docs: recommend PAT setup that keeps the token out of shell history #833

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1. nk-tedo-001 commented on Oct 12, 2026

   

   nk-tedo-001

   on Oct 12, 2026

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   +1 for the _FILE option. grafana/mcp-grafana already does this, and its behavior could serve as a template.

   They added GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN_FILE in #935 (docs). I run four instances of it this way, and the client config holds no secret at all:

   "grafana-prod": {
     "command": "uvx",
     "args": ["mcp-grafana", "-t", "stdio"],
     "env": {
       "GRAFANA_URL": "https://grafana.example.com",
       "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN_FILE": "/home/me/.config/grafana/prod.token"
     }
   }

   How it works there:

   • The file is read on every request, not once at startup, so a rotated token (for example a Kubernetes Secret mounted as a volume) is picked up without a restart.
   • Surrounding whitespace, including the trailing newline, is trimmed.
   • If both the inline variable and _FILE are set, the inline value wins.
   • If the file can't be read, the server logs a warning and falls back to the next auth method instead of failing to start.

   Two suggestions for gitlab-mcp:

   1. Cover GITLAB_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET as well as the PAT. With GITLAB_USE_OAUTH=true the client secret has to sit in plain text in the MCP client config (~/.claude.json in my case), which is the same problem as a PAT on the command line. A general rule like "every secret variable X also accepts X_FILE" would handle both.
   2. Part of this already exists: GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_PATH keeps the obtained OAuth token in a file, and there is GITLAB_OAUTH_TOKEN_SCRIPT. A _FILE option would extend the same idea to the static secrets.

   For the docs, the quick-setup example could then be:

   claude mcp add gitlab -e GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE="$HOME/.config/gitlab/token" -- npx -y @zereight/mcp-gitlab

   That keeps the token out of shell history, the process list, and the client config.
2. zereight commented on Oct 12, 2026

   

   zereight

   on Oct 12, 2026 – with Cursor

   OwnerAuthor

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   @nk-tedo-001 Thanks for the suggestion and the Grafana #935 reference — agreed that _FILE is the cleaner long-term answer.

   Plan:

   1. Docs first: docs: keep PAT out of shell history in install examples #837 (merged) documents how to set the PAT without leaving it in shell history.
   2. Follow-up PR: add GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE (read once at startup, whitespace trimmed; an inline token takes precedence with a warning; an unreadable file fails startup without ever logging the token). It will close this issue.

   Will link the PR here once it's up.
3. zereight commented on Oct 12, 2026

   

   zereight

   on Oct 12, 2026

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   Follow-up PRs: #837 (docs: keep the PAT out of shell history) and #839 (GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE, read once at startup). Re-reading the file per request is left as a follow-up.
4. yzzeee

   added a commit that references this issue on Oct 12, 2026

   docs: keep PAT out of shell history in install examples (zereight#833)

   6f19447
5. zereight

   closed this as completedin #839on Oct 12, 2026
6. kwop

   added a commit that references this issue on Oct 13, 2026

   feat: add GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_FILE (zereight#833)

   5f4f55e