prs

A secure, fast & convenient password manager CLI using GPG and git to sync.

prs is a secure, fast and convenient password manager for the terminal. It features GPG to securely store your secrets and integrates git for automatic synchronization between multiple machines. It also features a built-in password generator, recipient management, history tracking, rollbacks, housekeeping utilities, Tomb support and more.

No demo visible here? View it on asciinema.

prs is heavily inspired by pass and uses the same file structure with some additions. prs therefore works alongside with pass and all other compatible clients, extensions and migration scripts.

Features
Usage
Requirements
Install
Build
Security
FAQ
Help
License

Features

Fully featured fast & friendly command line tool
Temporary copy secrets to clipboard
Uses the battle-tested GPG to secure your secrets
Automatic synchronization with git including history tracking
Supports multiple machines with easy recipient management
Easily edit secrets using your default editor
Supports smart aliases, property selection
Compatible with pass*
Supports Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD and others, supports X11 and Wayland
Supports multiple cryptography backends (more backends & crypto in the future)
Seamless Tomb support to prevent metadata leakage*
Scriptable with -y, -f, -I flags
Accurate & useful error reporting

prs includes some awesome tweaks and optimizations:

Greatly improved synchronisation speed through git with connection reuse
Super fast interactive secret/recipient selection through skim
Prevents messing with your clipboard, no unexpected overwrites or clipboard loss
When using Tomb, it is automatically opened, closed and resized for you
Commands have short and conventional aliases for faster and more convenient usage
Uses security best practices (secrets: zeroed, mlock, madvice, no format, etc)

Usage

# Show useful commands (based on current password store state)
prs

# Easily add, modify and remove secrets with your default editor:
prs add site/gitlab.com
prs edit site/gitlab.com
prs duplicate my/secret extra/secret
prs alias my/secret extra/alias
prs move my/secret extra/secret
prs remove site/gitlab.com

# Or generate a new secure password
prs generate site/gitlab.com

# Temporary show or copy secrets to clipboard:
prs show
prs show site/gitlab.com
prs copy
prs copy site/gitlab.com

# Manually synchronize password store with remote repository or do some housekeeping
prs sync
prs housekeeping
prs housekeeping run
prs housekeeping recrypt

# Manage recipients when using multiple machines
prs recipients add
prs recipients list
prs recipients remove
prs recipients generate
prs recipients export

# Commands support shorter/conventional commands and aliases
prs a secret  # add
prs c         # copy
prs s         # show
prs rm        # remove
prs yeet      # remove

# List all commands and help
prs help

Requirements

Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, Windows (other BSDs might work)
A terminal 😎
And:

Run: git, gnupg, gpgme
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install git gpg libgpgme11 tomb
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install git gnupg gpgme
- Arch: pacman -S git gnupg gpgme tomb
- Alpine: apk add git gnupg gpgme
- macOS: brew install gnupg gpgme
- Windows: scoop install git gpg fzf
Build: git, gnupg, gpgme dev packages and dev utilities
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install git gpg build-essential pkg-config python3 xorg-dev libx11-xcb-dev libdbus-1-dev libgpgme-dev tomb
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install git gnupg gpgme-devel pkgconfig python3 xorg-x11-devel libxcb-devel
- Arch: pacman -S git gnupg gpgme pkgconf python3 xorg-server libxcb tomb
- Alpine: apk add git gnupg gpgme-dev pkgconfig
- macOS: brew install gnupg gpgme
- Windows: scoop install git gpg fzf

Specific

Specific features or crates require specific dependencies as shown below.

The listed dependencies might be incorrect or incomplete. If you believe there to be an error, please feel free to contribute.

