An application having an application architecture including an application programming interface (API) client capable of automatically retrieving a passphrase from a secure passphrase vault based on a user authentication ID used to access the application is provided. The passphrase is used to access a secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) authentication key via an API server communicatively connected to the API client. The SFTP authentication key is used to authenticate an SFTP file transfer request from the application to an intended file recipient.