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Credentials

A credential is an account connection or secret Ren uses to access a service, like a Gmail connection, a Stripe API key, or a DATABASE_URL used by scripts. Ren stores each credential encrypted and passes it to the tools that need it. Neither you nor Ren sees the raw value again after you save it.

In the API and CLI, credentials live in vaults: credential and vault.

Where credentials live

Every credential belongs to one of three levels. Pick the level by who should be able to use it.

Level Who can use it Use it for
Organization Every chat in the organization Accounts shared across spaces, like a company Notion
Space Chats in that space’s projects, and members’ personal spaces One team’s or one client’s accounts
Personal Only chats in your personal space Your own accounts, like your inbox

For an agency, store each client’s accounts in that client’s space, so only its members can use them.

A space’s credentials are visible only to its members. There’s no admin override: an organization admin who isn’t a member of a space can’t see or use its credentials. Your personal credentials are visible only to you. Organization admins can’t access personal credentials.

Open Settings → Credentials to see every credential you can use, with its level. Filter by level to narrow the list.

Which credential Ren uses

Ren uses the first matching credential in this order:

  • In a shared space: the space’s credential, then the organization’s.
  • In your personal space: your personal credential, then credentials from the shared spaces you belong to (oldest space first), then the organization’s.

Channel, scheduled, and task chats use the credential lookup order for their project’s space. The sender’s identity doesn’t change that order.

Types of credentials

Settings → Credentials groups credentials by type:

Type What it holds How you add it
App A signed-in account, like Gmail or GitHub Sign in when you connect an app
Token An API token for an app or custom MCP Paste it when you connect the app or custom MCP
Password A username and password Enter them when you connect the app or custom MCP
Secret A value Ren reads as an environment variable, like $API_KEY Add credential on the Credentials page
Custom MCP The connection fields a custom MCP asks for Fill them in when you connect the custom MCP

Each level holds at most 100 credentials, and one credential per app, custom MCP, or secret name. Saving a new one for the same app replaces the old one.

Add a credential

Add a secret, like an API key a skill reads from the environment. To sign in to an app, see Sign in to an app.

  1. Open Settings → Credentials and select Add credential.
  2. Choose where it lives: your organization or a space. Pick your personal space to keep it to yourself.
  3. Enter a Name in UPPER_SNAKE_CASE, like STRIPE_API_KEY, and its Value.
  4. Select Store.

The credential appears in the list with its level.

Sign in to an app

OAuth connects apps and custom MCPs through the provider’s sign-in page. Ren saves the connection in the project’s space, or in your personal credentials when you’re in your personal space.

  1. Ask Ren to use the app in a chat, or open the app in Marketplace → Apps and add it to a project.
  2. Select Connect on the card, then sign in to the account you want Ren to use.
  3. Return to Ren. The card shows Connected.

If the account is already connected in another space you belong to, the card offers Reuse to copy it into this space, or Add new to sign in again.

Edit, move, or delete a credential

Deleting is permanent: chats that use the credential fail at the step that needs it until you add a replacement.

You can’t view a credential’s value after you save it. Ren shows the last four characters of a secret, or Connected for a signed-in account. To change a value, select Update value.

  1. Open Settings → Credentials and find the credential.
  2. Open its menu and choose:
    • Rename to change its display name.
    • Update value to replace a secret, or Reconnect to sign in to the account again.
    • Transfer to copy or move it to another level.
    • Delete to remove it.