PGP Tool

A cross-platform desktop app (macOS Apple Silicon + Windows) for managing PGP keys and encrypting/decrypting messages. Electron + React (Vite) UI, with all crypto handled by openpgp.js in the main process.

Features

• Generate keypairs (ECC curve25519, passphrase-protected)
• Import keys — paste armored text, pick .asc/.gpg files, or drag & drop key files anywhere in the window
• Email-style recipient picker — type-ahead search, encrypt to any number of recipients at once
• Sign messages with your private key (optional)
• Auto-decrypt on paste — finds which of your private keys the message was encrypted for
• Passphrase prompts only when needed, with a 5-minute session unlock cache and a manual "Lock keys" button
• Signature verification — shows who signed a decrypted message, warns on unsigned ones
• Export — share public keys, back up private keys (copy or save as .asc)
• Export/import the whole keyring — one .asc bundle (full backup with private keys, or public-only for sharing); restore via "Import file…" or gpg --import
• Key detail view — click any key to see its identities, a large copyable fingerprint for out-of-band verification, and the primary key + subkeys with their capabilities
• Encrypted key store — the keyring file is sealed with the OS keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows DPAPI) at rest
• Auto-update — installed builds check GitHub Releases on launch, download in the background, and offer "Restart to update" (see caveats below)
• Light/dark theme following the system

Development

npm install
npm run dev     # Vite dev server + Electron; UI hot-reloads, Electron auto-restarts on src/ changes
npm start       # production build + Electron

Opening the Vite dev server in a plain browser shows the UI in demo mode (mock crypto, "DEMO" badge) — real crypto only runs inside Electron.

Build installers

npm run dist:mac   # .dmg + .zip for macOS arm64 (run on a Mac)
npm run dist:win   # NSIS installer for Windows x64

dist:win can be run from macOS (electron-builder cross-compiles NSIS installers), but building on a real Windows machine is more reliable if you hit issues. Output lands in dist/.

Note: the macOS build is unsigned by default. To distribute it beyond your own machine you'll want to configure code signing / notarization in the build.mac section of package.json; for personal use, right-click → Open bypasses Gatekeeper.

Architecture

• src/main.js — Electron main process: key store, session unlock cache, all openpgp operations, IPC handlers
• src/preload.js — minimal window.pgp bridge (context isolation + sandbox enabled)
• renderer/ — React app (Vite); talks to main only through the bridge

Auto-update caveats

• The updater reads release metadata from this GitHub repo. It only works if the repo is public — against a private repo the startup check fails quietly and "Check for updates" reports an error.
• On macOS, installing updates requires the app to be code-signed; unsigned builds can check and download but the install will fail. Windows NSIS builds update fine unsigned.
• The release workflow uploads latest*.yml + .blockmap metadata alongside the installers — the updater needs those files on each release.

Security notes

• Keys live in keys.json under the app's user-data directory (~/Library/Application Support/pgptool on macOS, %APPDATA%/pgptool on Windows). The whole file is encrypted at rest with the OS keychain (Electron safeStorage); older plaintext stores are sealed automatically on first launch.
• Independently of the store encryption, private keys stay passphrase-encrypted. If you import a private key that has no passphrase, only the store-level encryption protects it — consider adding a passphrase to it first (e.g. gpg --edit-key <id> passwd).
• Passphrases are used transiently; successful unlocks are cached in main-process memory for 5 minutes (sliding), cleared by "Lock keys" or quitting.