An API key, an OAuth token, a username and password, a client secret: whenever a workflow needs to prove who it is to an outside service, it uses a credential you've stored in Tines 3B.
You add credentials when you set up a connector for a product like Slack, GitHub, or your own internal API. From then on, any action that calls that product authenticates with the credential you saved, so you never have to paste a secret into a workflow step.
Read how to create connectors here.
Where credentials live
Credentials belong to a connector, not to an individual step. You store the secret once, and every step that uses that connector shares it. This keeps sensitive values in one place and out of your workflow logic, so you can build, edit, and share workflows without exposing what's underneath.
How credentials stay protected
Tines 3B is built so that your secrets are hard to get at, even for the people running the system:
Encrypted before they leave your browser. Many credentials are sealed on your device the moment you enter them, so the plaintext value never travels to or rests on our servers.
Useless in a database dump. Stored credentials are encrypted with per-tenant keys whose private halves are never kept in readable form. A copy of the database on its own decrypts nothing.
Decrypted only when needed. A credential is unsealed in memory only at the moment a request goes out, and it is cleared once the run finishes.
How credentials get used
When a workflow makes an outbound request, Tines 3B attaches the right credential for you. It only does this when the request URL matches the pattern you set on the connector. That pattern acts as a boundary: your Slack token goes to Slack, your internal API key goes to your internal API, and a credential is never sent to a host you didn't approve.
You can set the pattern as a simple domain, such as *.example.com, or as a more precise expression when you need finer control.
Why this matters
Credentials let you connect Tines 3B to the rest of your stack without turning your secrets into a liability. You enter each value once, Tines 3B keeps it encrypted and scoped to the destination you chose, and your workflows stay clean and safe to share.