From a640bc1faf708a5f5302c51715020fec283b4e87 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Fredrik Johansson <fredrik.johansson@intraphone.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:52:02 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] keep pull: fill saved template with real values by default

A bare key/value dump throws away the comments/structure a template
preserves; now a plain pull reconstitutes the real .env from the
template when the vault has one, falling back to the flat dump
otherwise. --template still returns the redacted structure alone.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 README.md                 | 11 ++++++++---
 src/cli/commands/vault.ts |  6 ++++--
 src/cli/envFormat.ts      | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 src/cli/index.ts          |  3 ++-
 4 files changed, 31 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e608f82..b850fc7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -124,14 +124,19 @@ Comments explaining *where a value comes from* or *why it exists* are
 exactly the kind of context a bare key/value pair throws away, so this
 keeps it without keeping the secret itself around unencrypted anywhere.
 
+A plain `keep pull` uses that template by default: if the vault has one,
+you get real values filled back into it, comments and all — not just a
+bare key/value dump. Ask for the redacted structure itself with:
+
 ```bash
 keep pull myapp/production --template > .env.example
 ```
 
 Vaults pushed before this existed just don't have a saved template —
-`keep pull --template` on one of those fails with a clear error instead
-of silently returning nothing. No migration needed; push again and the
-template gets backfilled from whatever `.env` you push next.
+`keep pull` on one of those falls back to a plain key/value dump, and
+`keep pull --template` fails with a clear error instead of silently
+returning nothing. No migration needed; push again and the template
+gets backfilled from whatever `.env` you push next.
 
 ## Granting, revoking, rotating
 
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/vault.ts b/src/cli/commands/vault.ts
index fa3c4b0..3006b55 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/vault.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/vault.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import fs from 'node:fs';
 import { requireIdentityAndRecipientId } from '../identityStore.js';
 import { signedFetch, adminFetch, expectOk } from '../signedFetch.js';
-import { parseEnv, serializeEnv, buildEnvTemplate } from '../envFormat.js';
+import { parseEnv, serializeEnv, buildEnvTemplate, fillEnvTemplate } from '../envFormat.js';
 import {
   ready,
   Identity,
@@ -89,7 +89,9 @@ export async function vaultPull(vaultKey: string, format: 'env' | 'json', outFil
     return;
   }
 
-  const out = format === 'json' ? JSON.stringify(values, null, 2) : serializeEnv(values);
+  const out = format === 'json'
+    ? JSON.stringify(values, null, 2)
+    : template !== undefined ? fillEnvTemplate(template, values) : serializeEnv(values);
   if (outFile) {
     fs.writeFileSync(outFile, out);
     console.error(`wrote ${Object.keys(values).length} key(s) to ${outFile}${previous ? ' (previous version)' : ''}`);
diff --git a/src/cli/envFormat.ts b/src/cli/envFormat.ts
index df72035..60435ef 100644
--- a/src/cli/envFormat.ts
+++ b/src/cli/envFormat.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,23 @@ export function serializeEnv(values: Record<string, string>): string {
 // — the whole point is to preserve the "why"/"where to get this" context
 // that plain parseEnv() throws away, without keeping the actual secret
 // around in the template.
+// Inverse of buildEnvTemplate: substitutes real values back into a
+// template's `KEY=` lines while leaving comments/blank lines/order intact.
+export function fillEnvTemplate(template: string, values: Record<string, string>): string {
+  return template
+    .split('\n')
+    .map(line => {
+      const trimmed = line.trim();
+      if (!trimmed || trimmed.startsWith('#')) return line;
+      const eq = line.indexOf('=');
+      if (eq === -1) return line;
+      const key = line.slice(0, eq);
+      const value = values[key.trim()] ?? '';
+      return `${key}=${/[\s#"']/.test(value) ? JSON.stringify(value) : value}`;
+    })
+    .join('\n');
+}
+
 export function buildEnvTemplate(text: string): string {
   return text
     .split('\n')
diff --git a/src/cli/index.ts b/src/cli/index.ts
index 6d8bf69..5e493f7 100644
--- a/src/cli/index.ts
+++ b/src/cli/index.ts
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ function printUsage(): void {
 
   keep push <vault> [--file .env] [--purge]   (--purge: don't retain the outgoing version as rollback)
   keep pull <vault> [--format env|json] [--out <path>] [--previous] [--template]
-                                               (--template: comments/structure with values redacted, not the secrets)
+                                               (fills the saved template with real values by default, if one exists;
+                                                --template: comments/structure with values redacted, not the secrets)
   keep grant <vault> <recipient-id> [--read-only]
   keep revoke <vault> <recipient-id>          (admin — needs KEEP_ADMIN_PASSWORD)
   keep log <vault>