vhsm kv

Learn to use kv command for interacting with vHSM's key/value secrets engine.

The kv command groups subcommands for interacting with vHSM's key/value (K/V) secrets engine, supporting both K/V Version 1 and K/V Version 2.

Syntax

• Option flags for a given subcommand are provided after the subcommand but before the arguments.

• The path where the secrets engine is mounted can be specified using the -mount flag. For example, vhsm kv get -mount=secret creds.

Subcommands

Command	Description
delete	Marks versions as deleted in K/V v2.
destroy	Permanently removes one or more versions in K/V v2.
enable-versioning	Enables versioning for K/V v1.
get	Retrieves data from the K/V store.
list	Lists stored data or secrets.
metadata	Interacts with K/V metadata.
patch	Updates data without overwriting existing data.
put	Creates or updates data in the K/V store.
rollback	Rolls back to a previous version.
undelete	Restores deleted versions.

Command Details

kv put

Stores or updates a key-value pair in K/V v2.

Example

vhsm kv put -mount=secret my-app/creds passcode=my-long-passcode

Output

====== Secret Path ======
secret/data/my-app/creds

======= Metadata =======
Key                Value
---                -----
created_time       2025-03-04T13:45:29.982835Z
custom_metadata    <nil>
deletion_time      n/a
destroyed          false
version            3

kv get

Retrieves data from the K/V secrets engine.

Example

vhsm kv get -mount=secret creds

Option	Description
-mount	Specifies the path where K/V is mounted.
-version	Specifies the version to retrieve (default: latest).
-field	Returns only the specified field's value.

Output

== Secret Path ==
secret/data/creds

======= Metadata =======
Key                Value
---                -----
created_time       2025-03-04T13:39:56.810117Z
custom_metadata    <nil>
deletion_time      n/a
destroyed          false
version            1

====== Data ======
Key         Value
---         -----
passcode    my-long-passcode

kv delete

Marks data as deleted (K/V v2 only).

Example

vhsm kv delete -mount=secret creds

Option	Description
-mount	Specifies the mount path.
-versions	Specifies versions to delete (K/V v2 only).

Output

Success! Data deleted (if it existed) at: secret/data/creds

kv destroy

Permanently removes specified versions (K/V v2 only).

Example

vhsm kv destroy -mount=secret -versions=11 creds

Option	Description
-mount	Specifies the mount path.
-versions	Specifies versions to permanently delete.

Output

Success! Data written to: secret/destroy/creds

kv enable-versioning

Enables versioning for a non-versioned K/V secrets engine (K/V v1).

Example

vhsm kv enable-versioning secret

Output

Success! Tuned the secrets engine at: secret/

kv list

Lists key names at the specified path.

Example

$ vhsm kv list -mount=secret my-app/

Output

Keys
----
creds

kv metadata

Interacts with metadata for versioned secrets.

kv metadata get

Retrieves metadata of a key.

Example

vhsm kv metadata get -mount=secret creds

Option	Description
-mount	Specifies the mount path.

Output

=== Metadata Path ===
secret/metadata/creds

========== Metadata ==========
Key                     Value
---                     -----
cas_required            false
created_time            2025-03-04T13:35:03.268548Z
current_version         1
custom_metadata         <nil>
delete_version_after    0s
max_versions            5
oldest_version          0
updated_time            2025-03-04T13:39:56.810117Z

====== Version 1 ======
Key              Value
---              -----
created_time     2025-03-04T13:39:56.810117Z
deletion_time    2025-03-04T13:41:56.71908Z
destroyed        false

kv metadata delete

Deletes all versions and metadata for a key.

Example

vhsm kv metadata delete -mount=secret creds

kv metadata put

Creates or updates key settings in K/V v2.

Example

vhsm kv metadata put -mount=secret -max-versions=5 creds

Option	Description
-cas-required	Requires check-and-set for updates.
-max-versions	Limits the number of versions to retain.
-delete-version-after	Sets expiration time for key versions.

Output

Success! Data deleted (if it existed) at: secret/metadata/creds

kv patch

Updates data without overwriting existing values (K/V v2 only).

Example

vhsm kv patch -mount=secret my-app/creds ttl=48h

Output

====== Secret Path ======
secret/data/my-app/creds

======= Metadata =======
Key                Value
---                -----
created_time       2025-03-04T13:48:58.266994Z
custom_metadata    <nil>
deletion_time      n/a
destroyed          false
version            4

kv rollback

Restores a previous version of a key (K/V v2 only).

Example

vhsm kv rollback -mount=secret -version=4  my-app/creds

Output

Key                Value
---                -----
created_time       2025-03-04T14:00:49.357078Z
custom_metadata    <nil>
deletion_time      n/a
destroyed          false
version            5

kv undelete

Restores deleted versions of a key (K/V v2 only).

Example

vhsm kv undelete -mount=secret -versions=3 creds

Output

Success! Data written to: secret/undelete/creds