---

name: clay-security-basics description: | Apply Clay security best practices for secrets and access control. Use when securing API keys, implementing least privilege access, or auditing Clay security configuration. Trigger with phrases like "clay security", "clay secrets", "secure clay", "clay API key security". allowed-tools: Read, Write, Grep version: 1.0.0 license: MIT author: Jeremy Longshore jeremy@intentsolutions.io compatible-with: claude-code, codex, openclaw

Clay Security Basics

Overview

Security best practices for Clay API keys, tokens, and access control.

Prerequisites

• Clay SDK installed
• Understanding of environment variables
• Access to Clay dashboard

Instructions

Step 1: Configure Environment Variables

# .env (NEVER commit to git)
CLAY_API_KEY=sk_live_***
CLAY_SECRET=***

# .gitignore
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local

Step 2: Implement Secret Rotation

set -euo pipefail
# 1. Generate new key in Clay dashboard
# 2. Update environment variable
export CLAY_API_KEY="new_key_here"

# 3. Verify new key works
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer ${CLAY_API_KEY}" \
  https://api.clay.com/health

# 4. Revoke old key in dashboard

Step 3: Apply Least Privilege

| Environment | Recommended Scopes | |-------------|-------------------| | Development | read:* | | Staging | read:*, write:limited | | Production | Only required scopes |

Output

• Secure API key storage
• Environment-specific access controls
• Audit logging enabled

Error Handling

| Security Issue | Detection | Mitigation | |----------------|-----------|------------| | Exposed API key | Git scanning | Rotate immediately | | Excessive scopes | Audit logs | Reduce permissions | | Missing rotation | Key age check | Schedule rotation |

Examples

Service Account Pattern

const clients = {
  reader: new ClayClient({
    apiKey: process.env.CLAY_READ_KEY,
  }),
  writer: new ClayClient({
    apiKey: process.env.CLAY_WRITE_KEY,
  }),
};

Webhook Signature Verification

import crypto from 'crypto';

function verifyWebhookSignature(
  payload: string, signature: string, secret: string
): boolean {
  const expected = crypto.createHmac('sha256', secret).update(payload).digest('hex');
  return crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(signature), Buffer.from(expected));
}

Security Checklist

• [ ] API keys in environment variables
• [ ] .env files in .gitignore
• [ ] Different keys for dev/staging/prod
• [ ] Minimal scopes per environment
• [ ] Webhook signatures validated
• [ ] Audit logging enabled

Audit Logging

interface AuditEntry {
  timestamp: Date;
  action: string;
  userId: string;
  resource: string;
  result: 'success' | 'failure';
  metadata?: Record<string, any>;
}

async function auditLog(entry: Omit<AuditEntry, 'timestamp'>): Promise<void> {
  const log: AuditEntry = { ...entry, timestamp: new Date() };

  // Log to Clay analytics
  await clayClient.track('audit', log);

  // Also log locally for compliance
  console.log('[AUDIT]', JSON.stringify(log));
}

// Usage
await auditLog({
  action: 'clay.api.call',
  userId: currentUser.id,
  resource: '/v1/resource',
  result: 'success',
});

Resources

• Clay Security Guide
• Clay API Scopes

Next Steps

For production deployment, see clay-prod-checklist.