gpg-tui is a Terminal User Interface for GnuPG.
It aims to ease the key management operations such as listing/exporting/signing by providing an interface along with the command-line fallback for more complex operations. It is not trying to be a full-fledged interface for all the features that gpg provides but it tries to bring a more interactive approach to key management.
Demo
gpg-tui --style colored --splash --homedir /etc/pacman.d/gnupg
Table of Contents
>=1.46.0gnupg, gpgme>=1.7.0, libgpg-errorlibxcbPleases note that the name of these dependencies (packages) might change depending on the distribution/platform.(*)
For installing these dependencies:
pacman -S gpgme libx11apt-get install libgpgme-dev libx11-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-devdnf install gpgme-devel libX11-develxbps-install -S gpgme-devel libxcb-devel libgpg-error-devel gnupggpg-tui is available on crates.io:
sh
cargo install gpg-tui
gpg-tui can be installed from the community repository using Pacman:
sh
pacman -S gpg-tui
gpg-tui is also available on AUR and it can be installed with an AUR helper:
sh
paru -S gpg-tui-git
Or if you prefer, you can clone the AUR packages and compile them with makepkg:
```sh
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/gpg-tui-git.git && cd gpg-tui-git/
makepkg -si ```
To install the Homebrew package, run:
sh
brew install gpg-tui
To update, run:
sh
brew upgrade gpg-tui
See available tags.
sh
docker pull orhunp/gpg-tui:[tag]
```sh
git clone https://github.com/orhun/gpg-tui.git && cd gpg-tui/
docker build -t gpg-tui .
docker run -it gpg-tui ```
All required dependencies are automatically fetched and installed independently of the installation method chosen.
```sh
cd /usr/ports/security/gpg-tui make install ```
```sh
portmaster security/gpg-tui ```
```sh
pkg update
pkg install gpg-tui ```
gpg-tui is available from the main pkgsrc branch.
sh
pkgin install gpg-tui
sh
cd /usr/pkgsrc/security/gpg-tui
make install
```sh
git clone https://github.com/orhun/gpg-tui.git && cd gpg-tui/
cargo install --root "$HOME/.cargo" --path . ```
See available releases that are automated by Continuous Deployment workflow.
gpg-tui [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]
FLAGS:
-a, --armor Enables ASCII armored output
--splash Shows the splash screen on startup
-h, --help Prints help information
-V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
--homedir <dir> Sets the GnuPG home directory [env: HOMEDIR=]
-o, --outdir <dir> Sets the output directory [env: OUTDIR=]
-d, --default-key <key> Sets the default key to sign with [env: DEFAULT_KEY=]
-t, --tick-rate <ms> Sets the tick rate of the terminal [env: TICK_RATE=] [default: 250]
-c, --color <color> Sets the accent color of the terminal [env: COLOR=] [default: gray]
-s, --style <style> Sets the style of the terminal [env: STYLE=] [default: plain]
[possible values: plain, colored]
| Key Binding | Action |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| ? | show help |
| o,space,enter | show options |
| hjkl,arrows,pgkeys | navigate |
| n | switch to normal mode |
| v | switch to visual mode |
| c | switch to copy mode |
| p,C-v | paste from clipboard |
| a | toggle armored output |
| 1,2,3 | set detail level |
| t,tab | toggle detail (all/selected) |
| ` | toggle table margin |
| m | toggle table size |
| C-s | toggle style |
| / | search |
| : | run command |
| r,f5 | refresh application |
| q,C-c/d,escape | quit application |
| Key Binding | Action |
| ------------- | ------------- |
| x | export key |
| s | sign key |
| e | edit key |
| i | import key(s) |
| f | receive key |
| u | send key |
| g | generate key |
| d,backspace | delete key |
| C-r | refresh keys |
Available keys in the keyring (which can be specified via --homedir argument) are showed on a table. This table consists of 2 columns which are key information and user information.
The level of detail that an individual table row shows is determined by detail levels.
