10 steps for secrets rotation without downtime

I want to talk about a topic that keeps me up at night and keeps the devs I work with rolling their eyes in frustration, secrets rotation. If you’re like me or like the people I work with, you know that you should rotate your secrets on the regular, but the fear of breaking production makes it feel like you are defusing a bomb. Over the years I have developed a practical approach to implementing secrets rotation with minimal downtime to your service and I will walk you through each step in this article.

1. Understanding the landscape

Before touching anything, you need to know exactly where your secrets live. I've seen too many teams start rotating secrets only to discover forgotten service accounts or legacy integrations. Begin by creating a comprehensive inventory of all your secrets, including API keys, database credentials, service account tokens, and infrastructure access tokens. Using a platform like Doppler makes this easier because you can track secret usage across environments. Pay special attention to secrets shared between multiple services, as these are often the trickiest to rotate. Additionally, if you’re a larger organization you might even have fragmented uses of secrets management platforms. It’s time to start to centralize, inventory and communicate to stakeholders on migration timelines.

2. Know how your application handles secrets

Here's a critical step many teams skip. You need to understand exactly how your application handles secret updates. Your application might cache secrets in memory, have specific intervals for checking new credentials, or implement particular behaviors when secrets become invalid. Some applications have built-in retry mechanisms, while others fail immediately. Document these behaviors for each service because this information will shape your rotation strategy and help prevent unexpected downtime. I suggest that you start to prioritize migrations based on complexity that is discovered.

3. Establish your monitoring baseline

Before implementing any rotation, establish solid monitoring. You want to catch any issues quickly, so set up comprehensive alerts for application error rates, authentication failures, API response times, and database connection metrics. Doppler's audit logs can help track secret access patterns, giving you insight into normal usage versus potential issues during rotation. This baseline becomes your early warning system during the rotation process. You might even want to include enhanced logging with your SIEM, so this is going to require communication with your SOC and or SRE teams to understand what to be looking for and what is/is-not expected behavior.

4. Build your rotation infrastructure

The technical setup requires infrastructure that supports safe rotation. You'll need a secrets management platform that supports versioning, automation scripts for rotation tasks, and backup access methods for emergencies. Doppler's dynamic secrets and automatic rotation features can handle much of this infrastructure for you, but make sure you understand the process end-to-end. Having clear rollback procedures for each secret type is essential for maintaining system stability. This may include integration of Doppler SDKs or CLI capabilities to fit custom technical requirements such as GitHub Actions pipelines workflows for example.

5. Implement dual-phase rotation

Instead of immediately invalidating old secrets, use a dual-phase approach to rotation. First, generate and distribute new secrets while keeping the old ones active. Then, update applications to use the new secrets and verify everything works correctly. Only after confirming success should you revoke the old secrets. This pattern gives you a safety net if something goes wrong with the new secret, the network access to the Doppler platform as part of your applications can still fall back to the old one.

6. Practice in safe environments

Never make production your first rotation target. Start with development environments, staging systems, and non-critical services. Each rotation in these environments teaches you something valuable about your process and systems. Use Doppler's environment hierarchy to practice your rotation strategy safely before touching production. These practice runs often reveal unexpected behaviors or dependencies you'll need to account for. This will also give you time to develop a necessary access request workflow and proper RBAC implementation. Depending on the complexity of your organizational accounts structure will depend on the level of effort needed in this phase.

7. Automate everything possible

Manual rotation is error-prone and time-consuming. Focus on building automation for secret generation, distribution to services, application updates, and health checks. Doppler's API makes this automation straightforward, allowing you to trigger rotations programmatically and integrate them with your existing CI/CD pipelines. Automated processes reduce human error and make rotations more reliable and repeatable. You might consider automating these based on alerts defined with your SOC/SRE teams as well.

8. Roll out gradually

When you're ready for production, resist the urge to rotate everything at once. Start with a single service or secret type, monitor closely for issues, and gradually expand to related services. Keep rollback paths clear and well-documented. This careful approach helps isolate problems and maintain system stability. Use Doppler's project structure to organize your gradual rollout and track progress effectively.

9. Maintain clear communication

Clear communication prevents chaos during rotation events. Create and share rotation schedules, emergency procedures, and contact lists for key personnel. Define clear success criteria for each rotation and establish specific triggers for rollback procedures. Make sure everyone knows their role in the rotation process and how to respond to issues. Regular updates during the rotation process help keep all stakeholders informed and confident.

10. Learn and improve continuously

After each rotation, take time to review the process. Examine what worked well and what caused problems. Evaluate the effectiveness of your monitoring alerts and the clarity of team member roles. Use these insights to refine your rotation strategy. Doppler's audit logs help track the effectiveness of your rotations and identify areas for improvement. Each rotation should be smoother than the last.

Secret rotation doesn't have to be scary. With proper planning, automation, and the right tools, you can implement regular rotation while keeping your services stable. The key is starting small, building confidence, and gradually expanding your rotation coverage. Each step builds on the last, creating a robust and reliable rotation process that becomes a natural part of your security practices and daily operational monitoring.

Ready to implement automated secret rotation in your organization? See how Doppler can help streamline your secret management: https://www.doppler.com/demo