In Video 1 I told you one rule, and I’m going to keep saying it until it’s burned into your brain: never paste an API key, a password or any kind of credential into a Claude chat. Ever.
But here’s the problem. The moment Claude starts doing real work in your business, it needs those keys. To talk to Stripe. To pull data from your coaching app. To hit any app that gives you an API key instead of a login button.
So how do you let Claude use your keys without handing them over? That’s what this post is about. And once it’s set up, it’s honestly easier than what you’re doing now.
Why pasting a key into chat is a problem
Everything you type into a conversation gets sent to Anthropic’s servers and saved in the session history on your computer. A key you paste doesn’t disappear when you close the chat. It’s sitting in a conversation record.
That’s not a knock on Claude. It’s just how chat works. Your key belongs in exactly one place: a password manager.
Step one: use a password manager
If you don’t have one, this is your sign to get one. Ideally one with a Chrome or Safari extension so it also saves your website logins as you go.
I use Bitwarden. My team plan lets me share specific credentials with specific people and keep others private. But if you’re a solo coach, Bitwarden is free for one person and it’s open source. If you don’t have anything right now, go set up a free account and follow along.
Already pay for 1Password? Stick with it. Just using your Mac’s Keychain? That works too, but it gets hard to manage once you have a lot of keys.
How the Coach Credentials skill works
In the free Skills Kit there’s a skill called Coach Credentials. Here’s the whole idea in one sentence: the key travels from your password manager straight into the one command that needs it, and never lands in the conversation.
Your side of it is simple:
- Save the key in your password manager. Create a new item, give it a clear name like “Stripe secret key” or “Demo API key,” and paste the key into the password field. Save.
- Tell Claude the name, never the value. “I have a new credential called Stripe secret key.”
- Claude does the rest. When a command needs that key, the skill briefly unlocks your password manager, reads that one key, locks it again before the command runs, and hands the key directly to that command.
When I ran it on camera, Claude came back with a message I want every coach to see: it found the key, and the key never showed up in the chat. If a key ever turns up in a command’s output, it shows as hidden instead.
That’s it. Behind the scenes there’s a lot going on. I mapped the whole flow out visually before I had Claude build the skill. But your flow is: store it in your password manager, tell Claude what it’s called, move on with your day.
The one-time setup (and the part that freaks people out)
The first time you run the skill, it asks which password manager you use: Bitwarden, 1Password or just your Mac’s Keychain. It saves your answer so it never has to ask again.
If you use Bitwarden, it also needs Bitwarden’s command-line tool on your computer. If you don’t have it, Claude will walk you through installing it. It may mention something called Homebrew. That’s just an easy way for Macs to install command-line tools. Don’t let the word scare you.
Then comes the one part I specifically wanted to show you on screen, so you don’t go nuts.
You’ll be asked to type your Bitwarden master password into the Terminal. Not into the chat. Never into the chat. And when you type it, nothing shows up. No dots, no stars. The cursor just sits there blinking. That’s normal. It’s there, you just can’t see it.
Type it carefully, press Enter, and it’ll ask you to type it a second time to confirm. Once that’s done, your Mac’s Keychain holds the one thing needed to unlock Bitwarden, and Bitwarden holds everything else.
You do that once. You’re set.
And please, don’t use the same password for everything.
If you paste a key by mistake
It happens. You’re moving fast, you copy the wrong thing, and boom, there’s a key in the chat.
The skill is built to catch this. Claude won’t use it, repeat it or save it anywhere. And it’ll tell you straight: that key is now part of the conversation, so treat it as exposed.
Then fix it. Go to that app’s settings, create a new key, and delete or revoke the old one. Save the new one in your password manager, and from then on Claude uses it the safe way. Five minutes of annoyance beats a key floating around in a chat history.
Keep keys out of your files and GitHub too
Later in this series I’m going to show you how to back up your whole workspace to GitHub. It gives you a history of everything, so you can roll back any change. I love it.
But that history is exactly why you have to be careful. If a key or a password gets into a file that’s backed up to GitHub, it’s in the history. You can’t just delete the file and call it clean.
So the setup comes with guardrails:
- A .gitignore file, which is a list of things that should never be sent off your computer.
- A key scan hook in the Skills Kit that blocks anything shaped like a password or API key from being backed up.
Same goes for client data. Health info, intake answers, anything private. That stays on your computer or in a properly secured database. Nowhere else.
I’m building guardrails into this whole system so you don’t make the mistakes non-developers usually make. Not because you’re not smart. Because nobody ever told you.
Do this today
- Pick your password manager. If you don’t have one, set up a free Bitwarden account and install the browser extension.
- Move your keys in. Any API key sitting in a notes app, an email to yourself or a sticky note goes into the password manager with a clear name.
- Grab the Skills Kit from the free guide and have Claude install it.
- Say “set up my credentials.” Answer which password manager you use, and do the one-time Terminal step. Remember: the cursor blinks, nothing shows, that’s normal.
- Test it. Save a test item, then ask Claude to check it can find it by name. Watch the key never show up.
- Scroll back through your old chats. If you ever pasted a key, rotate it today.
Get the skill and watch me set it up
The Coach Credentials skill is in the free guide at thefmm.click/guide, along with the rest of the Skills Kit and the Coach Packet, the PDF with every cheat sheet from the video. The skill works with Bitwarden, 1Password or your Mac’s Keychain.
Want to see the whole setup, including the blinking-cursor moment? Watch the full video: Claude Code for Trainerize Coaches, the complete walkthrough
New here? Start with Trainerize AI: what it does and what it still can’t do, then come back to this one.
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