secretID

Secret object

Since R2025a

Description

Use a secretID object to represent the name of a secret. A secretID object allows you to refer to encrypted secrets in your MATLAB^® vault without exposing their actual values. You can keep credentials and other sensitive information encrypted when setting properties of weboptions and Credentials objects by using secretID objects.

Creation

Syntax

secret = secretID(secretname)

Description

secret = secretID(secretname) creates a secretID object that you can use to refer to the specified existing secret in your MATLAB vault.

Input Arguments

secretname — Secret identifier

string array | character vector

Secret identifier, specified as a string scalar or character vector. secretname cannot be empty.

This argument sets the Name property.

Properties

Name — Secret identifier

string scalar | character vector

Secret identifier, specified as a string scalar or character vector. Name cannot be empty.

Example: "Httpbin.Username"

Examples

Save Code to a MAT File Without Saving Sensitive Information

Create secrets for a username and password by calling the setSecret function with a name for each secret. Use the Secret Prompt dialog box that opens to set your secret values and add the secrets to your MATLAB vault.

setSecret("usernameName")
setSecret("passwordName")

Create secretID objects by referencing each of your secrets by their names. Then use the secretID objects to provide your username and password to a weboptions object.

u = secretID("usernameName");
p = secretID("passwordName");
options = weboptions(Username=u,Password=p);

Save your variables to a MAT file. Because you specified secretID objects, the MAT file saves your data without saving plain text values of your username and password.

save("myvars.mat")

More About

MATLAB Vault

Your secrets are stored in your MATLAB vault, which is accessible only from the exact combination of your operating system account and local machine. Your vault and secrets, which do not leave your local machine, persist across MATLAB sessions. Each secret consists of a name, value, and optional metadata.

• Secret name – A unique case-sensitive text identifier for the secret. The secret name is stored unencrypted in your vault as a string scalar.

• Secret value – A text value associated with the secret. The Secret Prompt dialog box, where you enter the secret value, supports copy-paste functionality. The secret value is stored encrypted in your vault using industry standard AES-256 encryption. The secret value is returned as a string scalar.

• Secret metadata – A dictionary containing additional information associated with the secret. The optional secret metadata is stored unencrypted in your vault.

To set a secret, use setSecret.

Version History

Introduced in R2025a