Vault secret not resolving

[postmanbarron (Alex Barron)]

I’m trying Postman Vault for the first time and I’m finding it’s not resolving to the actual value of the vault secret.

For example, I have a test vault secret called “test_param” and the value is “coffee”. When I try to resolve this by putting “{{vault:test_param}}” in my params list as a value, it literally populates “{{vault:test_param}}” in the URL params string.

See here: https://serpapi.com/search.json?engine=google_jobs&q={{vault:test_param}}&location=Austin%2C+Texas%2C+United+States&gl=us&hl=en&start=10&api_key={redacted}

I can see in the response of this request that the API service is also getting the literal string of “{{vault:test_param}}” in the q param.

What am I doing wrong?

[danny-dainton]

Hey @postmanbarron

Welcome to the Postman Community

Are you using the Web Platform or the Desktop Platform?

Do you have any additional information in the Postman Console (bottom menu on the left of the window)?

[postmanbarron (Alex Barron)]

Thanks @danny-dainton . I’m using the Web Platform.

Not much to see in the Console. Just can confirm that the vault secret isn’t resolving.

And can confirm in the response body that the API service is getting the literal string " {{vault:test_param}}" as my query.

[danny-dainton]

Thanks for confirming.

Which Postman Agent are you using? Cloud/Browser/Desktop?

You’ll find this in the bottom right menu bar.

If you’re using the Postman Agent, is that on the latest version?

Postman Agent: For Mac, Windows, & Linux

[postmanbarron (Alex Barron)]

I had it on “Auto-Select” and it must have been selecting the Cloud Agent because I don’t have the Desktop Agent installed and trying Browser Agent results in CORS error.

[danny-dainton]

Accessing the Postman Vault can only be done using the Desktop Agent and the Browser Agent. As you have seen, the Browser Agent has different limitations.

I would recommend using the Postman Desktop Agent if you’re using the Web Version of Postman to save any unforeseen issues when making your requests.

If reached out to the team to see if the messaging around this in the UI can be improved.

[postmanbarron (Alex Barron)]

That did it. Thank you @danny-dainton

And yes, would be nice to have clearer messaging around that limitation. Thank you for reporting that to the team.

[postmanbarron (Alex Barron)]

Follow up question, is the Postman Desktop Agent used by default within the Postman Desktop App? Could I have avoided this issue by using the Desktop App?

[danny-dainton]

You wouldn’t have see that issue if you were using the Desktop App.

We do have messaging to point to use the Desktop Agent but doing some testing with this I can see that it’s not shown every time in the response panel.

I’ll be looking closer at that and rely that to the team to investigate.

[postmanbarron (Alex Barron)]

Thanks. Yes, I noticed that warning came up eventually to use the Desktop Agent. Not sure if I missed that or if it wasn’t showing at all before. I’d be surprised if I really missed it considering its prominence, but perhaps lack of sleep and coffee caused me to miss it.