Build a configuration reference from the exact code revision it documents: extract flags, environment-variable names, config keys, help text, and supported value shapes from the parser and validators. Do not let generated prose supply production defaults, secret classifications, or release requirements. Put those operational facts in signed fields owned by a named reviewer; keep unresolved values marked UNSIGNED and block publication until required fields are complete.
Separate extracted facts, drafted prose, and signed operational facts
A reliable config reference needs an explicit authority model. Treat each field according to the evidence that can establish it, rather than presenting every cell as equally certain.
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| Lane | Fields | Authority and treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Compile | Flag names, environment names, config keys, help strings, and non-secret value shapes | Extract from the documented revision’s parsers, literal references, types, choices, and validators. Verify the inventory against that same revision. |
| Draft | Short purpose prose | Start with existing help text. A drafting tool may improve its clarity, but unsupported explanations stay marked DRAFT_NEEDED. |
| Signed | Production default, secret class, required-in-production status, and deprecation or breakage window | A named human reviewer supplies an operational source and signs the value. Do not infer these from a model’s guess, a flag name, or an environment-variable identifier. |
Use a closed vocabulary for secret classes—for example, public, confidential, and prohibited-in-logs—and document what each class means in your organization. This reduces label drift; it does not replace a security review. A name containing TOKEN is not enough to classify the value.
The Tool Desk
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Run inventory generation against the same commit that will be released or published. The example approach described here scans a narrow set of Python argparse calls and literal os.environ/getenv references, then deduplicates identifiers. It is a small worked example, not a complete inventory for every codebase.
#1 Best Overall
That scope matters: dynamically assembled names may be missed. A project using YAML schemas, Cobra command trees, or reflection-heavy frameworks needs an extractor built for those sources. A clean output from a narrow extractor is not evidence that it found every setting.
Generate a grid that makes uncertainty visible
Emit the extracted identifiers and supported behavior into a stable grid. Use existing help strings as the starting point for purpose. Leave operational cells visibly unsigned until a reviewer establishes them from an appropriate source.
| Identifier | Kind / supported shape | Purpose | Production default | Secret class | Required in production? | Deprecation / breakage window | Operational source and signer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
--region |
Use the parser’s choices, type, or validator; not stated in this example | Use the existing help string; otherwise DRAFT_NEEDED |
UNSIGNED |
UNSIGNED |
UNSIGNED |
UNSIGNED |
UNSIGNED |
WIDGET_API_TOKEN |
Environment variable; further shape must come from the application | Use the existing help string; otherwise DRAFT_NEEDED |
UNSIGNED |
UNSIGNED |
UNSIGNED |
UNSIGNED |
UNSIGNED |
These rows illustrate the format only. They are not telemetry from a live service: in particular, they do not establish a region default, token status, or release timing for another system. Do not put example credentials in a token row.
Keep the drafting step narrow and non-sensitive
Give a drafting tool only the identifiers, their kinds, and existing help text needed to improve purpose descriptions. Do not send it live secrets, customer identifiers, or private incident details. Do not ask it to invent defaults, sample credentials, production requirements, security labels, or release commitments. If the available evidence does not support an explanation, preserve DRAFT_NEEDED for a person to resolve.
Rank #3
Have an owner sign operational cells against operational sources
A named reviewer should verify production defaults, secret classes, whether each setting is required in production, and any deprecation or breakage window against sources such as deployment manifests, runbooks, launch requirements, and release policy. Record the source and signer alongside the field, and retain the review in a named commit. If no source establishes a value, leave it UNSIGNED; a plausible-looking value is not a substitute for evidence.
Block publication on incomplete signed fields
Add a deterministic CI publication check for the columns that require human sign-off. It can reject markers such as UNSIGNED, DRAFT_NEEDED, TODO, TBD, probably, and typically in those columns. Apply the check to the rendered reference or its structured source, and fail the publishing job when a required cell remains incomplete or hedged.
This gate detects unfinished documentation; it cannot prove a signed value is true in production. Correctness still depends on the reviewer, the operational source, and the documented code revision.
Preserve signatures when regenerating the grid
A generator can overwrite hand-signed content when it reruns. Store signed operational fields separately and merge them back by stable identifier, or use another mechanism that preserves reviewer-owned data. Then validate that every signed entry still belongs to the current identifier and revision; stale signatures should not silently carry forward after a setting changes.
Best Value
Document secret handling as tool-specific behavior
Do not generalize a CLI’s secret-handling behavior to other tools. For example, OpenClaw’s CLI refuses secret values supplied through --value, citing exposure through shell history and process listings, and documents stdin, a value file, and an interactive no-echo prompt as alternatives. Its secrets audit can report plaintext residues, unresolved references, and precedence drift. Those are OpenClaw-specific features, not a universal command-line contract.
OpenClaw also distinguishes plain-value input, SecretRef-builder input, provider-builder input, and batch mode. Its dry-run checks depend on input mode: a plain-value dry run does not perform the full schema and ordinary SecretRef-resolvability checks, while JSON modes do. State exactly what the documented tool validates for the chosen input mode instead of implying that every --dry-run checks every constraint.
Gemini CLI documents best-effort redaction of potential environment-variable secrets, using name- and value-based patterns and configurable allow/block lists. Redaction rules differ by tool and are not proof that a value is safe to disclose through another channel.
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Choose an extractor and publication policy that fit the project
- Match extraction coverage to the source system. A narrow Python call scanner is unsuitable as a universal inventory for dynamic names or projects whose schema lives elsewhere.
- Require provenance for operational cells. A value without a reviewer and an appropriate source is not a signed production fact.
- Protect human edits during regeneration. Keep signatures separate or otherwise prevent generated output from overwriting them.
- Make publication enforceable. If the publishing system cannot refuse a page with incomplete signed cells, the workflow cannot guarantee that unsigned operational claims stay out of the published reference.
This approach is a poor fit if regulated releases require signed values before any draft exists, or if the publication pipeline cannot block incomplete signed fields. In those cases, make the signed source of truth a prerequisite and generate the public reference only after approval.
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