What is the best way to keep my Google Maps API key secure in an Angular application?

My Angular application has a TypeScript page that makes calls to Google Maps Timezone API. However, I am currently storing both the url and key as hardcoded strings in my code.

I'm questioning whether this is a good practice and wondering what would be the best way to store these values (url, key)?

  1. Should I store them in the environment file?

  2. Or should I fetch them from the server every time they are needed?

  3. Maybe there's another file within the Angular project where they could be stored?

Currently, I construct the URL by hardcoding it in the .ts file like this:

const url = 'https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/timezone/json?location=' + this.latitude.value + ',' + this.longitude.value + '&timestamp=' + Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000).toString() + '&key=' + 'my-google-key';
const timeZoneResult = await fetch(url, {
method: 'GET'
});
const timeZone = await timeZoneResult.json();

Answer №1

When it comes to angular applications, the distinction between client-side and server-side is crucial. It is recommended to store keys and API URLs in environment files due to differing values in various environments, which are resolved during production code generation. However, if you prefer to keep this information on the server-side:

  1. Create a resolver for the initial route to retrieve the keys and URLs from the server API.
  2. Utilize APP_INITIALIZER to check for initialization when the application loads.

The first approach may cause issues with multiple triggers when visiting the route, so maintaining a flag to monitor script URL triggering is advised. These methods allow you to access server APIs, obtain URLs and TOKENs, and add them to the DOM.

Adding an extra layer of authentication/authorization for users before accessing APIs adds further security measures on top of the previous steps.

It's worth noting that services like these are often linked to domains, so even if keys are stored on the client side (in Angular app environment files), it should not pose significant risks (as far as my knowledge goes).

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