API Drop

Local · Open source · GDPR-ready

Your API key
doesn't belong in the file.

API Drop keeps the real key encrypted in a local vault. Your .env holds nothing but a harmless reference – the real key is injected only at startup. Nothing on screen, nothing to revoke.

Star on GitHub How it works
.env · before exposed
.env · with API Drop OPENAI_API_KEY=apidrop://openai-api-1 safe
bash
$ apidrop run -- python app.py
# real keys are injected at runtime – never in the file, never on screen

↓ apidrop://download

Get API Drop.

Free, open source, no account. Runs fully offline on your machine.

Windows .exe macOS .dmg Linux binary

On first launch: since API Drop isn't signed with a paid developer certificate, your OS warns once.
macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway".  ·  Windows: "More info" → "Run anyway".
The source code is open – feel free to inspect it yourself.

0
Mio.

secrets exposed on GitHub in 2024 alone.

GitHub Blog, 2025

4,88 Mio. $

average cost per breach involving compromised credentials.

IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, 2024

NHI2

Secret Leakage – #2 in the OWASP Non-Human Identities Top 10.

OWASP, 2025

01 apidrop://problem

The key sits where everyone can see it.

An API key gets dropped into a .env "just for now" – and stays there. On a shared screen, in a screenshot, in a git commit, in a YouTube tutorial. Anyone who codes live knows the ritual afterwards: copy the key, revoke the key, hope nobody grabbed it in the seconds in between.

Automated scanners find public keys within minutes. That's exactly why the safest key is the one that never sits in plaintext in the file. API Drop flips the flow: the file holds only a name, the real key stays in the encrypted vault.

02 apidrop://solution

Three steps. No new workflow.

  1. 1

    Key into the vault

    Paste the key once (or let it be detected from the clipboard). API Drop assigns a readable name like OpenAI API 1 and stores it AES-encrypted, locally.

  2. 2

    Reference into the .env

    Instead of the key, this is all that's there:

    OPENAI_API_KEY=apidrop://openai-api-1

    Harmless on camera, in git, in screenshots – it's not a secret.

  3. 3

    Run with apidrop run

    apidrop run -- python app.py

    The real key is injected only into the program's environment. Your code reads os.environ as always.

The same run -- mechanism powers Doppler (doppler run) and Infisical (infisical run). API Drop brings it local, offline and account-free.

03 apidrop://ai-agents

Your AI coding agent reads your .env.

Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, a local Ollama model — every coding agent starts by reading the project directory to build context. Your .env is part of that. From there the key travels into the model's context, possibly into logs, chat history or screenshots. Nobody typed a command to make that happen.

API Drop separates read access from secret access. The agent gets the whole repository — and still doesn't get your keys.

Computer-use agents see your screen.

A coding agent reads files. A computer-use agent — Claude's computer use, OpenAI's Operator, any screen-controlling assistant — takes continuous screenshots of your desktop and sends them to a provider. Everything open is exposed: the key in your editor, the terminal scrollback, the dashboard in a browser tab. With API Drop the file on screen reads apidrop://elevenlabs-1 — the screenshot captures a harmless reference instead of a secret.

What the agent does Sees the real key?
Reads .env and project files No only the alias
Runs your code normally No the variable stays empty
Runs apidrop run without the password No decryption fails
Runs apidrop run with the password Yes intended — the program needs it

This is not a sandbox and doesn't claim to be one. An agent you hand the master password to can use the key — a program has to receive it at runtime to work at all. What API Drop removes is the accidental path: the key that leaks simply because a tool opened a file.

Let your AI agent review and debug your code — without exposing your real API keys.

04 apidrop://security

Trust through restraint.

Local & offline

No cloud, no account, no transfer. The vault lives on your machine – nowhere else.

AES-encrypted

Keys are encrypted with your master password (PBKDF2 + Fernet/AES), never stored in plaintext.

GDPR by design

No Google Fonts, no CDNs, no tracking, no cookies. Data minimisation is the default.

Open source

The code is open and auditable. For a security tool that's not a bonus, it's a requirement.

05 apidrop://faq

Frequently asked

If only the name is in the .env – does my code still work?

Yes. apidrop run replaces the reference at startup with the real key and passes it to your program. Your code reads the variable as usual; it never sees the reference.

Is my key stored in the cloud then?

No. API Drop is deliberately local-first: the encrypted vault lives on your machine. There is no server component and no telemetry.

How is it different from Doppler or Infisical?

The core mechanism (run --) is the same. The difference: API Drop runs without an account, without the cloud, and is built for the individual developer and GDPR compliance – not team SaaS.

Which systems does it run on?

Windows, macOS and Linux. The resolver merely spawns a child process with an enriched environment – no system hooks, no admin rights.

Give your key a safe place.

Open source. Free. Local. Star the project and follow along.

Music: "Abstract Timelapse Electronica" by ComaStudio (Pixabay)

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