> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://infisical.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Secret Referencing and Importing

> Learn the fundamentals of secret referencing and importing in Infisical.

The short video below walks through secret referencing and importing, covering how to reuse a "base" secret's value across others and how to pull secrets from another environment or folder into the current context.

<br />

<div style={{ position: "relative", paddingBottom: "56.25%", height: 0, overflow: "hidden", maxWidth: "100%" }}>
  <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GMcblYp34t0" title="YouTube video player" style={{ position: "absolute", top: 0, left: 0, width: "100%", height: "100%", border: 0 }} allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen />
</div>

<br />

## Secret Referencing

Infisical's secret referencing functionality makes it possible to reference the value of a "base" secret when defining the value of another secret.
This means that updating the value of a base secret propagates directly to other secrets whose values depend on the base secret.

<img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/secret-reference.png" alt="secret referencing" />

Since secret referencing reconstructs values on the client side, any client (user, service token, or machine identity) fetching secrets must have proper permissions to access all base and dependent secrets. Without sufficient permissions, secret references will not resolve to their appropriate values.

For example, if secret A references values from secrets B and C located in different scopes, the client must have read access to all three scopes containing secrets A, B, and C. If permission to any referenced secret is missing, the reference will remain unresolved, potentially causing application errors or unexpected behavior.

This is an important security consideration when planning your secret access strategy, especially when working with cross-environment or cross-folder references.

<Tip>
  You can hold the `Cmd` (Mac) or `Ctrl` (Windows/Linux) key and click the secret reference to be redirected to it.
</Tip>

### Syntax

When defining a secret reference, interpolation syntax is used to define references to secrets in other environments and [folders](./folder).

Suppose you have some secret `MY_SECRET` at the root of some environment and want to reference part of its value from another base secret `BASE_SECRET` located elsewhere.
Then consider the following scenarios:

* If `BASE_SECRET` is in the same environment and folder as `MY_SECRET`, then you'd reference it using `${BASE_SECRET}`.
* If `BASE_SECRET` is at the root of another environment with the slug `dev`, then you'd reference it using `${dev.MY_SECRET}`.

Here are a few more helpful examples for how to reference secrets in different contexts:

| Reference syntax        | Environment | Folder                        | Secret Key |
| ----------------------- | ----------- | ----------------------------- | ---------- |
| `${KEY1}`               | same env    | same folder                   | KEY1       |
| `${dev.KEY2}`           | `dev`       | `/` (root of dev environment) | KEY2       |
| `${prod.frontend.KEY2}` | `prod`      | `/frontend`                   | KEY2       |

## Secret Imports

Infisical's Secret Imports functionality makes it possible to import the secrets from another environment or folder into the current folder context.
This can be useful if you have common secrets that need to be available across multiple environments/folders.

To add a secret import, press the downward chevron to the right of the **Add Secret** button; then press on the **Add Import** button.

<img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/secret-import-add.png" alt="add secret import" />

Once added, a secret import will show up with a green import icon on the secrets dashboard.
In the example below, you can see that the items in the path `/some-folder` are being imported into
the current folder context.

<img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/secret-import-added.png" alt="added secret import" />

To delete a secret import, hover over it and press the **X** button that appears on the right side.

<img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/secret-import-delete.png" alt="delete secret import" />

Lastly, note that the order of secret imports matters. If two secret imports contain secrets with the same name, then the secret value from the bottom-most secret import is taken: "the last one wins."

To reorder a secret import, hover over it and drag the arrows handle to the position you want.

<img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/secret-import-reorder.png" alt="reorder secret import" />

## Relative Reference Resolution in Imported Secrets

<Note>
  Only available on the **V4 Secrets API** (`/api/v4/secrets`). v3 and below always resolve local references against the source environment.
</Note>

When you import secrets from one environment into another, the imported secrets may contain references like `${KEY}` that point to other secrets. **Relative resolution** changes how those local references are looked up:

| Reference type               | Behavior                                  |
| ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| `${KEY}` (local)             | Current env first, source env as fallback |
| `${env.path.KEY}` (absolute) | Always resolves against the specified env |

Resolution order for `${KEY}` inside an imported secret *(e.g. staging imports from dev)*:

1. Look in `staging` (current environment)
2. If not found, look in `dev` (source environment)
3. If still not found, expand to an empty string

This lets you override any imported key simply by defining it in the destination environment.