[sc--] rsa3072/B14085A20355B74DE0CE0FA1E19F76D037BD65B6 │ [u] Example Key <example@key>
[sc--] rsa3072/B14085A20355B74DE0CE0FA1E19F76D037BD65B6 │ [u] Example Key <example@key>
| └─(2021-05-14) │ └─[u] Other User ID <example@key>
[--e-] rsa3072/E56CAC142AE5A979BEECB00FB4F68595CAD4E7E5 │
└─(2021-05-14)
[sc--] rsa3072/B14085A20355B74DE0CE0FA1E19F76D037BD65B6 │ [u] Example Key <example@key>
| └─(2021-05-14) │ │ └─[13] selfsig (2021-05-16)
[--e-] rsa3072/E56CAC142AE5A979BEECB00FB4F68595CAD4E7E5 │ └─[u] Other User ID <example@key>
└─(2021-05-14) ├─[13] selfsig (2021-05-16)
└─[10] 84C39331F6F85326 Other Signer Key <example@signer> (2021-05-16)
An example table entry for the detail level full (which includes subkeys) is explained via reference numbers below.
[sc--]⁰ rsa3072¹/B14085A20355B74DE0CE0FA1E19F76D037BD65B6²
|³ └─(2021-05-14)⁴
[--e-]⁰ rsa3072¹/E56CAC142AE5A979BEECB00FB4F68595CAD4E7E5²
└─(2021-05-14) -> (2021-05-16)⁴ [exp]⁵
0: Key flags. Determines what this key can do.
s: signc: certifye: encrypta: authenticate1: Algorithm of the key.
2: Fingerprint of the key.
3: Indicates that the next key is a subkey.
4: Time information of the key:
Y-m-d)Y-m-d)5: Is the key one of the following?
[exp]: expired[rev]: revoked[d]: disabled[i]: invalid[q]: qualifiedAn example table entry for the detail level full (which includes other user IDs and signatures) is explained via reference numbers below.
[u]⁰ Test Key <test@test>¹
│² └─[13]³ selfsig⁴ (2021-05-16)⁶
└─[u]⁰ Test Key2 <test2@test2>¹
├─[13]³ selfsig⁴ (2021-05-16)⁶
└─[10]³ 84C39331F6F85326 Test Key 2 <test2@example.com>⁵ (2021-05-16)⁶ [!x]⁷
0: Validity of the user.
q: undefinedn: neverm: marginalf: fullu: ultimate?: unknown1: User ID. (name + email)
2: Indicates the next user ID.
3: Certification level of the signature.
10: no indication11: personal belief but no verification12: casual verification13: extensive verification4: Indicates that this is a self signature, whereby the users' own private key was used to sign their public key.
5: Key and user ID of the signer. (key + name + email)
6: Time information of the signature.
Y-m-d)Y-m-d)7: Is the signature one of the following?
[exp]: expired[rev]: revoked[i]: invalid[!x]: non-exportablePress ? while running the terminal interface to see information about key bindings and GnuPG configuration.
Use arrow or hjkl keys to scroll and navigate through lists/menus/tabs. Additionally, you can use Ctrl-Up/Down combinations or PageUp/PageDown keys to scroll to the top/bottom.
If rows are not fitting on the terminal interface, use Alt + arrow/hjkl keys to individually scroll them.
Most of the actions can be performed using the options menu. Simply press Enter and select what you want to do.
There's a copy mode for making it easier to copy particular values to the clipboard. To use this mode, press c followed by one of the key bindings:
x: Copy the exported keyi: Copy the key idf: Copy the key fingerprintu: Copy the user id1,2: Copy the content of the rowThen the value will be copied to the clipboard and the application mode will be reverted to normal.
Press ESC or n to cancel and switch to normal mode during this operation.
Instead of copying values with copy mode, you can use the visual mode which disables the mouse capture. It means that you can select/highlight the text on the interface and copy as you do normally.
visual mode can be used for other purposes such as scrolling via mouse.
Press Tab to toggle the detail level for the selected entry in the list. Number keys (e.g. 1, 2, 3) can be also used to set a specific level.
