deadbolt

A decentralized password manager, in Rust. Your devices sync directly with each other over iroh; a new device joins only by pairing from one you already have. No accounts, no servers of our own.

Status: alpha. Every push to dev ships a build; there is no stable release yet.

Deadbolt comes as a CLI, a desktop app and a browser extension. Install the app or CLI, create a vault, then add the extension and your other devices. The standalone extension can also run on its own.

There is no stable release yet, so install the latest build of dev:

curl -fsSL https://deadbolt.pw/install | DEADBOLT_CHANNEL=dev sh

Or with bun or npm (Node 18+), which on macOS also brings Deadbolt.app (deadbolt app opens it and adds it to ~/Applications):

bun add -g @deadbolt/cli@dev  # the latest dev build; @deadbolt/cli once stable releases start
npm i -g @deadbolt/cli@dev

bun skips the package's install script; the first deadbolt run links it instead.

The script installs deadbolt to ~/.local/bin (set DEADBOLT_INSTALL to change it) and checks its SHA-256. It works on macOS and Linux, x64 and arm64. On macOS you can get the app instead: Deadbolt.app (dev), a universal build.

Once stable releases start, the script installs stable by default (DEADBOLT_VERSION pins one), and Homebrew and GitHub releases get them too:

brew install anomalyco/tap/deadbolt          # the CLI
brew install --cask anomalyco/tap/deadbolt   # Deadbolt.app for macOS, with its CLI

Run deadbolt in a terminal for the CLI, or deadbolt app (or Deadbolt from Applications, Spotlight or your launcher) for the app. Bare deadbolt started outside a terminal opens the app too; set DEADBOLT_NO_UI=1 in scripts that must never get a window. The app is built into deadbolt, and the same file still runs on a server with no display. On Linux the app's first opening adds Deadbolt to the app launcher (deadbolt desktop install does it again, deadbolt desktop uninstall takes it out). On Alpine and other musl systems the install script picks the static build, which has no app.

On your first device, create a vault:

deadbolt init

Or open the app and choose Create a vault.

To add another device, start on the new one and finish on one that has the vault:

deadbolt join          # on the new device: shows a code
deadbolt approve <code>   # on a device with the vault

In the app, the new device's Join from another device does the same. A code works once, for 5 minutes.

The extension works in Chromium-based browsers: Chrome, Brave, Arc, Edge, Chromium and Helium. It isn't in the Chrome Web Store yet, so you load it unpacked. It comes in two builds:

• Regular: fills from the Deadbolt app or CLI on the same computer.
• Standalone: its own Deadbolt device, with its own copy of the vault. No app or CLI needed.

Both builds have the same extension ID, so use one of them per browser profile.

Regular build. With Deadbolt installed, connect your browsers and pick a new, empty folder for the extension:

deadbolt browser install --extension-dir ~/deadbolt-extension
deadbolt update        # downloads the extension into that folder

Then load it:

1. Open chrome://extensions and turn on Developer mode.
2. Click Load unpacked and choose the folder.
3. After each deadbolt update, click reload on Deadbolt there.

Standalone build.

1. Download the zip and unzip it.
2. In chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked and choose the unzipped folder.
3. Choose Pair with an existing device (then run deadbolt approve <code> on a device with your vault) or Create a new vault.

An unpacked extension can't update itself. To update by hand, download the zip again and put it in place of the old folder. With the CLI installed, let it keep a folder current instead, and load that folder:

deadbolt browser install --standalone --extension-dir ~/deadbolt-extension
deadbolt update        # downloads it now, and every later release

A folder registered for one build can switch to the other with deadbolt browser switch --standalone (or --native); then reload Deadbolt in chrome://extensions.

Found a problem? In the standalone build, use Settings → Report an issue; otherwise open an issue.

deadbolt update

This updates Deadbolt.app or the deadbolt it runs from (running npm, pnpm, bun, yarn or Homebrew when one of them installed it), and every extension folder registered with deadbolt browser install --extension-dir. Reload the extension afterwards. The daemon checks for updates in the background and only tells you (one line at a terminal at most once a day, and in the app's Settings; deadbolt update --check asks on the spot); it never installs anything itself. DEADBOLT_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 turns the check off. Releases: docs/releasing.md.

The mobile apps (iOS and Android) are in progress, and Safari AutoFill on macOS isn't in releases yet.

Put secrets in a command's environment or a file instead of printing them. A reference is deadbolt://[vault/]item/field, the item by its title or short id:

deadbolt run --env GH_TOKEN=deadbolt://personal/GitHub/token -- gh release create v1
deadbolt run --env-file .env.tpl -- bun run dev       # KEY=deadbolt://… lines
deadbolt inject -i config.tpl -o config.json          # {{ deadbolt://… }}, written 0600
deadbolt read deadbolt://personal/GitHub/password     # prints one value

run conceals the values in the command's output (so the command's output is a pipe, not your terminal: --no-mask keeps the terminal), passes stdin and signals through and exits with the command's code. AI agents (OpenCode, Claude Code and the like) are refused until you allow them, item by item. Allowing an AI to use a value lets it learn the value (it chooses the command, and masking only stops accidents), so allow only what you would hand it. Printing a value, with read or inject to stdout, needs Touch ID every time:

deadbolt agents allow-secrets GitHub --fields token --purpose run --expires 8h
deadbolt agents grants                     # deadbolt agents revoke <id>
deadbolt activity                          # every resolve, never a value

• docs/design.md — the current v1 design (two keys, signed membership, per-device encrypted logs, QR pairing).
• docs/app.md — the desktop app (Rune, in crates/app): plan, keyboard, motion, and the first slice.
• docs/proposals/send.md — Deadbolt Send: one-time links to files, secrets and vault items, served live peer to peer and opened in any browser.
• docs/autofill.md — browser autofill: the native messaging host, its message set, domain rules and threat model.
• docs/agent-control.md — design: how AI agents may use Deadbolt (tiers, Touch ID approvals, caller identity), what is built of it: deadbolt run, inject and read with grants for AI agents, and standing grants for sign-ins: deadbolt agents pairs a browser relay such as Browse and allows it to sign AI agents in to chosen sites unattended, without the AI ever seeing a value.
• docs/research/ — prior art
  • 01-inkandswitch.md — Keyhive, BeeKEM, Beelay/Subduction, Automerge
  • 02-rust-sync-stacks.md — iroh, p2panda, Willow, Loro/Automerge/yrs
  • 03-mailbox-pairing-keys.md — mailboxes (Nostr, S3, folders), pairing, how other password managers handle keys and recovery
• docs/history/ — how we got here: the v0 proposal, the no-infrastructure (Nostr mailbox) revision, and two adversarial critiques of them. Superseded by docs/design.md; kept for the reasoning. These docs reference the research files by bare filename.

site/ is the website: a landing page (/) and an animated architecture walkthrough (/architecture/), in the style of opentunnel.xyz (Vite, React, Motion, WebGL2 prints; fonts are Anton and IBM Plex Mono, OFL, licences in site/public/fonts/). cd site && bun install && bun run dev serves it on http://127.0.0.1:5197. bun run deploy builds it and deploys site/dist to deadbolt.pw with Wrangler; site/public/install is the install script served at /install. /r is Deadbolt Send's receive page; building the site first compiles its WebAssembly (site/scripts/wasm.sh, which needs the wasm32-unknown-unknown target and wasm-bindgen-cli, see docs/proposals/send.md). The original static mock is kept at site/mock.html.