Update guidance to manage tokens in environment, rather than plaintext

[pandasa123]

URL, if applicable

• https://docs.quantum.ibm.com/guides/setup-channel#set-up-to-use-ibm-quantum-platform
• https://docs.quantum.ibm.com/guides/setup-channel#set-up-to-use-ibm-cloud
• https://docs.quantum.ibm.com/guides/functions#get-started-with-qiskit-functions

Describe the new content you are requesting.

What needs to updates?

Currently, we state the following:

Account credentials are saved in plain text, so only do so if you are using a trusted device.

This issue has two parts:

1. We should update the setup instructions
2. Places where we state the above warning, we should add a link for users to learn how securely manage their token
3. Update places where <YOUR_IQP_API_TOKEN> is stated to os.getenv("IQP_API_TOKEN")

Content

To store sensitive information like account credentials more securely, it’s a good practice to use environment variables instead of saving them in plain text. Here’s how you can modify your code to load the API token from an environment variable.

1. Set the environment variable:

Set the IQP_API_TOKEN environment variable in your system. You can do this by adding the following line to your shell profile (e.g., .bashrc, .zshrc) or by setting it directly in your terminal:

export IQP_API_TOKEN="<YOUR_IQP_API_TOKEN>"

2. Modify the Code to Retrieve the Token from the Environment Variable

Update your code to retrieve the token from the environment variable instead of saving it directly:

import os
from qiskit_ibm_catalog import QiskitFunctionsCatalog

# Gather the token from your environment
iqp_api_token = os.getenv("IQP_API_TOKEN")

QiskitFunctionsCatalog.save_account(token=iqp_api_token)

If this new content request is accepted, do you want to write the content?

I can help the team by providing enough information to write the material

[javabster]

if possible would be good to put this inside a twisty to save some space in an already long page