OSS TanbouOverview
OpenBao manages sensitive data such as database credentials, API keys, certificates, and encryption keys. It provides encrypted secret storage, dynamic credentials, leasing and renewal, revocation, and data-encryption services under the MPL-2.0 OSI-approved license and an open-governance model.
Features and best fit
Based on official documentation; not hands-on tested · Content checked:
Encrypt secrets before writing them to storage
Key/value secrets and credentials are encrypted before persistence so applications can separate secret storage from ordinary configuration.
Shorten credential lifetimes with dynamic secrets, leases, and revocation
Credentials can be generated on demand, expire with leases, and be revoked individually or in groups.
Sources: [2]
For centralizing secret lifecycle and reducing static credentials
OpenBao fits architectures where applications and CI obtain short-lived credentials or encryption services instead of retaining long-lived passwords.
Keep development mode separate from production security design
The README's server -dev flow is for development. Production needs persistent storage, seal/unseal design, TLS, HA, audit logging, backup/recovery, and secure bootstrap-token handling.
Official sources
- [1]openbao/openbao repository(2026-09-20)
- [2]OpenBao README(2026-09-20)
- [3]OpenBao MPL-2.0 license(2026-09-20)
- [4]OpenBao documentation(2026-09-20)
Supplemental curator note
OpenBao fits systems that need centrally encrypted secrets, short-lived credentials, leases, and revocation instead of static credentials in application configuration. The project explicitly targets an OSI-approved open-source license and open governance and is currently MPL-2.0. `server -dev` is only for local evaluation.
Try it in 3 steps
- 1
Install OpenBao
Use the official documentation to install the bao CLI/server for your operating system.
https://openbao.org/docs/install/ - 2
Start a development server
Run dev mode for local evaluation only. Copy the displayed address and root token into another terminal. Do not use dev mode for production.
bao server -dev - 3
Store and retrieve a test secret
Use the token printed by the dev server and verify the basic KV secret workflow.
export BAO_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:8200; export BAO_TOKEN=<dev-root-token>; bao kv put secret/demo value=hello && bao kv get secret/demo
Growth
Growth trends · Last 30 days
7,427 Stars
Trend data is still being collected.
Development activity
Last 90 days · weekly
- Commits (last 30 days)
- 112
- Open PRs
- 71
- Issues opened
- 142
- Issues closed
- 104
- PRs opened
- 530
- PRs merged
- 466
Issues
142 / 104
Pull requests
530 / 466
Maintenance
- Median first response
- 7.0 hr
- Issue response rate
- 36.5% (31/85)
Based on up to the 100 newest issues opened by external users in the last 90 days. A first comment from an OWNER, MEMBER, or COLLABORATOR counts as a response; issues whose full comment history cannot be checked are excluded. The median and response rate update weekly.
Built with
Categories and tags
Categories
GitHub data
GitHub dataView detailed GitHub data
GitHub Topics
- go
- secret-management
- security
- Stars
- 7,427
- Forks
- 572
- Watchers
- 37
- Open issues
- 249
- Contributors
- 374
- Primary language
- Go
- License
- MPL-2.0
- Repository last updated
- Sep 18, 2026
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