Fireflies.ai Security Basics

Overview

Security essentials for Fireflies.ai: API key management, webhook HMAC-SHA256 signature verification, transcript access controls, and audit practices.

Prerequisites

• Fireflies.ai API key
• Understanding of environment variables
• HTTPS endpoint for webhooks (required by Fireflies)

Instructions

Step 1: Secure API Key Storage

# .env (NEVER commit)
FIREFLIES_API_KEY=your-api-key
FIREFLIES_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your-16-to-32-char-secret

# .gitignore
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local

Pre-commit hook to catch leaked keys:

#!/bin/bash
# .git/hooks/pre-commit
if git diff --cached --name-only | xargs grep -l 'FIREFLIES_API_KEY\s*=' 2>/dev/null; then
  echo "ERROR: Potential API key in commit. Remove before committing."
  exit 1
fi

Step 2: Webhook Signature Verification (HMAC-SHA256)

Fireflies signs webhook payloads with HMAC-SHA256. The signature arrives in the x-hub-signature header.

import crypto from "crypto";

function verifyFirefliesWebhook(
  payload: string,
  signature: string,
  secret: string
): boolean {
  const expected = crypto
    .createHmac("sha256", secret)
    .update(payload)
    .digest("hex");

  // Timing-safe comparison prevents timing attacks
  return crypto.timingSafeEqual(
    Buffer.from(signature),
    Buffer.from(expected)
  );
}

// Express middleware
import express from "express";
const app = express();

app.post("/webhooks/fireflies",
  express.raw({ type: "application/json" }),
  (req, res) => {
    const signature = req.headers["x-hub-signature"] as string;
    const payload = req.body.toString();

    if (!signature || !verifyFirefliesWebhook(payload, signature, process.env.FIREFLIES_WEBHOOK_SECRET!)) {
      console.warn("Invalid webhook signature rejected");
      return res.status(401).json({ error: "Invalid signature" });
    }

    const event = JSON.parse(payload);
    console.log(`Verified webhook: ${event.eventType} for ${event.meetingId}`);
    res.status(200).json({ received: true });
  }
);

Step 3: Configure Webhook Secret

1. Go to app.fireflies.ai/settings
2. Select Developer settings tab
3. Enter a 16-32 character secret or click Generate
4. Store the secret in your environment as FIREFLIES_WEBHOOK_SECRET

Step 4: Python Webhook Verification

import hmac, hashlib, json
from flask import Flask, request, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)

def verify_signature(payload: bytes, signature: str, secret: str) -> bool:
    expected = hmac.new(
        secret.encode(), payload, hashlib.sha256
    ).hexdigest()
    return hmac.compare_digest(signature, expected)

@app.post("/webhooks/fireflies")
def handle_webhook():
    signature = request.headers.get("x-hub-signature", "")
    if not verify_signature(request.data, signature, os.environ["FIREFLIES_WEBHOOK_SECRET"]):
        return jsonify({"error": "Invalid signature"}), 401

    event = request.json
    print(f"Verified: {event['eventType']} for {event['meetingId']}")
    return jsonify({"received": True})

Step 5: Transcript Privacy Levels

Fireflies supports these privacy levels via updateMeetingPrivacy:

// Lock a transcript to participants only
await firefliesQuery(`
  mutation($id: String!, $privacy: String!) {
    updateMeetingPrivacy(transcript_id: $id, privacy_level: $privacy)
  }
`, { id: "transcript-id", privacy: "participants" });

Step 6: API Key Rotation

set -euo pipefail
# 1. Generate new key in Fireflies dashboard (Integrations > Fireflies API)
# 2. Test new key
curl -s -X POST https://api.fireflies.ai/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEW_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "{ user { email } }"}' | jq '.data.user.email'

# 3. Update environment/secret store
# 4. Verify production
# 5. Old key is automatically invalidated when new one is generated

Security Checklist

• API key in environment variables, not code
• .env files in .gitignore
• Webhook signatures verified with HMAC-SHA256
• Webhook secret is 16-32 characters
• Transcript privacy set to participants or stricter
• Pre-commit hook catches key leaks
• Separate API keys for dev/staging/prod
• HTTPS required for all webhook endpoints

Error Handling

Output

• Secure API key storage with leak prevention
• HMAC-SHA256 webhook signature verification
• Privacy-controlled transcript access
• Key rotation procedure

Resources

• Fireflies Webhooks
• Fireflies Privacy Settings

Next Steps

For production deployment, see fireflies-prod-checklist.