Container env from secret

To use a secret value as an environment variable, you need to use valueFrom to specify secret name and key under secretKeyRef

Create a secret

kubectl create secret generic backend-user --from-literal=backend-username='backend-admin'

Reference the secret in a container environment variable:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: env-single-secret
spec:
  containers:
    - name: envars-test-container
      image: nginx
      env:
        - name: SECRET_USERNAME
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: backend-user
              key: backend-username

Reference:

• https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/inject-data-application/distribute-credentials-secure/