Destroy a secret version

This page describes how you can destroy a secret version. In the destroyed state, the secret version's contents are discarded. Destroying a secret version is a permanent action. After a version is destroyed, you can't access the secret data or restore the version to another state.

Before destroying a secret version, try disabling it first and observe your application's behavior. You can re-enable the secret version if you encounter unexpected issues.

When you disable or destroy a secret or secret version, the change takes time to propagate through the system. If necessary, you can revoke access to the secret. Changes to IAM permissions are consistent within seconds.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to destroy a secret version, ask your administrator to grant you the Secret Manager Secret Version Manager (roles/secretmanager.secretVersionManager) IAM role on a secret. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.

Destroy a secret version

To destroy a secret version, use one of the following methods:

Console

  1. Go to the Secret Manager page in the Google Cloud console.

    Go to Secret Manager

  2. On the Secret Manager page, click a secret to access its versions.

  3. On the secret details page, in the Versions tab, select the secret version that you want to destroy.

  4. Click Actions, and then click Destroy.

  5. In the confirmation dialog that appears, enter the secret ID to confirm, and then click Destroy selected versions.

gcloud

Before using any of the command data below, make the following replacements:

  • VERSION_ID: the resource name of the secret version
  • SECRET_ID: the ID of the secret or fully qualified identifier for the secret

Execute the following command:

Linux, macOS, or Cloud Shell

gcloud secrets versions destroy VERSION_ID --secret=SECRET_ID

Windows (PowerShell)

gcloud secrets versions destroy VERSION_ID --secret=SECRET_ID

Windows (cmd.exe)

gcloud secrets versions destroy VERSION_ID --secret=SECRET_ID

REST

Before using any of the request data, make the following replacements:

  • PROJECT_ID: the Google Cloud project ID
  • SECRET_ID: the ID of the secret or fully qualified identifier for the secret
  • VERSION_ID: the ID of the secret version

HTTP method and URL: 

POST https://secretmanager.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/secrets/SECRET_ID/versions/VERSION_ID:destroy

Request JSON body: 

{}

To send your request, choose one of these options:

curl

Save the request body in a file named request.json, and execute the following command: 

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
     -d @request.json \
     "https://secretmanager.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/secrets/SECRET_ID/versions/VERSION_ID:destroy"

PowerShell

Save the request body in a file named request.json, and execute the following command: 

$cred = gcloud auth print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
    -Method POST `
    -Headers $headers `
    -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
    -InFile request.json `
    -Uri "https://secretmanager.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/secrets/SECRET_ID/versions/VERSION_ID:destroy" | Select-Object -Expand Content

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "name": "projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/LOCATION/secrets/SECRET_ID/versions/VERSION_ID",
  "createTime": "2024-09-02T07:16:34.566706Z",
  "destroyTime": "2024-09-04T06:29:01.893743728Z",
  "state": "DESTROYED",
  "etag": "\"1621454a37ce7f\""
}

C#

To run this code, first set up a C# development environment and install the Secret Manager C# SDK. On Compute Engine or GKE, you must authenticate with the cloud-platform scope. 


using Google.Cloud.SecretManager.V1;

public class DestroySecretVersionSample
{
    public SecretVersion DestroySecretVersion(
      string projectId = "my-project", string secretId = "my-secret", string secretVersionId = "123")
    {
        // Create the client.
        SecretManagerServiceClient client = SecretManagerServiceClient.Create();

        // Build the resource name.
        SecretVersionName secretVersionName = new SecretVersionName(projectId, secretId, secretVersionId);

        // Call the API.
        SecretVersion version = client.DestroySecretVersion(secretVersionName);
        return version;
    }
}

Go

To run this code, first set up a Go development environment and install the Secret Manager Go SDK. On Compute Engine or GKE, you must authenticate with the cloud-platform scope. 

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"

	secretmanager "cloud.google.com/go/secretmanager/apiv1"
	"cloud.google.com/go/secretmanager/apiv1/secretmanagerpb"
)

// destroySecretVersion destroys the given secret version, making the payload
// irrecoverable. Other secrets versions are unaffected.
func destroySecretVersion(name string) error {
	// name := "projects/my-project/secrets/my-secret/versions/5"

	// Create the client.
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := secretmanager.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create secretmanager client: %w", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	// Build the request.
	req := &secretmanagerpb.DestroySecretVersionRequest{
		Name: name,
	}

	// Call the API.
	if _, err := client.DestroySecretVersion(ctx, req); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to destroy secret version: %w", err)
	}
	return nil
}

Java

To run this code, first set up a Java development environment and install the Secret Manager Java SDK. On Compute Engine or GKE, you must authenticate with the cloud-platform scope. 

