# openbao/openbao

OpenBao is a software solution to manage, store, and distribute sensitive data including secrets, certificates, and keys.

Repository: https://github.com/openbao/openbao
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/openbao
Homepage: https://openbao.org/
Language: Go
License: MPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: go, secret-management, security
Last push: 2026-08-26T17:45:39+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 93/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 98, longevity 73
- inputs: {"age_days": 1028, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 15, "gap_med": 27, "n_releases_24m": 24}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7177, forks 546 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:56.410520+00:00)

## What it is
OpenBao is an open-source, identity-based secrets management system for storing, distributing, and rotating sensitive data such as secrets, certificates, and keys. It is a community-driven fork of HashiCorp Vault under the Linux Foundation's OpenSSF, offering a UI, CLI, and HTTP API.

## Use cases
- store api keys and database credentials securely
- manage certificates and pki for services
- generate dynamic short-lived database credentials
- encrypt data with centralized key management
- self-host a vault alternative with open-source license
- audit who accessed which secrets

## When to choose
- you need an OSI-approved open-source secrets manager without Vault's BSL license
- you want dynamic secrets, leasing, and revocation for databases or Kubernetes
- you need encryption-as-a-service across clouds

## When to avoid
- you need guaranteed API backwards compatibility across versions
- you rely on Vault-specific enterprise features not yet ported to OpenBao

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: secrets-management, security, cryptography, auth, authorization
- domain: security, self-hosted
- platform: windows, self-hosted, go, cli
- tags: vault-fork, hashicorp-vault, encryption-as-a-service, dynamic-secrets, pki, linux-foundation, openssf, devops, linux, macos, docker, kubernetes

## Member repositories
- openbao/openbao (main) score 93

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:56.410520+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:39:56.052920+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/openbao/openbao (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:56.410520+00:00, sha ddb633872db8)
  - homepage: https://openbao.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:35:11.084903+00:00, sha b9811ac173ab)
  - site_page: https://openbao.org/docs/api (fetched 2026-08-29T08:35:11.096046+00:00, sha d838fca5429d)
  - site_page: https://openbao.org/docs/what-is-openbao (fetched 2026-08-29T08:35:11.098296+00:00, sha e85efa19e5d4)
  - site_page: https://openbao.org/docs/install (fetched 2026-08-29T08:35:11.100371+00:00, sha 2a7ef2638d5c)
  - site_page: https://openbao.org/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T08:35:11.094157+00:00, sha fc88ff1214da)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.