[Required] Minimal requirements

Run & build: gpg and git
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install git gpg
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install git gnupg
- Arch: pacman -S git gnupg
- Alpine: apk add git gnupg
- macOS: brew install gpg
- Windows: scoop install git gpg fzf

[Recommended] Feature: GPGME backend

--feature=backend-gpgme

Run: gpgme & build tools
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install libgpgme11
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install gpgme
- Arch: pacman -S gpgme
- Alpine: apk add gpgme
- macOS: brew install gpgme
- Windows: not supported
Build: _gpgme dev package
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install build-essential pkg-config libgpgme-dev
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install pkgconfig gpgme-devel
- Arch: pacman -S pkgconf gpgme
- Alpine: apk add pkgconfig gpgme-dev
- macOS: brew install gpgme
- Windows: not supported

[Recommended] Feature: Clipboard

--feature=clipboard

Run:
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install xorg libx11-xcb-dev wl-clipboard
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install pkgconfig xorg libxcb wl-clipboard
- Arch: pacman -S pkgconf xorg-server python3 libxcb wl-clipboard
- Alpine: ?
- macOS: none
- Windows: none
Build:
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install build-essential pkg-config python3 xorg-dev libx11-xcb-dev
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install pkgconfig python3 xorg-x11-devel libxcb-devel
- Arch: pacman -S pkgconf xorg-server python3 libxcb
- Alpine: ?
- macOS: none
- Windows: none

Note: xorg, libx11-xcb are only required at runtime when using X11. wl-clipboard are only required at runtime when using Wayland.

[Recommended] Feature: Notifications

--feature=notify

Run:
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: something supporting notifications with libnotify
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: something supporting notifications with libnotify
- Arch: something supporting notifications with libnotify
- Alpine: something supporting notifications with libnotify
- macOS: none
- Windows: none
Build: gpgme dev package
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install libdbus-1-dev
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install dbus-libs
- Arch: pacman -S dbus
- Alpine: apk add dbus
- macOS: none
- Windows: none

Feature: Tomb

--feature=tomb

Run: tomb
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install tomb
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: installation
- Arch: pacman -S tomb
- Alpine: installation
- macOS: not supported
- Windows: not supported

Client: GTK3 client

crate: prs-gtk3 @ ./gtk3

Run: gtk3
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install libgtk-3-0 libgl1-mesa0
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install gtk3
- Arch: pacman -S gtk3
- Alpine: apk add gtk+3.0 --repository=http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main
- macOS: brew install gtk+3
- Windows: not supported
Build: gtk3 dev packages
- Ubuntu, Debian and derivatives: apt install libgtk-3-dev libgl1-mesa-dev
- CentOS/Red Hat/openSUSE/Fedora: yum install gtk3-devel
- Arch: pacman -S gtk3
- Alpine: apk add gtk+3.0-dev --repository=http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main
- macOS: brew install gtk+3
- Windows: not supported

Install

Because prs is still in early stages, only limited installation options are available right now. Feel free to contribute.

Make sure you meet and install the 'Run' requirements.

See the operating system/distribution specific instructions below:

Linux: Arch
Other (other Linux's, macOS)

Linux: Arch AUR packages

» prs (compiles from source, latest release)
» prs-git (compiles from source, latest master commit)

yay -S prs
# or
aurto add prs
sudo pacman -S prs
# or using any other AUR helper

prs --help

Other

Find the latest binaries on the latest release page:

Note: for Linux the GNU (not musl) binary is recommended if it works, because it has better clipboard/notification support.

# download binary from any source above

# make executable
chmod a+x ./prs

# optional: make globally executable
mv ./prs /usr/local/bin/prs

./prs --help

Build

To build and install prs yourself, you need the following:

Rust 1.53 or newer
The 'Build' requirements.

Not all features are supported on macOS or Windows. The default configuration should work. When changing compile time features, make sure to check for compatibility. See compiler features.

Compile and install

To compile and install prs with the default features follow these steps:

Compile and install it directly from cargo:

# Compile and install from cargo
cargo install prs-cli -f

# Start using prs
prs --help

Or clone the repository and install it with cargo:

# Clone the project
git clone https://github.com/timvisee/prs.git
cd prs

# Compile and install
cargo install --path cli -f

# Start using prs
prs --help

# or run it directly from cargo
cargo run --release --package prs-cli -- --help

# or invoke release binary directly
./target/release/prs --help

Compile features / use flags

Different use flags are available for prs to toggle whether to include various features and cryptography backends. The following features are available, some of which are enabled by default:

