# Use Cases

## 1. CI/CD Secret Rotation Enforcement
Detect drift and expired rotation windows in pipelines. Fails deployment if rotation is required but not performed.

## 2. Secret Zero Bootstrapping
Generate and distribute secrets when spinning up new environments (AWS accounts, Kubernetes clusters, disaster recovery).

## 3. Developer Environment Hydration
Populate `.env` files and local keychains from authoritative sources with fallback to manual (yuk) input.

## 4. Drift Detection
Ensure all target stores contain matching values and flag out-of-band changes.

## 5. Audit & Compliance
Generate evidence artifacts (`Secretfile.yml`, lockfile, CLI logs) for SOC2/ISO certifications.

## 6. Multi-Target Propagation
Write secrets simultaneously to AWS Secrets Manager, SSM Parameter Store, GitHub Actions, etc.

## 7. Controlled Rotation Workflows
Execute intentional rotations with `plan` → `apply` atomicity for databases, API keys, and credentials.

## 8. Environment Promotion Validation
Verify stage and prod alignment (same templates, targets, policies) without copying values.

## 9. Pre-Deploy Readiness Checks
Validate secret existence, permissions, and availability before deployment.

## 10. Secret Store Abstraction
Define secrets once and target AWS, Vault, Kubernetes, files, or CI systems—avoid vendor lock-in.
