secman

A CLI secret manager

secman is a command line tool for handling secrets (like passwords, credentials etc). The reason of this CLI is to give the user control of where and how the secrets are stored, and to not rely on a third party on keeping the secrets safe.

• Introduction
• Install
  • Autocompletion
• Usage
  • Initial setup
  • Generate a secret
  • Create a secret
  • Get a secret
  • Update a secret
  • Delete a secret
  • Exporting a profile
  • Importing a profile

Introduction

The default (and initially only supported) storage method stores the secret collection in a file on a local (or network) filesystem. This file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM and the key is generated by the CLI.

The secrets are each individually encrypted with AES-256-GCM with a key generated from a password set by the user.

These keys are stored in the credential manager/keychain of the OS the CLI is run on. These are:

• Keychain for macOS
• Credential Manager (wincred) for Windows
• Secret Service (dbus) for Linux

There are plans on plugins that enables the secrets to be stored on various storage providers. This does put some reliance on a third party, but the case still stands; the keys for the collection and the secrets being in the hands of the user.

Install

Install scripts for the various OS are underway and worked upon. For now either:

• Manual install (download from releases)
• Use go install
• Build from source

Manual install

1. Go to releases.
2. Download the archive that matches the systems operating system and architecture.
3. Extract the binary and move it to an appropriate target destination (preferably in $PATH):

# tar.gz
tar -xvf secman-<version>-<os>-<arch>.tar.gz && mv secman /path/to/target/directory
# zip
unzip secman-<version>-<os>-<arch>.zip && mv secman /path/to/target/directory

Note: The archive file contains the binary secman together with README.md, LICENSE and LICENSE-THIRD-PARTY.md.

Use go install

go install github.com/KarlGW/secman

Build from source

Building from source requires Go v1.21.1 installed on the system.

git clone github.com/KarlGW/secman
cd secman

OS=<os> # darwin, linux or windows.
ARCH=<arch> # amd64 or arm64.
GOOS=$OS GOARCH=$ARCH go build -ldflags="-w -s" -trimpath -o build/secman cmd/secman/main.go

Autocompletion

To enable auto/tab completion for secman follow the steps below depending on shell.

Bash

Current session:

PROG=secman source <(secman completion bash)

For all sessions:

echo -e "\n# secman\nPROG=secman source <(secman completion bash)" >> ~/.bashrc

Zsh

Current session:

PROG=secman source <(secman completion zsh)

For all sessions:

echo -e "\n# secman\nPROG=secman source <(secman completion zsh)" >> ~/.zshrc

PowerShell

First create the autocompletion script:

./secman completion powershell >> "$(Split-Path $PROFILE)/secman.ps1"

Current session:

& "$(Split-Path $PROFILE)/secman.ps1"

For all sessions:

"& $(Split-Path $PROFILE)/secman.ps1" >> $PROFILE

Usage

Initial setup

When using secman the key for the secret collection will be generated and set in the credential manager. Then a "master password" must be used to generate the key for the secret.

secman profile new
secman profile set --password

# Or set a password when creating the profile.
secman profile new --password

This will prompt for a password. This will generate a key and set it in the credential manager, and this key will be used for encrypting the secrets in the collection.

To update the password/key for all current and future secrets, run the command again.

Generate a secret

secman generate

Create a secret

Set value from flag

secman create --name <name> --value <secret-value>

Set value from clipboard

secman create --name <name> --clipboard

Set value from stdin pipe

# Provided value
echo "value" | secman create --name <name>
# Generate
secman generate | secman create --name <name>

Get a secret

List details of all secrets

secman list

Show details of a secret

secman get --name <name>

Get the value of the secret

secman get --name <name> --decrypt

Get the value of the secret and set to clipboard

secman get --name <name> --decrypt --clipboard

(The value will not be shown, it will be available within the OS clipboard ready to be pasted where needed)

Update a secret

Update value from flag

secman update --name <name> --value <new-secret-value>

Update value from clipboard

secman update --name <name> --clipboard

Update value from stdin pipe

# Provided value
echo "value" | secman update --name <name>
# Generate
secman generate | secman update --name <name>

Delete a secret

secman delete --name <name>

Exporting a profile

The currently set profile and it associated file and secret encryption keys can be exported. Before a file is exported the secret key (password) of the profile must be entered. In addition to this the resulting file is encrypted with yet another password.

This password must be used when importing the profile to decrypt the file.

secman profile export --file <output-file>

Importing a profile

secman profile import --file <input-file>