Secure Developer Onboarding: How to Share Credentials Without Risk

Onboarding a new developer is one of the most credential-intensive moments in a team’s workflow. Within their first day, a new hire typically needs database passwords, API keys, cloud provider credentials, third-party service tokens, and various .env files to run the project locally.

Most teams handle this poorly. Credentials get pasted into Slack DMs, attached to onboarding documents in Notion, or emailed in plaintext. Each of these creates a permanent record that persists long after the developer has set up their environment.

This guide provides a structured approach to onboarding that keeps credentials secure throughout the process.

Why Onboarding Is a Security Risk

Credential sprawl

During onboarding, credentials are copied across multiple channels — chat, email, documents, and sometimes personal notes. Each copy is a potential leak vector that is difficult to track or revoke.

Over-provisioning

In the rush to get a new developer productive, teams often share more credentials than necessary. A frontend developer receives production database passwords. A contractor gets admin-level API keys. Over-provisioning increases the blast radius of any future compromise.

No expiry on shared credentials

Credentials shared via chat or email have no natural expiry. The database password pasted in a Slack DM six months ago is still there, still readable by anyone with access to that conversation.

Missing audit trail

When credentials are shared informally, there is no record of who received what and when. This makes security audits difficult and incident response slower.

A Structured Onboarding Process

Step 1: Define what the developer needs

Before sharing anything, determine the minimum set of credentials required for the developer’s role. A backend developer needs different access than a frontend developer. A contractor needs less than a full-time employee.

Create a checklist based on role:

Backend developer:

• Database connection string (development environment only)
• API keys for backend services
• .env file with server-side configuration
• Cloud provider credentials (scoped to development)

Frontend developer:

• Public API keys (client-side services)
• .env file with client-side configuration
• Design tool access tokens

Contractor or freelancer:

• Only the credentials needed for their specific deliverable
• Time-limited access wherever possible
• Separate API keys that can be revoked independently

Step 2: Prepare the onboarding bundle

Gather all required credentials into a single bundle. This typically includes:

• The project’s .env file (for the development environment)
• Any additional configuration files
• A brief text file explaining which credential is for what (without including the credentials themselves — they are already in the .env)

Keep production credentials out of onboarding bundles entirely. New developers should not have production access on day one.

Step 3: Share securely with SecretDrop

Upload the onboarding bundle to SecretDrop:

1. Set a strong password — at least 12 characters, mixing letters, numbers, and symbols
2. Set a 48-hour expiry — long enough for the developer to set up, short enough to limit exposure
3. Set a download limit of 2-3 — enough for the developer to re-download if needed, but prevents unlimited access
4. Copy the link and share it with the developer via your team’s communication tool

Share the password through a separate channel: a phone call, a text message, or an in-person conversation. Never send the link and password together in the same message.

Step 4: Confirm and clean up

After the developer confirms they have downloaded and configured the credentials:

• Verify they can run the project locally
• Record which credentials were shared in your team’s access log
• Set a calendar reminder to rotate the shared credentials within 90 days

The SecretDrop bundle will automatically expire and be deleted, so no cleanup is needed on that side.

Step 5: Plan for offboarding

Every credential shared during onboarding must be tracked for eventual offboarding. When a developer leaves the team:

• Rotate every credential they had access to
• Revoke any API keys created specifically for them
• Remove their access from cloud provider accounts
• Update shared .env files with new credentials

This is why the access log from Step 4 is critical — without it, offboarding becomes a guessing game.

Common Onboarding Anti-Patterns

The “ask anyone on Slack” pattern

New developers are told to “ask someone for the .env file.” This results in credentials being shared ad-hoc through DMs, with no consistency in what is shared and no record of who shared what.

The shared Google Drive folder

A Google Drive folder labeled “Onboarding” contains every .env file the team has ever used, including stale credentials for deprecated services. Access is rarely audited, and files are never deleted.

The README with embedded secrets

The project README or an internal wiki contains actual API keys and passwords in code blocks. These documents are accessible to everyone in the organization and are indexed by the wiki’s search engine.

The “just use my credentials” shortcut

An existing developer shares their personal API keys or cloud credentials with the new hire. This bypasses individual accountability and means credential rotation affects multiple people.

SecretDrop vs. Other Approaches

Method	Encrypted?	Expires?	Audit trail?	Secure for credentials?
Slack DM	No	No	Limited	No
Email attachment	No	No	Limited	No
Google Drive link	At rest only	No	Yes	No
Password manager shared vault	Yes	No	Yes	Partial
SecretDrop	Client-side AES-256	Yes	Yes	Yes

Password manager shared vaults are good for long-lived shared credentials (like team login accounts) but are overkill for one-time onboarding handoffs. SecretDrop is purpose-built for the ephemeral, person-to-person credential sharing that onboarding requires.