Vaulty is a secure, lightweight password manager that operates entirely from your command line. Built with developers, system administrators, and security-conscious power users in mind, Vaulty combines military-grade encryption with the efficiency and scriptability of a CLI interface.
Unlike traditional password managers with bloated GUIs, Vaulty focuses on speed, security, and seamless integration with your existing terminal workflows. Whether you're storing website credentials, API keys, SSH keys, databases passwords, or secure notes, Vaulty provides a streamlined experience without sacrificing security.
Why Vaulty?
Vaulty brings together the best of both worlds: enterprise-grade security with the simplicity and power of command-line tools. Perfect for developers who live in the terminal and need quick, scriptable access to their credentials. Its lightweight footprint and lightning-fast operation make it ideal for both local development and server environments.
Zero-Knowledge Architecture
Your data is encrypted/decrypted locally; the server never sees plaintext data
Intuitive CLI Interface
Simple commands make password management fast and efficient
Military-Grade Encryption
AES-256-GCM encryption with Argon2 key derivation
Cross-Platform
Works identically on macOS, Linux, and Windows
Secure Synchronization
End-to-end encrypted sync across multiple devices
Scriptable
Easily integrate with shell scripts and automation workflows
Philosophy
Vaulty was created with several core principles in mind:
Security First - Security is never compromised for convenience. Your secrets remain yours alone.
Terminal-Centric - Built by CLI lovers, for CLI lovers. No unnecessary GUI elements to slow you down.
Minimalist Design - Do one thing and do it well. Manage secrets securely without feature bloat.
Open Architecture - Transparent encryption, open-source code, and extensible design.
Developer-Focused - Optimized for programming workflows, automation, and DevOps integration.
Installation
Prerequisites
Vaulty requires a relatively modern operating system:
macOS 10.15+
Windows 10+
Linux (with glibc 2.28+)
System requirements are minimal:
10MB of disk space
256MB of RAM
Basic terminal emulator
Install on macOS
The recommended installation method is via Homebrew:
brew install vaulty
Or you can download the binary directly:
curl -fsSL https://get.vaulty.reqnode.com | sh
For macOS with Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3):
curl -fsSL https://get.vaulty.reqnode.com | ARCH=arm64 sh
Install on Linux
For most Linux distributions, use our install script:
After installing, verify that Vaulty is working correctly:
vaulty --version
Vaulty v1.2.3
You can also verify the integrity of the installation:
vaulty doctor
✅ Vaulty installation: OK
✅ Dependencies: All present
✅ Configuration directory: Properly initialized
✅ Permissions: Correct
✅ Network connectivity: OK
Quickstart Guide
Initialize Vaulty
After installing Vaulty, you need to initialize it by creating a new vault:
vaulty init
You'll be prompted to create a master password. Choose a strong, memorable password that you won't forget.
Important
Your master password is the key to all your secrets. If you lose it, there's no way to recover your data. Make sure it's strong but memorable!
Example initialization process:
vaulty init
Welcome to Vaulty!
Creating a new vault...
Please enter a master password: ********
Confirm master password: ********
🔐 Master password set! Remember this password - it cannot be recovered if lost.
Creating vault...
Initializing configuration...
Setting up secure environment...
✅ Vault created successfully! Your vault is ready to use.
Start by adding your first secret: vaulty add github
Adding Your First Secret
Let's add your first password to the vault:
vaulty add github
You'll be prompted to enter your GitHub username and password. Vaulty will securely store this information in your encrypted vault.
vaulty add github
Adding new password entry: github
Username: janedoe
Password: ***********
URL [optional]: https://github.com
Notes [optional]: My primary GitHub account
Would you like to add tags? [y/N]: y
Tags (comma-separated): work,dev,git
Added 'github' to vault. Entry ID: 01F3GH5T67J8K9L0MN1O2P3Q4R
You can also generate a strong password while adding a new entry:
vaulty add gitlab --generate
Adding new password entry: gitlab
Username: janedoe
Generated password: W4!zP9&kL2@cS5$vB8*jR3 (copied to clipboard)
URL [optional]: https://gitlab.com
Notes [optional]: Work GitLab account
Would you like to add tags? [y/N]: y
Tags (comma-separated): work,git
Added 'gitlab' to vault. Entry ID: 02G4HI6U78J9K0L1MN2O3P4Q5
Retrieving a Secret
To retrieve a stored secret:
vaulty get github
This will display the username and password for your GitHub account:
You can always access the built-in help with vaulty --help or get detailed information about a specific command with vaulty [command] --help.
vaulty init
Initialize a new vault with encryption key derived from your master password.
Example:
vaulty init
--force, -f
Force re-initialization (warning: this will delete existing vault)
--config PATH
Set custom configuration directory
vaulty add <name>
Add a new secret to the vault.