Press t to toggle the detail level for all entries in the list.
There are couple a of different modes for the size of the tables which changes the details that each entry shows. You can use the m key for switching to different modes.
Press / to search for a value from the currently shown table.
Every operation on the terminal interface is handled implicitly by the application-specific commands. So it's possible to do certain things by switching to command mode with pressing : and running commands. (similar to Vim)
For example,
:list pub -> list public keys:set armor true -> enable armored outputA full list of commands can be found here.
Also you can switch between command mode and search by pressing Tab.
Available keys in the keyring are listed on a table as default. They can be scrolled or the listing type (public/secret keys) can be changed by changing the tab via arrow keys.
See the approach section for more information about the meaning of the table rows.
Press x to export the selected key to a file. The default output directory is $GNUPGHOME/out and can be changed by either using --homedir or --outdir argument.
Additionally, you can enable/disable armored output by pressing a.
Press s to sign the selected key with the default secret key. This key can be specified with --default-key argument.
This feature uses gpg fallback and runs gpg --sign-key command.
Press e to edit the selected key.
This feature uses gpg fallback and runs gpg --edit-key command. It presents a menu that provides a list of options to change the key details. See the edit-key documentation for more information.
Import operation uses xplr for selecting the key(s) to import if the xplr binary is installed. Press i to launch xplr, and select the key file(s) to import:
If xplr is not installed, import operation is done by using the :import command. So press i to switch to command mode (which will automatically add the import command) and then give it your file(s) to import.
Similar to import, receive operation is also done by using a command which is :receive. So press f (for fetching keys from a keyserver) and give it your key ID(s).
This feature uses gpg fallback and runs gpg --receive-keys command.
Press u (for uploading to the keyserver) followed by y (for confirmation) to send the selected key to the default keyserver.
Press g to generate a new key pair.
This feature uses gpg fallback and runs gpg --full-generate-key command. It presents dialogs for all of the generation options.
Press Backspace followed by y (for confirmation) to delete the selected key from the keyring.
Press Ctrl-y for refreshing the keyring.
This feature uses gpg fallback and runs gpg --refresh-keys command.
You can customize the look of gpg-tui to get rid of its boring and minimalistic vibe. (!)
To enable colors, you can specify a style with --style argument or press Ctrl-S while running for toggling the style. Currently, only one style is supported which is colored.
sh
gpg-tui --style colored
If the default accent color of the interface causes problems with your theme or if you just want to change it to something more vivid, you can use --color argument to specify another color in HEX format.
sh
gpg-tui --style colored --color 507030
There is a splash screen that shows the project's logo for a couple of seconds if --splash flag is present. It's purely cosmetical.
sh
gpg-tui --splash
To enable colors for the splash screen, use the colored style.
sh
gpg-tui --splash --style colored
gpg-tui is tested on Linux systems during the development phase. It should be tested on other platforms such as Microsoft Windows and macOS and found issues should be reported for future compatibility with these platforms.
gpg-tui should be more and easily accessible for other platforms/distributions. Thus, it should be packaged for package managers such as Homebrew and APT. If you're a packager and want to contribute, feel free to submit an issue or start a discussion!
Some of the features of gpg-tui require the execution of the CLI program gpg in order to operate. This is due to the fact that designing a TUI for the menus that gpg already provides is redundant and time-consuming. Also, in case these menus will change in the future, it is better to rely on the gpg rather than implementing these options using GPGME. On the other hand, gpg has some commands that GPGME doesn't directly provide. (e.g --refresh-keys) So it is more convenient to utilize gpg for these cases.
The plan for the future of gpg-tui is utilizing gpg when it is necessary, depending on whether if it is more convenient for the user.
gpg-tui only aims to do key management for now, although it can do much more utilizing GPGME and/or gpg. It's due to the design choice and also for setting the boundaries of the project.
If you find gpg-tui and/or other projects on my GitHub profile useful, consider becoming a patron!
Copyright © 2021, Orhun Parmaksız
