CloakBin is a self-hosted pastebin designed to keep shared text and code private from the service hosting it.
Content is encrypted and decrypted in the browser, while the server stores only ciphertext. The decryption key is held in the URL fragment, which is not transmitted to the server, giving CloakBin a zero-knowledge design.
Built with SvelteKit and TypeScript, CloakBin provides a modern web interface for sharing snippets, source code, credentials, notes, and other text without storing readable content on the server. It can run on infrastructure controlled by the user or organisation, keeping the service configuration and storage location under local control.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- AES-256-GCM encryption using the Web Crypto API.
- Optional password protection with PBKDF2 key derivation.
- Burn-after-reading for self-destructing pastes.
- Configurable expiry, including persistent pastes.
- Syntax highlighting with automatic language detection.
- No accounts, analytics, tracking cookies, or other user-tracking requirements.
- Command-line interface for creating and retrieving encrypted pastes.
- HTTP API for integration with scripts and other applications.
- Administration interface for managing a self-hosted instance.
- Choice of in-memory storage or MongoDB.
- Health-check endpoint suitable for container orchestration and monitoring.
- Responsive interface for desktop and mobile browsers.
- Paste viewer with line numbers, word wrapping, copy controls, and line and character counts.
- Editor features include file import, content-size information, font-size controls, and whitespace tidying.
- Live expiry countdown for time-limited pastes.
- Password strength indication when adding password protection.
- Raw paste view with a dedicated copy control.
- Documented security model covering ciphertext formats, fragment keys, and the project’s threat model.
Website: github.com/Ishannaik/CloakBin
Support:
Developer: Ishan Naik
License: GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
CloakBin is written primarily in TypeScript. Learn TypeScript with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Self-Hosted Pastebin Alternatives | |
|---|---|
| PrivateBin | Minimalist, online pastebin |
| Opengist | Self-hosted pastebin powered by Git |
| MicroBin | Super tiny, feature rich, configurable, and self-contained |
| wastebin | Minimal pastebin |
| rustypaste | Minimal file upload and text-sharing service written in Rust |
| NoPaste | Client-side paste service |
| Paste69 | Go-based pastebin service |
| lesma | Simple paste app, friendly with browser and command line |
| Drift | Self-hostable Gist and paste service |
| Paaster | Secure, user-friendly service for sharing text and code snippets |
| bin | Minimal pastebin |
| Pastefy | Self-hosted web app for securely sharing text snippets and files |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |
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