Feature	In	Enabled	Description
`alias`	`prc-cli`	Default	Support for secret aliases (partially supported on Windows)
`clipboard`	`prs-cli`	Default	Clipboard support: copy secret to clipboard
`notify`	`prs-cli`, `prs-gtk3`	Default	Notification support: notify on clipboard clear
`tomb`	all	Default	Tomb support for password store (only supported on Linux)
`backend-gpgme`	all		GPG crypto backend using GPGME (not supported on Windows)
`backend-gnupg-bin`	all	Default	GPG crypto backend using GnuPG binary
`select-skim`	`prc-cli`	Default	Interactive selection with skim (ignored on Windows)
`select-skim-bin`	`prs-cli`		Interactive selection through external `skim` binary
`select-fzf-bin`	`prs-cli`	Default	Interactive selection through external `fzf` binary

To enable features during building or installation, specify them with --features <features...> when using cargo. You may want to disable default features first using --no-default-features. Here are some examples:

# Default set of features with backend-gnupg-bin, install or build, one of
cargo install --path cli --features backend-gnupg-bin
cargo build --path cli --release --features backend-gnupg-bin

# No default features, except required, one of
cargo install --path cli --no-default-features --features backend-gpgme
cargo install --path cli --no-default-features --features backend-gnupg-bin

# With alias, clipboard and notification support, one of
cargo install --path cli --no-default-features --features backend-gpgme,alias,clipboard,notify
cargo install --path cli --no-default-features --features backend-gnupg-bin,alias,clipboard,notify

Security

Security is backed by gpg which is used all over the world and has been battle-tested for more than 20 years.

In summary, prs is secure to keep your deepest secrets when assuming the following:

You keep the password store directory (~/.password-store) safe
When using sync with git: you keep your remote repository safe
You use secure GPG keys
Your machines are secure

The content of secrets is encrypted and secured. Secrets are stored as encrypted GPG files. Some metadata is visible without decryption however. The name of a secret (file name), modification time (file modification time) and encrypted size (file size) are visible when you have access to the password store directory. To protect against this metadata leakage you may use a Tomb.

Security best practices are used in prs to prevent accidentally leaking any secret data. Sensitive data such as plaintext, ciphertext and others are referred to as 'secret' here.

Secrets are/use:

Zeroed on drop
Locked to physical memory, cannot leak to swap/disk (mlock)
Locked into memory, cannot be dumped/not included in core (madvice)
Not written to disk to edit (if possible)
String formatting is blocked
Constant time comparison to prevent time based attacks
Minimally cloned

The protection against leaking secrets has its boundaries, notably:

prs show prints secret data to stdout
prs edit may store secrets in a secure temporary file on disk if secure locations such as (/dev/shm) are not available, it then opens it in your default editor, and removes it afterwards
prs copy copies secret data to your clipboard, and clears it after 20 seconds

Reference: XKCD 538

Note: prs does not provide any warranty in any way, shape or form for damage due to leaked secrets or other issues.

FAQ

Is `prs` secure? How secure is `prs`?

Please read the Security section.

How do I use sync with git?

If you already have a remote password store repository that is compatible with prs, clone it using:

# Clone existing remote password store, automatically enables sync
prs clone MY_GIT_URL

# List secrets
prs list

If you do not have a remote password store repository yet, create one (an empty private repository on GitHub or GitLab for example), and run the following:

# Initialize new password store (if you haven't done so yet)
prs init

# Initialize sync functionality (if you haven't done so yet)
prs sync init

# Set your remote repository URL and sync to push your password store
prs sync remote MY_GIT_URL
prs sync

When sync is enabled on your password store, all commands that modify your secrets will automatically keep your remote store in sync.

To manually trigger a sync because you edited a secret on a different machine, run:

prs sync

How do I use `prs` on multiple machines and sync between them?

Note: adding and using your existing password store on a new/additional machine requires you to have access to a machine that already uses the store during setup.

First, you must have a password store on one machine. Create one (with prs init) if you don't have any yet. You must set up sync with a remote git repository for this passwords store, see the How do I use sync with git section.

