hardware/OS provider; source .env is removed after best-effort overwrite.
Peer Process Sniffing	Process Sandbox	Linux Seccomp BPF filter; macOS Sandbox profile; Windows Job Object.
Cross-Host Replay	Machine Bound	Hardware KEK prevents decrypting lockfile on foreign machines without passphrase.
Accidental Commits	Pre-Commit Abort	Automatic hook intercepts git commit staging .env or plain credentials.
Memory Dump on Drop	Buffer Scrubber	Custom Drop scrubs key and value buffers in-place via raw slice zeroization.

⚖️ Comparison with Other Tools

Feature	interenv	dotenv-vault	sops	git-crypt
Hardware-backed / OS credential KEK	🟢 Native where supported	❌ Cloud Only	🟡 Optional (KMS/PGP)	❌ GPG Symmetric
Plaintext on Disk	🟢 Encrypted lock payload; no persistent plaintext .env required	❌ Decrypts on disk	❌ Decrypts to disk	❌ In-place filter
Process Sandboxing	🟢 Seccomp / Sandbox	❌ None	❌ None	❌ None
Cloud Dependency	🟢 100% Offline	🔴 Cloud Vault	🟡 Cloud KMS / PGP	🟢 100% Offline
Plaintext Cleanup	🟢 Best-effort overwrite + unlink	❌ None	❌ None	❌ None
Language Runtime	⚡ Rust CLI	🟡 Node.js CLI	🟡 Go CLI	⚡ C++ Filter

🌐 Platform Support Matrix

Operating System	Enclave Key Storage	Process Sandbox Isolation	Disk Shredding Hook
Windows 10 / 11 / Server	TPM 2.0 (NCrypt) + DPAPI	Windows Job Object (KILL_ON_CLOSE)	SetEndOfFile + FlushFileBuffers + ADS Wipe
macOS (Apple Silicon / Intel)	Apple Secure Enclave + Keychain	Apple Sandbox Profile (sandbox_init)	F_FULLFSYNC Cache Flush
Linux (Ubuntu / Fedora / Arch)	TPM 2.0 (tss-esapi) / Secret Service	Seccomp BPF (PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS)	FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE + TRIM

Note

Linux TPM 2.0 Hardware Binding: Real Linux TPM 2.0 hardware binding requires building with --features tpm (cargo build --release --features tpm). Without this flag or on machines lacking /dev/tpmrm0, Linux uses the OS Secret Service credential store when available and never uses a software-derived XOR KEK.

Warning

Windows Job Object Isolation: Windows builds enforce Job Object isolation with JOB_OBJECT_LIMIT_KILL_ON_JOB_CLOSE. Creation, configuration, and child assignment failures are fail-closed; there is no runtime bypass.

⚠️ Limitations

• Root / Ring-0 Access: An attacker with root or kernel privileges on the local machine can dump arbitrary memory.
• Solid State Drive Wear-Leveling: CoW filesystems (APFS, Btrfs, ZFS) and SSD flash translation layers (FTL) may wear-level blocks. InterEnv applies filesystem decommit calls (fallocate, BLKDISCARD, SetFileValidData) and warns in interenv doctor.
• Hardware Failure / Reinstall: If a machine-bound TPM is reset, locally sealed lockfiles cannot be retrieved without an Argon2id passphrase backup (interenv lock --passphrase).

🛡️ Audits & Reviews

InterEnv has undergone multi-phase adversarial security hardening:

• v0.1.0 Security Audit: Argon2id OWASP parameters, XChaCha20-Poly1305 cipher migration, Secrets full memory zeroization, crash-safe temporary file guards.
• v0.2.0 Platform Hardening: Windows Job Object containment, Linux Seccomp BPF privilege filter, macOS Sandbox profile, Windows NCrypt TPM 2.0 KEK, safe atomic path canonicalization (safe_canonicalize).
• v1.0.0 Release Candidate Hardening: macOS Secure Enclave hardware binding, Linux TPM 2.0 KEK feature flag, supply chain verification (cargo-audit, cargo-deny), fuzz testing targets, criterion benchmarks, and lockfile schema v3.0 migration.

📦 Reproducible Builds

InterEnv release binaries are bit-for-bit reproducible:

bash scripts/verify-reproducible-build.sh

All release binaries are built with lto = "fat", codegen-units = 1, panic = "abort", and path prefix remapping to ensure verifiable artifact provenance.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What is InterEnv?

InterEnv is a high-performance, local-first secret management engine written in Rust that permanently eradicates plaintext .env files from developer disks. It binds encrypted project secrets directly to host hardware security enclaves (Apple Secure Enclave on macOS, TPM 2.0 / DPAPI on Windows, and Linux Secret Service) and decrypts them exclusively into volatile process memory.

Why was InterEnv engineered for Interlayer Blockchain?

Interlayer Blockchain is a sovereign multi-VM Layer 1 architecture designed for high-throughput consensus, decentralized validators, and autonomous on-chain AI agents. In high-stakes blockchain infrastructure, relying on external cloud secret managers introduces latency bottlenecks and vendor lock-in, while storing validator keys, relayer secrets, or deployer credentials in plaintext .env files risks catastrophic financial compromise. InterEnv was engineered to provide host silicon-level hardware isolation (Apple Secure Enclave and TPM 2.0) so that validator operators, node engineers, and autonomous Web3 agents can execute commands without requiring a plaintext .env file to remain in the project.

How is InterEnv different from dotenv, dotenvx, and dotenv-vault?

• dotenv: Leaves all API keys, database passwords, and private tokens unencrypted on physical storage, exposing them to rogue npm/pip supply-chain packages and accidental git commits.
• dotenvx: Encrypts .env files but writes the decryption master key to an unencrypted .env.keys file on the exact same disk.
• dotenv-vault / Doppler / Infisical: Require proprietary cloud vaults, persistent internet connections, and paid monthly subscriptions.
• InterEnv: 100% offline, local-first, free & open source (MIT), uses hardware-backed providers where available, and performs best-effort plaintext cleanup without claiming guaranteed physical erasure.

How do AI Coding Agents (Cursor, Claude Desktop, Windsurf) safely use InterEnv?

AI coding agents execute your application via interenv run <command> or import the language SDK (interenv.config() in Node.js, interenv.load_env() in Python, interenv.Load() in Go, InterEnv::load() in PHP). Secrets are injected directly into the child process memory space via standard environment variables without ever creating a plaintext .env file on disk. This prevents LLMs, indexing bots, or repository search tools from reading or exfiltrating raw credentials.

How does InterEnv run in headless Docker containers and CI/CD pipelines?

When sealing a project for multi-developer or continuous integration workflows, run interenv lock --passphrase. In your automated CI runner (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Docker, Kubernetes), provide the secret passphrase through the INTERENV_PASSPHRASE environment variable along with INTERENV_CI=1. InterEnv derives the master key via OWASP-compliant memory-hard Argon2id (19 MiB RAM, 2 iterations, 1 parallelism) without interactive terminal prompts.

🌐 Built for Interlayer Blockchain & Open For All

InterEnv was engineered to safeguard sensitive validator credentials, blockchain deployment keys, and autonomous AI agents for the Interlayer Blockchain sovereign multi-VM ecosystem, and is open source for developers worldwide:

• ⚡ intermcp — Ultra-fast, safe Model Context Protocol (MCP) engine and multiplexing hub in pure Rust.
• 🛡️ interenv — Hardware-enclave protected secrets for terminal, AI agents & git.
• ⛓️ Interlayer Blockchain

📄 License

MIT License. Copyright (c) 2026 Bharath B R (Interlayer). Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or PR.