ssm-env is a simple UNIX tool to populate env vars from AWS Parameter Store.

$ go get -u github.com/remind101/ssm-env

You can most likely find the downloaded binary in ~/go/bin/ssm-env

ssm-env [-template STRING] [-with-decryption] [-no-fail] COMMAND

Given the following environment:

RAILS_ENV=production
COOKIE_SECRET=ssm://prod.app.cookie-secret

You can run the application using ssm-env to automatically populate the COOKIE_SECRET env var from SSM:

$ ssm-env env
RAILS_ENV=production
COOKIE_SECRET=super-secret

You can also configure how the parameter name is determined for an environment variable, by using the -template flag:

$ export COOKIE_SECRET=xxx
$ ssm-env -template '{{ if eq .Name "COOKIE_SECRET" }}prod.app.cookie-secret{{end}}' env
RAILS_ENV=production
COOKIE_SECRET=super-secret

ssm-env also supports versioned SSM params:

$ export OLD_SECRET=ssm://secret:1
$ export NEW_SECRET=ssm://secret:2
$ ssm-env env

OLD_SECRET=super_secret_v1
NEW_SECRET=super_secret_v2

A common use case is to use ssm-env as a Docker ENTRYPOINT. You can copy and paste the following into the top of a Dockerfile:

RUN curl -sSfL -o /usr/local/bin/ssm-env https://github.com/remind101/ssm-env/releases/download/v0.0.5/ssm-env \
    && cd /usr/local/bin \
    && echo "babf40382bcd260f0d8d4575a32d5ec33fb08fefd29f12ffd800fbe738c41021  ssm-env" | sha256sum -c \
    && chmod +x ssm-env

Now, any command executed with the Docker image will be funneled through ssm-env.

To use ssm-env with Alpine Docker images, root certificates need to be added and the installation command differs, as shown in the Dockerfile below:

FROM alpine:latest

# ...copy code

# ssm-env: See https://github.com/remind101/ssm-env
RUN apk add curl
RUN curl -sSfL -o /usr/local/bin/ssm-env https://github.com/remind101/ssm-env/releases/download/v0.0.5/ssm-env \
    && cd /usr/local/bin \
    && echo "babf40382bcd260f0d8d4575a32d5ec33fb08fefd29f12ffd800fbe738c41021  ssm-env" | sha256sum -c \
    && chmod +x ssm-env

# Alpine Linux doesn't include root certificates which ssm-env needs to talk to AWS.
# See https://simplydistributed.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/certificate-error-with-go-http-client-in-alpine-docker/
RUN apk add --no-cache ca-certificates

ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/bin/ssm-env", "-with-decryption"]

A simple way to provide AWS credentials to ssm-env in containers run in Kubernetes is to use Kubernetes Secrets and to expose them as environment variables. There are more secure alternatives to environment variables, but if this is secure enough for your needs, it provides a low-effort setup path.

First, store your AWS credentials in a secret called aws-credentials:

kubectl create secret generic aws-credentials --from-literal=AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID='AKIA...' --from-literal=AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY='...'

Then, in the container specification in your deployment or pod file, add them as environment variables (alongside all other environment variables, including those retrieved from SSM):

      containers:
        - env:
            - name: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: aws-credentials
                  key: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
            - name: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: aws-credentials
                  key: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
            - name: AWS_REGION
              value: us-east-1
            - name: SSM_EXAMPLE
              value: ssm:///foo/bar