cryptr

A simple shell utility for encrypting and decrypting files using OpenSSL.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/nodesocket/cryptr.git
ln -s "$PWD"/cryptr/cryptr.bash /usr/local/bin/cryptr

Requirements

• shred if optionally deleting original file.

Bash tab completion

Add tools/cryptr-bash-completion.bash to your tab completion file directory.

Commands

encrypt

encrypt <file> - Encryptes file with OpenSSL AES-256 cipher block chaining. Writes an encrypted file out (ciphertext) appending .aes extension.

➜ cryptr encrypt ./secret-file
enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:
Verifying - enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:
do you want to shred the original file? (y/N): N

➜ ls -alh
-rw-r--r--  1 user  group   1.0G Oct  1 13:33 secret-file
-rw-r--r--  1 user  group   1.0G Oct  1 13:34 secret-file.aes

You may optionally define the password to use when encrypting using the CRYPTR_PASSWORD environment variable (be aware of shell history storing passwords). This enables non-interactive/batch operations.

➜ CRYPTR_PASSWORD=A1EO7S9SsQYcPChOr47n cryptr encrypt ./secret-file

decrypt

decrypt <file.aes> - Decrypt encrypted file using OpenSSL AES-256 cipher block chaining. Writes a decrypted file out (plaintext) removing .aes extension.

➜ ls -alh
-rw-r--r--  1 user  group   1.0G Oct  1 13:34 secret-file.aes

➜ cryptr decrypt ./secret-file.aes
enter aes-256-cbc decryption password:

➜ ls -alh
-rw-r--r--  1 user  group   1.0G Oct  1 13:35 secret-file
-rw-r--r--  1 user  group   1.0G Oct  1 13:34 secret-file.aes

You may optionally define the password to use when decrypting using the CRYPTR_PASSWORD environment variable (be aware of shell history storing passwords). This enables non-interactive/batch operations.

➜ CRYPTR_PASSWORD=A1EO7S9SsQYcPChOr47n cryptr decrypt ./secret-file.aes

To print the plaintext to stdout instead of writing the file to disk pass the --stdout flag as the final argument to the decrypt command:

➜ cryptr decrypt ./secret-file.aes --stdout

help

help - Displays help

➜ cryptr help
Usage: cryptr command <command-specific-options>

  encrypt <file>                  Encrypt file
  decrypt <file.aes> [--stdout]   Decrypt encrypted file
  help                            Displays help
  version                         Displays the current version

version

version - Displays the current version

➜ cryptr version
cryptr 3.0.0

default

default - Displays the current version and help

➜ cryptr
cryptr 3.0.0

Usage: cryptr command <command-specific-options>

  encrypt <file>                  Encrypt file
  decrypt <file.aes> [--stdout]   Decrypt encrypted file
  help                            Displays help
  version                         Displays the current version

Changelog

https://github.com/nodesocket/cryptr/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

Support, Bugs, And Feature Requests

Create issues here in GitHub (https://github.com/nodesocket/cryptr/issues).

Versioning

For transparency and insight into the release cycle, and for striving to maintain backward compatibility, cryptr will be maintained under the semantic versioning guidelines.

Releases will be numbered with the follow format:

<major>.<minor>.<patch>

And constructed with the following guidelines:

• Breaking backward compatibility bumps the major (and resets the minor and patch)
• New additions without breaking backward compatibility bumps the minor (and resets the patch)
• Bug fixes and misc changes bumps the patch

For more information on semantic versioning, visit http://semver.org/.

License & Legal

Copyright 2026 Justin Keller

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.