Vault Interfaces

Vault offers three primary interfaces for interacting with secrets and configurations: the web-based UI, the Command-Line Interface (CLI), and the HTTP API. Each interface targets different use cases, from human operators to fully automated applications.

The relationship between these interfaces is straightforward:

• The UI provides a user-friendly dashboard for visual secret management.
• The CLI is a thin wrapper over the HTTP API, supporting almost every Vault operation.
• The HTTP API is the underlying mechanism for both the UI and CLI, so every action—even in the UI—translates to an API request.

When you initialize and start a Vault server, the CLI and HTTP API are active by default. To expose the web UI, add the following to your Vault configuration file:

ui = true

Before executing any operations, authenticate to Vault. For example:

vault login

Once authenticated, you can:

• Retrieve or store secrets (vault kv get, vault kv put)
• Generate dynamic credentials (e.g., database or AWS tokens)
• Encrypt/decrypt data with Transit secrets engine
• Manage leases and token renewals

Vault Interfaces and Their Users

Different personas leverage Vault’s interfaces to manage secrets at varying levels of automation and scale.

• Humans
  Operators often prefer the UI for its graphical overview but can also use the CLI by setting VAULT_ADDR:

  export VAULT_ADDR='https://vault.example.com'
  

• Orchestration Tools
  CI/CD platforms like Jenkins, CircleCI, Chef, and Puppet integrate via CLI commands or directly call the HTTP API to automate secret retrieval and renewal.

• Applications
  Most applications interact programmatically through the HTTP API. They authenticate, receive a token, and request secrets or dynamic credentials. They must handle token TTL, lease durations, and renewal processes.

Learning Objectives

In subsequent sections, aligned with the Vault Associate Exam objectives, we will explore each interface in depth:

1. Objective 6: Utilize the Vault CLI
2. Objective 7: Utilize the Vault UI
3. Objective 8: Be aware of the Vault HTTP API

References

• Vault UI Documentation
• Vault CLI Commands
• Vault HTTP API