About

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.

gpg-tui --style colored --splash --homedir /etc/pacman.d/gnupg

Requirements

• Rust: >=1.87.0
• Core dependencies: gnupg, gpgme>=1.12.0, libgpg-error
• Other dependencies: libxcb

For installing these dependencies:

• on Arch Linux, run pacman -S gpgme libx11
• on Debian/Ubuntu, run apt-get install libgpgme-dev libx11-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxkbcommon-dev
• on Fedora, run dnf install gpgme-devel libX11-devel
• on Void Linux, run xbps-install -S gpgme-devel libxcb-devel libgpg-error-devel gnupg

Installation

Cargo

gpg-tui is available on crates.io:

cargo install gpg-tui

Arch Linux

Community

gpg-tui can be installed from the extra repository using Pacman:

pacman -S gpg-tui

AUR

gpg-tui is also available on AUR and it can be installed with an AUR helper:

paru -S gpg-tui-git

Or if you prefer, you can clone the AUR packages and compile them with makepkg:

# clone the AUR repository
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/gpg-tui-git.git && cd gpg-tui-git/
build the package
makepkg -si

Alpine Linux

gpg-tui is available for Alpine Edge. It can be installed via apk after enabling the community repository.

apk add gpg-tui

Gentoo

Available in dm9pZCAq overlay

eselect repository enable dm9pZCAq
emerge --sync dm9pZCAq
emerge app-crypt/gpg-tui::dm9pZCAq

Homebrew

To install the Homebrew package, run:

brew install gpg-tui

To update, run:

brew upgrade gpg-tui

Docker

Docker Hub

See available tags.

docker pull orhunp/gpg-tui:[tag]

You can also use the following command for a quick launch:

docker run --rm -it -v "$HOME/.gnupg":/app/.gnupg --user 1000:1000 orhunp/gpg-tui --homedir /app/.gnupg

Using the Dockerfile

# clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/orhun/gpg-tui.git && cd gpg-tui/
build the image
docker build -t gpg-tui .
run the container
docker run -it gpg-tui

FreeBSD

All required dependencies are automatically fetched and installed independently of the installation method chosen.

Building from source

# using a port
cd /usr/ports/security/gpg-tui
make install

# alternative method using portmaster
portmaster security/gpg-tui

Binary releases

# update repository catalogue (if outdated)
pkg update
fetch and install the package
pkg install gpg-tui

NetBSD

gpg-tui is available from the main pkgsrc branch.

Install using the package manager

pkgin install gpg-tui

Building from source

cd /usr/pkgsrc/security/gpg-tui
make install

Manually

Building from source

# clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/orhun/gpg-tui.git && cd gpg-tui/
build and install
cargo install --root "$HOME/.cargo" --path .

Binary releases

See available releases that are automated by Continuous Deployment workflow.

Usage

gpg-tui [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -a, --armor                 Enables ASCII armored output
      --splash                Shows the splash screen on startup
      --config <path>         Sets the configuration file [env: GPGTUICONFIG=]
      --homedir <dir>         Sets the GnuPG home directory [env: GNUPGHOME=]
  -o, --outdir <dir>          Sets the output directory [env: OUTDIR=]
      --outfile <path>        Sets the template for the output file name [env: OUTFILE=] [default: {type}_{query}.{ext}]
  -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: colored] [possible values: plain, colored]
  -f, --file-explorer <app>   Sets the utility for file selection [env: FILE_EXPLORER=] [default: xplr]
      --detail-level <level>  Sets the detail level for the keys [env: DETAIL_LEVEL=] [default: minimum] [possible values: minimum, standard, full]
      --log-file <path>       Sets the file to save the logs [env: LOG_FILE=]
      --select <option>       Enables the selection mode [env: SELECT=] [possible values: row1, row2, key, key-id, key-fingerprint, user-id]
  -h, --help                  Print help (see more with '--help')
  -V, --version               Print version

Configuration

It is possible to override the command line arguments with a configuration file.

See gpg-tui.toml for the default configuration values.

The configuration file can be specified via --config argument or GPGTUICONFIG environment variable. Also, it can be placed to a location where gpg-tui looks for:

• <config_dir> / gpg-tui.toml
• <config_dir> / gpg-tui/gpg-tui.toml
• <config_dir> / gpg-tui/config

| Platform | Value | Example | | -------- | ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | | Linux | $XDGCONFIGHOME or $HOME/.config | /home/alice/.config | | macOS | $HOME/Library/Application Support | /Users/Alice/Library/Application Support | | Windows | {FOLDERID_RoamingAppData} | C:\Users\Alice\AppData\Roaming |

Key Bindings

User Interface

| 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 | | C-l,f2 | show logs | | 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 |

Key bindings can be overridden/customized via using general.key_bindings setting in the configuration file. For example,

keys array contains the keycodes which is either a single key (e.g. a), a key combination (e.g. Control-C: C-c, Alt-C: A-c), or a special key (e.g. Backspace, Enter). Available key codes can be found in the crossterm documentation.

