thePR0M3TH3ANandClaude Opus 5
227b3f6fb5
The head pins the log's length, and it sits beside the log with the same
permissions -- but verify skipped the length check entirely when the head was
absent. Truncating the log and deleting one more file verified clean, which
made the whole defense one rm away from disabled while its doc comment
claimed the opposite.
Two rules close it. A non-empty log now requires its head, at verification
AND at append: verify without a head fails naming the two possible causes (a
deleted head, or a log written by the pre-head build at 274bc0e), and append
refuses rather than writing a fresh head that would bless whatever state the
file is in -- otherwise truncate-plus-delete-head is laundered by whichever
ordinary operation logs next. The agent therefore fails closed on a tampered
chain instead of continuing to serve secrets unaudited.
One state is deliberately tolerated: a crash between append and head-write
leaves the log exactly one validly chained record past the head. Nothing
without the HMAC key can manufacture that state, and the key holder can
rewrite the chain wholesale anyway, so tolerating it costs nothing -- while
rejecting it (the old behaviour) turned an ordinary crash into a false
tamper alarm. The next successful append re-pins the head.
Also stated honestly in the module doc: an attacker who deletes the log AND
its head leaves a clean slate this scheme cannot detect. Same-uid storage
cannot pin "a log once existed"; the guarantee is that an existing log has
not been shortened.
Python is unaffected: its AuditLogger writes ~/.seedpass/audit.log with no
head, but that is a different file from the per-profile logs this class
manages, so the head requirement never sees a Python-written log.
Nine unit tests cover the matrix; five fail against the previous audit.ts,
including the truncate-plus-delete-head attack it verified clean.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <[email protected]>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Tkj4rzKBA3uhfgk7kqjsb8
seedpass-js
The SeedPass command-line interface, TypeScript port.
It reads and writes the same ~/.seedpass profiles as the Python
implementation — same derivations, same vault format, same Nostr sync — and
adds a session agent plus a scoped-token surface designed for AI agents and
automation.
Install
Requires Node.js 22 or newer.
# from a checkout
cd js && pnpm install && pnpm --filter @seedpass/cli build
node packages/cli/dist/seedpass-js.mjs --version
The build produces one self-contained file (dist/seedpass-js.mjs) plus a
.sha256 next to it. Copy it anywhere on your PATH; it has no runtime
dependencies beyond Node itself.
Quick start
export SEEDPASS_APP_DIR=~/.seedpass # omit to use the default
# Create a profile (mnemonic and password come from the environment,
# never from the command line)
export SEEDPASS_MNEMONIC="your twelve or twenty-four words"
export SEEDPASS_PASSWORD="your master password"
seedpass-js fingerprint add --name main
unset SEEDPASS_MNEMONIC # not needed again
# Unlock once per session through the agent
seedpass-js agent start &
seedpass-js vault unlock --ttl 900
seedpass-js entry add password github.com --length 20 --username you
seedpass-js entry reveal github.com
seedpass-js entry totp-codes
seedpass-js use github.com --clipboard
seedpass-js vault lock
Design: reference-first output
Default output never contains secret values. Entries are addressed by
reference (sp://entry/<id>), and secret-bearing fields are reported as
has_* flags:
$ seedpass-js entry get api-token
{ "id": "5", "ref": "sp://entry/5", "label": "api-token",
"kind": "key_value", "has_value": true, ... }
Plaintext leaves the vault only through commands that say so
(entry reveal, entry totp-codes, entry export-document,
util generate-password), or through a sink, which delivers a secret to its
destination without routing it through this process's output:
seedpass-js use api-token --exec ./deploy.sh # SEEDPASS_SECRET in the child env
seedpass-js use api-token --stdin-to "wc -c" # quote specs that contain flags
seedpass-js use api-token --clipboard
Scoped tokens for agents
An agent can be given a token that grants exactly what it needs and nothing else. Secrets are materialized inside the session agent, so the token holder never receives the seed and can never escalate to owner operations.
# As the owner:
seedpass-js agent token-issue --scope read use \
--kind key_value --label-regex '^api-' --uses 2 --ttl 600
# In the agent's process — no mnemonic, no password:
export SEEDPASS_TOKEN=<token>
seedpass-js entry list # metadata only
seedpass-js use api-token --exec ./deploy.sh # permitted
seedpass-js entry reveal api-token # denied: scope 'reveal' not granted
# Back as the owner — every grant, delivery and denial is recorded:
seedpass-js agent audit-verify
seedpass-js agent audit-tail -n 20
Environment
| Variable | Purpose |
|---|---|
SEEDPASS_APP_DIR |
Profile directory (default ~/.seedpass) |
SEEDPASS_MNEMONIC |
Parent seed; needed for profile creation, otherwise use the agent |
SEEDPASS_PASSWORD |
Master password, for fingerprint add and vault unlock |
SEEDPASS_TOKEN |
Scoped token; puts the CLI in token mode |
SEEDPASS_AGENT_SOCK |
Override the agent socket path |
SEEDPASS_SECRET |
Set by use --exec in the child process only |
Compatibility
Interoperability with the Python implementation is verified on every change
by scripts/cross_impl_check.py: each side opens the other's profiles,
backups round-trip, edits are mutually visible, conflict merges agree, and a
snapshot published by Python restores here with secrets intact. See
docs/typescript_port_compatibility_matrix.md.
Not yet ported: PGP RSA keys (not byte-reproducible; ed25519 is at parity),
and the semantic and api command groups.