Imported from jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace (skills/.curated/apify-security-basics/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace --skill apify-security-basics. Copyright stays with the author (MIT).

Apify Security Basics

Overview

Security best practices for Apify API tokens, Actor data, proxy credentials, and webhook verification. Apify uses personal API tokens (prefixed apify_api_) for all authentication. Because a single token grants full account access with no per-token scoping, token hygiene is the whole game.

Prerequisites

• Apify account with Console access
• Understanding of environment variables
• Access to your deployment platform's secrets management

Token Architecture

Apify uses a single API token per user account for full API access. There is no scope-based permission system per token, so token security is critical.

Instructions

Follow the six hardening steps in order. Each has a lean summary below; the full copy-paste code for every step is in references/implementation.md.

1. Secure token storage — keep the token in .env (never hardcoded) and add .env, .env.*.local, and storage/ to .gitignore. Validate presence at startup so the app fails fast:

   function requireToken(): string {
     const token = process.env.APIFY_TOKEN;
     if (!token) throw new Error('APIFY_TOKEN is required');
     if (!token.startsWith('apify_api_')) console.warn('unexpected token prefix');
     return token;
   }

2. Per-environment token isolation — separate tokens (ideally separate accounts) for dev / staging / prod, injected via each platform's secret store (gh secret set, vercel env add, GCP Secret Manager).

3. Token rotation — generate the new token first (old stays valid), push to every environment, verify it authenticates, then revoke the old one.

4. Webhook payload verification — Apify does not sign webhooks; confirm the run ID in the payload actually exists, or gate on a shared URL secret compared with crypto.timingSafeEqual.

5. Actor data security — redact sensitive fields before pushData; keep datasets named and private (no public sharing).

6. Proxy security — never log proxyConfig.newUrl() (it embeds the proxy password); log the proxy group only.

See references/implementation.md for the complete code of every step, and references/examples.md for end-to-end scenarios.

Output

Applying this skill produces a hardened project state:

• A .gitignore that excludes .env* and storage/, with no token in the tree.
• A startup token validator that throws on a missing/malformed APIFY_TOKEN.
• Environment-specific tokens wired into each platform's secret store.
• A documented rotation procedure and a completed Security Checklist (below).
• Webhook handlers that reject unverified runs and pipelines that redact PII before storage.

Security Checklist

• APIFY_TOKEN stored in environment variables (never hardcoded)
• .env and storage/ in .gitignore
• Separate tokens for dev/staging/prod
• Token rotation schedule documented
• Webhook endpoints verify source
• Proxy URLs never logged
• Scraped PII redacted before storage
• Named datasets used for sensitive data (no public sharing)
• CI/CD secrets configured (not in repo)

Leaked Token Response

If a token is exposed:

1. Immediately regenerate token in Console > Settings > Integrations
2. Check recent Actor runs for unauthorized usage
3. Review billing for unexpected charges
4. Rotate proxy password if exposed
5. Audit git history: git log --all -p -- '*.env' '*.json' | grep apify_api_

Error Handling

Examples

Quick starting point — bootstrap a new project's secrets safely:

cat >> .gitignore <<'EOF'
.env
.env.*.local
storage/
EOF
echo 'APIFY_TOKEN=apify_api_dev_token' > .env
git status --short   # .env must NOT appear

Four full worked scenarios — secure bootstrap, cross-environment rotation, webhook-verify-then-sanitize, and a git-history leak audit — are in references/examples.md.

Resources

• Apify Account Security
• API Authentication
• Proxy Connection Settings
• Full implementation reference
• Worked examples

Next Steps

For production deployment hardening beyond secrets — health checks, rate limits, and monitoring — see the apify-prod-checklist skill in this pack.