Security

Credential Storage

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NemoClaw does not persist provider credentials to host disk. The OpenShell gateway is the only system of record for stored credentials.

When you provide a provider credential, either interactively during nemoclaw onboard or with an environment variable, NemoClaw holds the value in memory only long enough to register it with the OpenShell gateway through openshell provider create or openshell provider update. The gateway stores the credential and the OpenShell L7 proxy substitutes it into outbound requests at egress, so sandboxed agents see placeholders instead of the raw secret.

The sandbox-side OpenClaw gateway token is generated at container startup and is not rotated through provider credential commands.

Where Credentials Live

Provider credentials live in the OpenShell gateway store. List registered provider names with:

$openshell provider list

Or use NemoClaw:

$nemoclaw credentials list

Both commands show the provider names registered with the gateway. The CLI cannot read the values back. OpenShell deliberately preserves this property.

Web Search Credentials

Web search follows the same OpenShell provider boundary as inference and messaging credentials. OpenClaw supports BRAVE_API_KEY and TAVILY_API_KEY. NemoClaw registers the selected key in a sandbox-scoped provider named <sandbox>-brave-search or <sandbox>-tavily-search and writes openshell:resolve:env:<KEY> into the agent configuration.

OpenShell replaces the Brave placeholder in the X-Subscription-Token header and the OpenClaw Tavily placeholder in the Authorization header.

Use a dedicated low-scope search key and keep the matching brave or tavily policy preset applied only while the sandbox needs web search. Rerun onboarding when you change providers because the provider selection and credential attachment are part of the sandbox image.

NemoClaw still keeps non-secret operational state under ~/.nemoclaw/ (such as the sandbox registry). That directory is created with mode 0700 and contains no credential material.

Environment Variables Take Precedence

When a NemoClaw command needs a credential value during a single run (for example to forward it to an openshell provider registration), it reads from process.env first. Use this precedence to:

  • Prefix any command with the credential to override the gateway-stored value: NVIDIA_INFERENCE_API_KEY=nvapi-... nemoclaw onboard.
  • Use short-lived or rotated credentials in CI by exporting them once per pipeline run.
  • Avoid registering credentials in the gateway entirely if the specific command supports environment-only use.

Managed MCP is an exception: nemoclaw <name> mcp add always creates and attaches an OpenShell provider, and --env KEY supplies only the transient input value. For that credential boundary, refer to Set Up MCP Servers.

When the host environment is empty, day-two operations such as nemoclaw <name> rebuild and remote-provider updates can reuse the credential already registered with the OpenShell gateway. Export the credential only when you want to create, replace, or rotate the stored provider value. On the standard remote-provider path, an ordinary rebuild still requires the matching OpenShell provider entry. If the sandbox registry points at one of these providers that is missing from OpenShell, nemoclaw <name> rebuild stops before backup or delete even when you export the matching credential environment variable. After a gateway replacement, the installer’s validated prepared-backup recovery can make a narrow exception. It can recreate a missing provider only when the provider name and credential variable exactly match NemoClaw’s built-in remote-provider mapping and the mapped variable resolves to a nonempty value in the current host process. A missing credential or a provider-to-credential mismatch stops recovery before backup or delete. For any other missing-provider case, rerun nemoclaw onboard or re-register the provider first.

Onboarding Reads Credentials from Environment

nemoclaw onboard reads credentials from the host environment, registers them with the OpenShell gateway, and creates the sandbox. A typical onboarding invocation looks like:

$NVIDIA_INFERENCE_API_KEY=nvapi-... \
>    nemoclaw onboard --name my-instance

GitHub Tokens

NemoClaw never persists GITHUB_TOKEN itself. When a private repo requires authentication, NemoClaw runs gh auth token, which returns whatever the GitHub CLI has stored. NemoClaw does not depend on the storage backend.

The GitHub CLI prefers an OS keychain when one is reachable: macOS Keychain on macOS, Windows Credential Manager on Windows, and Linux Secret Service (libsecret + a running D-Bus session) on Linux. On hosts where no keychain is reachable, such as CI runners, headless launches, WSL without a session bus, or macOS contexts where Keychain access is blocked, gh auth login falls back to a gh-managed file under ~/.config/gh/ with mode 0600. NemoClaw treats both backends identically. gh auth token returns the value, and NemoClaw stages it in process.env for the current run only.

If gh is not installed or not logged in, NemoClaw prompts for a personal access token for that single run; the prompted value is held in process memory and is not written to host disk. Run gh auth login if you want a persistent backing store (whichever one applies on your host) so future runs do not prompt.

Migration From Earlier Releases

Earlier NemoClaw releases stored credentials as plaintext JSON in ~/.nemoclaw/credentials.json with mode 0600. On first nemoclaw onboard after upgrading, NemoClaw automatically:

  1. Reads the legacy file.
  2. Stages allowlisted credential values into process.env for the rest of the run.
  3. Re-registers each value with the OpenShell gateway through the normal onboarding path.
  4. Securely overwrites and deletes ~/.nemoclaw/credentials.json only after every staged value has been verified as migrated to the gateway.

You see a one-line stderr notice the first time this happens. Credential lookup paths such as rebuild also stage allowlisted legacy values so interrupted upgrades can keep working, but those staging-only paths do not delete the plaintext file because they cannot prove every legacy value was registered with the gateway. If ~/.nemoclaw/credentials.json remains after a rebuild or other credential lookup, run nemoclaw onboard to complete the verified gateway migration and cleanup.

Rotate or Remove a Stored Credential

To replace a stored value, rerun onboarding with the new value in your environment:

$NVIDIA_INFERENCE_API_KEY=nvapi-new-value nemoclaw onboard

To remove a credential from the gateway entirely:

$nemoclaw credentials reset <PROVIDER_NAME>

<PROVIDER_NAME> is the OpenShell provider name (run nemoclaw credentials list first if you are not sure). On the next run NemoClaw prompts again unless the credential is supplied through the environment.

Security Recommendations

  1. Prefer short-lived or low-scope provider credentials where the upstream service supports them.
  2. Rotate keys after suspected exposure, machine transfer, or account changes.
  3. Prefer environment variables for ephemeral automation rather than registering long-lived secrets in the gateway.
  4. Do not copy any host-side NemoClaw state into container images, Git repositories, bug reports, or support bundles. Credentials no longer live on disk, but surrounding configuration may reveal which providers you have registered.
  5. Keep your home directory private and owned by your user account.

For the broader sandbox security model and operational trade-offs, refer to Security Best Practices, Architecture, and Set Up MCP Servers.