Admin Access & Emergency Recovery
How you sign into your server's admin panel, what the admin secret is, and how to retrieve it if you ever get locked out.
Your server has two ways into the admin panel: your identity (how you sign in day to day) and the admin secret (a break-glass key for emergencies). This guide explains the difference and shows you how to get your admin secret when you need it.
🤔 What's the admin secret?
When your server first starts, it generates a long random admin secret and stores it in your computer’s OS credential manager: Windows Credential Manager, macOS Keychain, or the Linux secret service. It’s a master key that grants full owner access to your server’s admin API. You don’t normally type it; it’s there for emergencies.
The two ways in
Your identity, the normal way. You manage your server by signing into the admin panel with the same Orbitr identity you use in the chat app. The first time you open the admin panel you claim the server with your identity, which makes you the owner. After that, signing in is just unlocking your identity.
The admin secret, the emergency way. If you ever can’t sign in with your identity (you lost the device that held it, or the backup, or you’re setting up from a brand-new machine), the admin secret gets you back in. The admin panel calls this Emergency access.
💡 You don't have to memorize it
Because the secret lives in your server machine’s credential manager, you can reveal it whenever you need it, so there’s nothing to write down at setup and nothing to lose. The one requirement is access to the server machine itself (or to wherever you deployed it).
Retrieve your admin secret
The easiest path is to ask the Server App, which reads it straight from the credential manager for you.
Open the Server App on the host machine
Go to the computer that runs your server and open the Orbitr Server app (the one with the tray icon, not the chat client).
Open Settings → Admin Secret
In the admin panel, go to Settings. The Admin Secret panel has a Reveal admin secret button. Click it to show the value, then use the copy button to put it on your clipboard.
⚠️ Treat it like a password
Anyone who has this secret has full owner access to your server. Don’t paste it into chats, screenshots, or anywhere it could be seen. Only reveal it on a machine you trust.
Paste it into Emergency access
Back on the device you’re locked out from, open the admin panel, expand Emergency access (admin secret), paste the secret, and click Connect. You’re in.
If you can’t open the Server App
You can also read the secret directly from the OS credential store on the server machine.
⚙ Windows Credential Manager
The secret is stored under the service name chat.orbitr.server with the key ADMIN_SECRET. Windows Credential Manager hides credential values in its UI, so the simplest way to read it is the Server App’s reveal button above. Power users can retrieve it programmatically with the Windows Credential APIs or a tool like PowerShell’s credential cmdlets against that service name.
macOS (Keychain) and Linux (secret service) server builds are coming soon; the secret is stored under the same chat.orbitr.server service name on those platforms.
⚙ Docker or manual deployments
If you run the server with Docker or started it yourself rather than with the Server App, there is no OS credential manager involved. The admin secret is simply the ADMIN_SECRET environment variable you set when you configured the container or process. Check your .env file, compose file, or deployment config.
Every use is logged
Using the admin secret against your server is a privileged action, so the server records it. Each emergency-access connection is written to your audit log as a critical event with the time and source, so if the secret is ever used, you’ll see it.
Rotating the secret
If you believe your admin secret has been exposed, replace it and check your audit log for any access you don’t recognize.
Rotate from Settings (recommended)
Open Settings → Admin Secret and choose Rotate, then confirm. A new secret is generated and takes effect immediately, with no restart, and the previous secret stops working the instant you confirm. The new value is shown once so you can copy it; on the Server App it’s also written back to your OS credential manager, so you can reveal it again here any time. Only the server owner can rotate it, and every rotation is recorded in your audit log as a critical event.
Fallback: Docker or manual deployments
If you can’t reach the panel, set a new value for the ADMIN_SECRET environment variable and restart the container or process. Note that once you’ve rotated from Settings at least once, the rotated secret is what’s accepted, and a stale ADMIN_SECRET env value from first boot is no longer valid until you rotate again or reset server state.
ℹ️ The env value is the bootstrap, not the source of truth
ADMIN_SECRET only seeds the very first secret. After any rotation the server validates against the rotated secret it stored (hashed), so rotating from Settings is the reliable way to invalidate a leaked key everywhere at once.
Next steps
- New here? Start with Set Up Your Server.
- Protect the other key to your world: Back Up Your Profile.
Orbitr PulsarOptional
Optional cloud identity backup and sync, so your identity follows you across devices.