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.

Detail level can be set using --detail-level argument or detail_level entry in the configuration file.

An example table entry for the detail level full (which includes subkeys) is explained via reference numbers below.

• s: sign
• c: certify
• e: encrypt
• a: authenticate

• creation time (Y-m-d)
• expiration time (Y-m-d)

• [exp]: expired
• [rev]: revoked
• [d]: disabled
• [i]: invalid
• [q]: qualified

An example table entry for the detail level full (which includes other user IDs, signatures and notations) is explained via reference numbers below.

• [q]: undefined
• [n]: never
• [m]: marginal
• [f]: full
• [u]: ultimate
• [?]: unknown

• [10]: no indication
• [11]: personal belief but no verification
• [12]: casual verification
• [13]: extensive verification

5: Key and user ID of the signer. (key + name + email)

• creation time (Y-m-d)
• expiration time (Y-m-d)

• [exp]: expired
• [rev]: revoked
• [i]: invalid
• [!x]: non-exportable

• [h]: the notation data is in human readable form
• [!]: the notation data is critical

Press ? 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 key
• i: Copy the key id
• f: Copy the key fingerprint
• u: Copy the user id
• 1,2: Copy the content of the row

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.

In the selection mode, key bindings that are responsible for showing the options menu (e.g. enter) are used for exiting the user interface and printing out the selection to the standard output. This is useful when you want to use gpg-tui in conjunction with shell commands/other tools.

For switching to the selection mode, use the --select argument as follows:

might be one of the following:

• key: Exported key
• key-id: Key ID
• key-fingerprint: Key fingerprint
• user-id: User ID
• row: Contents of the nth row

For example, you can use the following shell function to encrypt a file for the selected recipient (key ID):

<pre><code class="lang-sh">function encrypt() { gpg -e -r $(gpg-tui --select key-id) &quot;$@&quot;; }</code></pre>

Detailed View

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.

Some of the key management operations such as importing keys optionally use a file explorer utility. As default, gpg-tui uses xplr if the xplr binary is installed on the system. To change which utility is going to be used, --file-explorer argument can be used or it can be specified in the configuration file.

To view the log messages, press ctrl-l. It will bring up a pane in the TUI for analyzing the logs:

• Code EWIDT: E stands for Error, W for Warn, and similarly Info, Debug and Trace.

| Key | Action | | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | | h | toggles target selector widget hidden/visible | | f | toggle focus on the selected target only | | up | select previous target in target selector widget | | down | select next target in target selector widget | | left | reduce SHOWN (!) log messages by one level | | right | increase SHOWN (!) log messages by one level | | - | reduce CAPTURED (!) log messages by one level | | + | increase CAPTURED (!) log messages by one level | | pageup | enter Page Mode and scroll approx. half page up in log history | | pagedown | only in page mode: scroll 10 events down in log history | | escape | exit page mode and go back to scrolling mode | | space | toggles hiding of targets, which have logfilter set to off |

For saving the logs to a file, you can use the --log-file argument:

RUST_LOG environment variable can be used to set the log level accordingly.

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)

• :list pub -> list public keys
• :set armor true -> enable armored output

Also you can switch between command mode and search by pressing Tab.

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 or using the options menu.

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 a file explorer for selecting the key(s) to import. Press i to launch the file explorer (defaults to xplr), and select the key file(s) to import:

If a file explorer is not specified or 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.

You can also import keys from clipboard using :import-clipboard command or the options menu.

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.

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.

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.

Alternatively, you can set the NOCOLOR environment variable.

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.

To enable colors for the splash screen, use the colored style.

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.

Resources

About the project

• Code of Conduct
• Contribution Guidelines
• Changelog
• List of Commands

External links

• GnuPG Documentation
• Understanding PGP/GPG Key Server Output
• What is the meaning of GnuPG's --list-sigs output?

In the media

• Hacker News
• heise online - IT-News

Contact

Funding

If you find gpg-tui and/or other projects on my GitHub profile useful, consider supporting me on GitHub Sponsors or becoming a patron!

License

The MIT License

Copyright

Copyright © 2021-2026, Orhun Parmaksız