### Example

```
dev:
  DB_HOST = "dev-db.internal"
  DB_URL  = "postgres://${DB_HOST}/myapp"

staging imports from dev:
  DB_HOST = "stg-db.internal"
```

Fetching staging's imported `DB_URL` via v4 → `postgres://stg-db.internal/myapp`

The `${DB_HOST}` local reference resolves to staging's value. Without relative resolution (v3), it would resolve to dev's `DB_HOST` instead.

### Behavior notes

* **The current-env-first rule applies at every depth of recursive expansion**, not just the top level. If an imported secret references another secret that references another, each `${KEY}` at every level checks the current environment first.
* **Import-chain lookup**: when looking for a key in an environment, Infisical also searches that environment's one-level-deep imports. If prod imports from `/shared` and `/shared` has `KEY`, a `${KEY}` reference in a prod context will find it.
* **Permissions**: read access is enforced at every step. If the calling identity lacks access to any secret in the chain, the request returns `403`.

<Warning>
  Only one level of imports is searched during reference expansion. If prod imports `/shared`, and `/shared` imports `/base`, secrets in `/base` are not visible.
</Warning>

## Cross-Project Secret Sharing

Cross-project secret sharing allows secrets to be referenced or imported across different projects within the same organization. This is useful when multiple projects share common infrastructure secrets (such as database hosts, API keys, or service URLs) without duplicating them.

### Enabling Cross-Project Secret Sharing

Cross-project sharing is controlled by an organization-level toggle. An organization admin must enable it before any cross-project references or imports can be created:

1. Navigate to the **Secrets Management** product page.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/01-secrets-management.png" alt="secrets management" />
2. Navigate to **Product Settings** page.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/02-product-settings.png" alt="product settings" />
3. Enable the **Allow cross-project secret sharing** option.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/03-enable-secret-sharing.png" alt="enable secret sharing" />

When this toggle is disabled, all cross-project references resolve to empty strings and cross-project imports are ignored.

### Project Grants

A Project Grant is the authorization mechanism that controls which projects can access secrets from a given source project. Grants are created from the **source project** (the project that owns the secrets) and specify:

* **Source environment and folder path**: the specific location in the source project being shared.
* **Target project**: the project that is allowed to reference or import secrets from that location.

The key benefit of project grants is that **users in the target project do not need any permissions in the source project**. As long as a grant exists from the source project to the target project for a given folder, users in the target project can create cross-project references and imports for that folder.

To create a new grant:

1. Navigate to **Project Settings** in the source project.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/04-project-settings.png" alt="project settings" />
2. Go to the **Policies** tab.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/05-project-policies.png" alt="policies tab" />
3. Under **Cross-Project Secret Sharing**, click **Add Grant**.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/06-create-project-grant.png" alt="add grant" />
4. Fill in the **environment** and **folder path** you want to share, and choose the **target project** that should have access.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/07-share-project-grant.png" alt="grant form" />

### Cross-Project References

You can reference secrets from a different project using the `@project-slug` prefix. This allows you to compose secret values across projects without duplicating them.

| Reference syntax                       | Project slug  | Environment | Folder      | Secret Key |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------- | ----------- | ----------- | ---------- |
| `${@backend-api.prod.KEY1}`            | `backend-api` | `prod`      | `/` (root)  | KEY1       |
| `${@backend-api.dev.database.DB_HOST}` | `backend-api` | `dev`       | `/database` | DB\_HOST   |

<Warning>
  Cross-project references are **not recursively expanded**. If the referenced secret in the source project itself contains a cross-project reference to yet another project, that nested reference will not be resolved. Only same-project references within the source secret are expanded.
</Warning>

### Cross-Project Imports

You can also import secrets from a different project entirely. Cross-project imports work the same way as regular imports, but the source environment and folder belong to another project within the same organization.

To create a cross-project import:

1. Click the downward chevron next to **Add Secret** and select **Add Import**.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/08-add-secret-import.png" alt="add secret import" />
2. Select **Other Project** as the import source.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/09-other-project.png" alt="select other project" />
3. Choose the source **project**, **environment**, and **folder path**, then click **Create Import**.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/10-create-import.png" alt="fill import details" />
4. The cross-project import is now created and will appear on the secrets dashboard.
   <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/platform/secret-references-imports/11-created-secret-import.png" alt="import created" />

<Warning>
  Cross-project imports are **not transitive**. If the source folder in the foreign project has its own cross-project imports (pointing to a third project, or back to the original project), those nested cross-project imports will not be followed. Only imports that stay within the same source project are resolved recursively.
</Warning>