deadbolt

deadbolt simplifies encrypting and decrypting files. All you need is a password.

Select a file (or folder) to encrypt, enter a password, and … that's it. Decryption is just as easy.

You can download deadbolt for macOS, Windows, or Linux. Any encrypted file can be shared across these platforms.

Building / Installing

Check out the releases tab for pre-built binaries for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

macOS

Recommended: Installing with Homebrew

The recommended way to install deadbolt on macOS is with Homebrew, which uses this recipe:

# Install Homebrew
$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install deadbolt, using homebrew
$ brew install deadbolt --cask

When you open the app, you'll receive a Gatekeeper warning about the app not being verified as malware-free.

This is because the app is not signed/notarized, since I do not have an Apple Developer account. You can bypass this warning by running:

$ xattr -c /Applications/Deadbolt.app

Or, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and click "Open Anyway".

Using .dmg from GitHub Releases

Install the deadbolt.dmg file from GitHub Releases. There are builds for both x86_64 (Intel) and arm64 (Apple Silicon -- M1, M2, etc.) CPU architectures.

After downloading:

1. Double-click the .dmg file to mount it
2. Drag the Deadbolt app to your Applications folder
3. Unquarantine the app by running:

$ xattr -c /Applications/Deadbolt.app

Windows

Download an .exe file, or installer, from GitHub Releases.

Linux

AppImage and flatpak packages are available for Linux. AppImages can run on all major Linux desktop distributions, and flatpak packages are provided as another option. Auto-updates are not supported for Linux currently.

Building and installing flatpak package from source

$ git clone https://github.com/alichtman/deadbolt.git && cd deadbolt

deadbolt on main is 📦 v2.0.0-beta via node v22.11.0 took 0s
$ npm install

deadbolt on main is 📦 v2.0.0-beta via node v22.11.0 took 0s
$ npm run package:linux-flatpak

deadbolt on main is 📦 v2.0.0-beta via node v22.11.0
$ ls -la release/build/
...
.rw-r--r--. alichtman alichtman  75 MB Sat Feb  8 21:42:00 2025 Deadbolt-2.0.0-beta.x86_64.flatpak

deadbolt on main is 📦 v2.0.0-beta via node v22.11.0 took 0s
$ flatpak install --user release/build/Deadbolt-2.0.0-beta.x86_64.flatpak

org.alichtman.deadbolt permissions:
    ipc   wayland   x11   dri   file access [1]

    [1] home


        ID                               Branch           Op           Remote                   Download
 1. [✓] org.alichtman.deadbolt           master           i            deadbolt-origin          0 bytes

Installation complete.

deadbolt on main is 📦 v2.0.0-beta via node v22.11.0 took 7s
$ flatpak run org.alichtman.deadbolt

Arch

deadbolt is packaged as deadbolt-bin on aur. I do not maintain this package, so use at your own risk.

$ yay -S deadbolt-bin

How it Works

Non-Technical Version

deadbolt uses a proven, secure encryption algorithm to make sure your files stay safe.

Technical Version

deadbolt is built on Electron and uses crypto.js from the node.js standard library. The encryption protocol used is AES-256-GCM. This algorithm is part of the NSA's Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite and is approved to protect up to TOP SECRET documents. A 256-bit derived key for the cipher is created using 11,000 iterations of pbkdf2 with the SHA-512 HMAC digest algorithm, a 64-byte randomly generated salt, and a user generated password. The authenticity of the data is verified with the authentication tag provided by using GCM. These parameters were chosen by following the NIST Guidelines for pbkdf2.

Security Review

The cryptography components of deadbolt were written by an ex-Facebook Security Engineer (@alichtman -- me), and have been briefly reviewed by Vlad Ionescu, an ex-Facebook tech lead from the Red Team / Offensive Security Group. Their review is:

"yeah fuck it, it's fine. You're using very boring methods for everything -- that's the way to do it"

FAQ

Showing Extensions on macOS

By default, macOS hides file extensions. To reduce confusion about what type each file is, I recommend configuring macOS to show file extensions. You can do that with the following command: $ defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true && killall Finder.

Setting deadbolt as Default App for .deadbolt Files on macOS

You can set this app as the default app for .deadbolt files, which means you'll be able to double-click on .deadbolt files to open them with deadbolt for decryption.

You can set this up the first time you double-click on a .deadbolt file, or by right-clicking on a .deadbolt file, selecting Get Info and changing the default app in the Open With: section.

To do this programmatically, run the following snippet:

$ brew install duti
$ duti -s org.alichtman.deadbolt dyn.ah62d4rv4ge80k2xtrv4a all

The output of $ duti -x deadbolt should then be:

$ duti -x deadbolt
Deadbolt.app
/Applications/Deadbolt.app
org.alichtman.deadbolt