import com.google.cloud.secretmanager.v1.SecretManagerServiceClient;
import com.google.cloud.secretmanager.v1.SecretVersion;
import com.google.cloud.secretmanager.v1.SecretVersionName;
import java.io.IOException;

public class DestroySecretVersion {

  public static void destroySecretVersion() throws IOException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    String secretId = "your-secret-id";
    String versionId = "your-version-id";
    destroySecretVersion(projectId, secretId, versionId);
  }

  // Destroy an existing secret version.
  public static void destroySecretVersion(String projectId, String secretId, String versionId)
      throws IOException {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
    // the "close" method on the client to safely clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (SecretManagerServiceClient client = SecretManagerServiceClient.create()) {
      // Build the name from the version.
      SecretVersionName secretVersionName = SecretVersionName.of(projectId, secretId, versionId);

      // Destroy the secret version.
      SecretVersion version = client.destroySecretVersion(secretVersionName);
      System.out.printf("Destroyed secret version %s\n", version.getName());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

To run this code, first set up a Node.js development environment and install the Secret Manager Node.js SDK. On Compute Engine or GKE, you must authenticate with the cloud-platform scope. 

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const name = 'projects/my-project/secrets/my-secret/versions/5';

// Imports the Secret Manager library
const {SecretManagerServiceClient} = require('@google-cloud/secret-manager');

// Instantiates a client
const client = new SecretManagerServiceClient();

async function destroySecretVersion() {
  const [version] = await client.destroySecretVersion({
    name: name,
  });

  console.info(`Destroyed ${version.name}`);
}

destroySecretVersion();

PHP

To run this code, first learn about using PHP on Google Cloud and install the Secret Manager PHP SDK. On Compute Engine or GKE, you must authenticate with the cloud-platform scope. 

// Import the Secret Manager client library.
use Google\Cloud\SecretManager\V1\Client\SecretManagerServiceClient;
use Google\Cloud\SecretManager\V1\DestroySecretVersionRequest;

/**
 * @param string $projectId Your Google Cloud Project ID (e.g. 'my-project')
 * @param string $secretId  Your secret ID (e.g. 'my-secret')
 * @param string $versionId Your version ID (e.g. 'latest' or '5');
 */
function destroy_secret_version(string $projectId, string $secretId, string $versionId): void
{
    // Create the Secret Manager client.
    $client = new SecretManagerServiceClient();

    // Build the resource name of the secret version.
    $name = $client->secretVersionName($projectId, $secretId, $versionId);

    // Build the request.
    $request = DestroySecretVersionRequest::build($name);

    // Destroy the secret version.
    $response = $client->destroySecretVersion($request);

    // Print a success message.
    printf('Destroyed secret version: %s', $response->getName());
}

Python

To run this code, first set up a Python development environment and install the Secret Manager Python SDK. On Compute Engine or GKE, you must authenticate with the cloud-platform scope. 

def destroy_secret_version(
    project_id: str, secret_id: str, version_id: str
) -> secretmanager.DestroySecretVersionRequest:
    """
    Destroy the given secret version, making the payload irrecoverable. Other
    secrets versions are unaffected.
    """

    # Import the Secret Manager client library.
    from google.cloud import secretmanager

    # Create the Secret Manager client.
    client = secretmanager.SecretManagerServiceClient()

    # Build the resource name of the secret version
    name = f"projects/{project_id}/secrets/{secret_id}/versions/{version_id}"

    # Destroy the secret version.
    response = client.destroy_secret_version(request={"name": name})

    print(f"Destroyed secret version: {response.name}")

Ruby

To run this code, first set up a Ruby development environment and install the Secret Manager Ruby SDK. On Compute Engine or GKE, you must authenticate with the cloud-platform scope. 

# project_id = "YOUR-GOOGLE-CLOUD-PROJECT"  # (e.g. "my-project")
# secret_id  = "YOUR-SECRET-ID"             # (e.g. "my-secret")
# version_id = "YOUR-VERSION"               # (e.g. "5" or "latest")

# Require the Secret Manager client library.
require "google/cloud/secret_manager"

# Create a Secret Manager client.
client = Google::Cloud::SecretManager.secret_manager_service

# Build the resource name of the secret version.
name = client.secret_version_path(
  project:        project_id,
  secret:         secret_id,
  secret_version: version_id
)

# Destroy the secret version.
response = client.destroy_secret_version name: name

# Print a success message.
puts "Destroyed secret version: #{response.name}"

Delayed destruction of secret versions

The Secret Manager Admin can set up delayed destruction of secret versions by configuring the Delay secret version destroy feature on the secret. If this feature is enabled, the secret version isn't immediately destroyed upon request. Instead, the secret version is disabled and scheduled for destruction at a later date. During this time, the Secret Manager Admin can restore the secret version.

What's next