To use your existing password store on a new machine, install prs and clone your remote password store:

# On new machine: clone existing password store from git remote
prs clone MY_GIT_URL

Then add a recipient to the password store for your new machine. I highly recommend to use a new recipient (GPG key pair) for each machine (so you won't have to share secret GPG keys). Add an existing secret GPG key as recipient, or generate a new GPG key pair, using:

# On new machine: add existing recipient or generate new one
prs recipients add --secret
# or
prs recipients generate

Your new machine can't read any password store secrets yet, because they are not encrypted for its recipient yet. Go back to an existing machine you already use the store on, and re-encrypt all secrets to also encrypt them for the new recipient:

# On existing machine: re-encrypt all secrets
prs housekeeping recrypt --all

This may take a while. Once done, sync on your new machine to pull in the updated secrets:

# On new machine: pull in all re-crypted secrets
prs sync

# You're done!
prs list

How do I use `prs` on mobile?

prs itself does not support mobile, but there are compatible clients you can use to use your password store on mobile.

See Compatible Clients on passs website.

Can I recover my secrets if I lost my key?

No, if you lose all keys, there is no way to recover your secrets.

You might lose your key (recipient, GPG secret key) if your machine crashes or if you reinstall it's operating system.

If you are using the same password store on multiple machines with git sync, you can still read the secrets on your other machines. To re-add the machine you lost your key on, remove the password store from it and see this section.

What is Tomb?

Tomb is a file encryption system. It can be used with prs to protect against metadata leakage of your password store.

When using Tomb with prs, your password store is stored inside an encrypted file. prs automatically opens and closes your password store Tomb for you as needed. This makes it significantly harder for malicious programs to list your password store contents.

This feature is inspired by pass-tomb, which is a pass extension for Tomb support. In prs this functionality is built-in.

Note: Tomb is only supported on Linux.

How to use Tomb?

prs has built-in support for Tomb on Linux systems. Please make sure prs is compiled with the tomb feature, and that Tomb is installed.

To initialize a Tomb for your current password store, simply invoke:

# Initialize tomb, this may take some time
prs tomb init

# Read tomb status
prs tomb status

To initialize a new password store in a Tomb, first initialize the password store then initialize the Tomb:

# Initialize new password store
prs init

# ...

# Initialize tomb, this may take some time
prs tomb init

If you already have a Tomb created with pass-tomb, no action is required. prs has seamless support for it, and it should automatically manage it for you. Invoke prs tomb status to confirm it is detected.

How to use Tomb on multiple machines?

A Tomb is local on your machine and is not synced. To use a Tomb on multiple machines you must initialize it on each of them.

Simply run prs tomb init on machines you don't use a Tomb on yet, and after cloning your password store on a new machine.

Is `prs` compatible with `pass`?

Yes.

prs uses the same file structure as pass. Other pass clients should be able to view and edit your secrets.

prs does add additional files and settings, some prs features may not work with other pass clients.

While the backing file structure is compatible, the command-line interface is not and differs from pass. This is to remove ambiguity and to improve overall usability.

See a list of compatible pass clients here.

Help

$ prs help

prs-cli 0.2.14
Tim Visee <3a4fb3964f@sinenomine.email>
Secure, fast & convenient password manager CLI with GPG & git sync

USAGE:
    prs [FLAGS] [SUBCOMMAND]

FLAGS:
    -f, --force          Force the action, ignore warnings
    -h, --help           Prints help information
    -I, --no-interact    Not interactive, do not prompt
    -q, --quiet          Produce output suitable for logging and automation
    -v, --verbose        Enable verbose information and logging
    -V, --version        Prints version information
    -y, --yes            Assume yes for prompts

SUBCOMMANDS:
    add             Add a secret
    alias           Alias/symlink a secret
    clone           Clone existing password store
    copy            Copy secret to clipboard
    duplicate       Duplicate a secret
    edit            Edit a secret
    generate        Generate a secure secret
    git             Invoke git command in password store
    help            Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
    housekeeping    Housekeeping utilities
    init            Initialize new password store
    list            List all secrets
    move            Move a secret
    recipients      Manage store recipients
    remove          Remove a secret
    show            Display a secret
    sync            Sync password store
    tomb            Manage password store Tomb

License

This project is released under the GNU GPL-3.0 license. Check out the LICENSE file for more information.

The library portion of this project is licensed under the GNU LGPL-3.0 license. Check out the lib/LICENSE file for more information.

NilsIrl/prs

prs