agevault is a small command-line utility for treating a directory as an encrypted vault using age.
Its workflow deliberately stays narrow: generate a passphrase-protected identity, lock a directory, and unlock it again when access is required. When locking a vault, agevault archives the directory and encrypts that archive to the public recipient embedded in the identity filename. Unlocking requires the passphrase needed to decrypt the corresponding private identity. This means possession of either the identity file or passphrase alone is insufficient. The project intentionally exposes no general configuration system, keeping the workflow close to age’s simplicity. Upstream explicitly states that agevault has been tested but has not undergone a formal security audit.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Generate X25519 age identities directly from the command line.
- Protect the generated private identity with passphrase-based age encryption.
- Lock a directory without asking for the identity passphrase.
- Require the protected identity and its passphrase when unlocking the vault.
- Package directory contents into a tar archive before encryption.
- Use age itself for the cryptographic operations rather than implementing a new encryption scheme.
- Securely overwrite and remove the plaintext directory after a successful lock operation.
- Remove the encrypted vault file after it has been successfully unlocked.
- Recognise when a vault is already locked or already unlocked.
- Reject locking when the requested directory is missing.
- Detect a missing identity file before attempting decryption.
- Retain compatibility with vault data produced using the project’s earlier archive format.
- Keep the command interface limited to key generation, locking and unlocking.
- Support directories whose names begin with a dot.
Website: github.com/ndavd/agevault
Support:
Developer: Nuno David
License: MIT License
agevault is written in Go. Learn Go with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| CLI File Encryption Tools | |
|---|---|
| SOPS | Editor of encrypted files |
| age | Simple file encryption tool |
| GnuPG | Implementation of the OpenPGP standard |
| Sequoia PGP | Comprehensive OpenPGP implementation |
| horcrux | File splitter with encryption and redundancy |
| rage | Simple encryption tool using the age format |
| Kryptor | Simple, modern, and secure file encryption and signing tool |
| transcrypt | Transparently encrypt sensitive files stored in Git repositories |
| Picocrypt | Very small (hence Pico), very simple, yet very secure encryption tool |
| enc | Designed as a modern, approachable alternative to GnuPG |
| ccrypt | Tool for encrypting and decrypting files and streams |
| Encpipe | Billed as the simplest encryption tool in the world |
| Volaris | Encryption tool designed to prioritize privacy and security |
| sigtool | Sign, verify, encrypt and decrypt files from the command line |
| eddy | Simple and fast CLI file encryption |
| Xecrets Cli | AxCrypt compatible encryption tool |
| nacrypt | Simple and easy-to-use file encryption utility |
| agevault | Encrypt and decrypt directories securely using age |
| v02enc | Symmetric encryption for multiple recipients |
| PurrCrypt | Fur-ociously secure encryption tool |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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