Example:
vaulty add netflix
--generate, -g
Generate a secure password
--length LEN
Length of generated password (default: 20)
--type TYPE
Type of secret (password, note, card) (default: password)
--tag, -t TAG
Add tags to the entry (can be specified multiple times)
vaulty get <name>
Retrieve and display a secret from the vault.
Example:
vaulty get github
--field, -f FIELD
Only display the specified field (username, password, url, notes)
--copy, -c
Copy the password or specified field to clipboard
--json
Output in JSON format
vaulty list
List all secrets in the vault.
Example:
vaulty list
--tag, -t TAG
Filter by tag
--type TYPE
Filter by type (password, note, card)
--json
Output in JSON format
vaulty edit <name>
Edit an existing secret.
Example:
vaulty edit github
--field, -f FIELD
Only edit the specified field
--generate, -g
Generate a new password
vaulty remove <name>
Remove a secret from the vault.
Example:
vaulty remove old-account
--force, -f
Skip confirmation prompt
vaulty generate
Generate a secure password without storing it.
Example:
vaulty generate --length 16
--length, -l LEN
Password length (default: 20)
--no-symbols
Exclude symbols from generated password
--copy, -c
Copy the generated password to clipboard
vaulty sync
Synchronize vault with remote server.
Example:
vaulty sync
--force, -f
Force sync (override merge conflicts)
Vault Management
Backing Up Your Vault
It's crucial to regularly back up your vault. Even though Vaulty encrypts all your data, having a backup provides additional protection against data loss.
To create a backup of your vault:
vaulty backup ~/vaulty-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).enc
Enter master password: ********
Creating encrypted backup...
Backup created successfully: /home/user/vaulty-backup-20230415.enc
To restore from a backup:
vaulty restore ~/vaulty-backup-20230415.enc
Enter master password for backup: ********
Restoring from backup...
Vault restored successfully from backup!
Important
Restoring from a backup will overwrite your current vault. Make sure you're certain before proceeding.
Changing Your Master Password
It's a good security practice to periodically change your master password:
vaulty change-master
Enter current master password: ********
Enter new master password: ********
Confirm new master password: ********
Recalculating encryption keys...
Re-encrypting vault contents...
✅ Master password changed successfully!
Synchronizing Across Devices
Vaulty supports secure synchronization of your vault across multiple devices through its built-in sync capability:
vaulty sync
Authenticating with sync server...
Checking for changes...
Downloading latest vault state...
Merging changes...
Uploading local changes...
✅ Sync completed successfully. 7 items synced.
To set up sync on a new device, you'll need to initialize a new vault and then link it to your existing vault:
vaulty init
vaulty sync --link
Please enter your Vaulty Account credentials:
Email: [email protected]
Password: ********
Retrieving account information...
Downloading vault metadata...
Merging with local vault...
✅ Sync completed successfully. Your vault is now linked to your account.
Importing from Other Password Managers
Vaulty supports importing from several popular password managers:
vaulty import lastpass export.csv
Importing from LastPass export...
Found 53 entries.
Importing...
✅ Import completed! 53 entries added to your vault.
Supported import formats:
LastPass (CSV)
1Password (1PIF or CSV)
Bitwarden (JSON)
KeePass (XML)
Dashlane (CSV)
Generic CSV (requires column mapping)
Security Model
Encryption Architecture
Vaulty uses a modern, zero-knowledge encryption architecture to ensure your data remains secure:
AES-256-GCM - Industry-standard symmetric encryption with authenticated encryption
Argon2id - State-of-the-art key derivation function for password stretching
Zero-knowledge design - Your master password and decryption keys never leave your device
HMAC verification - Tamper-proof data integrity validation
Secure remote synchronization - Only encrypted data is transferred over the network
Each secret in your vault is individually encrypted with its own encryption key, which is derived from your master password using a key derivation function designed to be computationally expensive for attackers.
Local Security
Vaulty implements several additional security measures to protect your data locally:
Memory protection - Sensitive data is cleared from memory after use
Auto-lock - Vault automatically locks after a period of inactivity
Secure clipboard handling - Automatic clipboard clearing after passwords are copied
No cache or temporary files - Decrypted data is never written to disk
Zero-Knowledge Synchronization
When synchronizing your vault across devices, Vaulty ensures that:
Only encrypted data is transmitted to the server
The server never has access to your master password or encryption keys
All communication with the server is encrypted using TLS
Metadata is minimized to reduce information exposure
This approach ensures that even if the sync server were compromised, your secrets would remain secure.
Open Source
Vaulty's security model is strengthened by its open source nature:
The entire codebase is available for public review
Security researchers can verify the implementation
Cryptographic implementations use audited, widely-reviewed libraries
Regular security audits are performed by third-party experts