avendesora 1.27
A password generator and account manager.
Requires Python: >=3.6
Keywords: avendesora, password, password vault, XKCD

Avendesora Collaborative Password Manager
=========================================

*Avendesora, the leaf of the Tree of Life is the key.*

.. image:: https://pepy.tech/badge/avendesora/month
    :target: https://pepy.tech/project/avendesora

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/readthedocs/avendesora.svg
   :target: https://avendesora.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest

..  image:: https://github.com/KenKundert/avendesora/actions/workflows/build.yaml/badge.svg
    :target: https://github.com/KenKundert/avendesora/actions/workflows/build.yaml

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/coveralls/KenKundert/avendesora.svg
    :target: https://coveralls.io/r/KenKundert/avendesora

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/avendesora.svg
    :target: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/avendesora

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/avendesora.svg
    :target: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/avendesora/


:Authors: Ken & Kale Kundert
:Version: 1.27
:Released: 2025-09-27

Avendesora replaces Abraxas, which are both alternatives to the traditional 
password vault.

Please report all bugs and suggestions to avendesora@nurdletech.com

Introduction
------------

Avendesora is powerful command-line utility that can securely hold and 
conveniently provide access to a wide variety of information about your 
accounts, including its secrets such as passwords. Account values can be 
displayed, copied to the clipboard, or automatically typed into running 
applications such as your web browser or terminal windows.  Avendesora can also 
open accounts in your web browser, automatically recognize which account to use 
based on the window title, and warn you if the browser is not using encryption 
when you go to enter your password.

Account secrets can be saved in encrypted form, as with password vaults, or 
generated from a root secret.  Generated secrets have two important benefits.  
First, they are produced from a random seed, and so are quite unpredictable.  
This is important, because the predictability of a passwords can be exploited 
when cracking passwords.  Second, if a root secret is shared with another 
trusted party, then you both can generate new shared secrets without passing any 
further secrets.

Secrets are generated from a collection of seeds, one of which must be random 
with a very high degree of entropy. The random seed is referred to as the 
'master seed' or the 'root seed'.  It is extremely important that the master 
seed remain completely secure.  Never disclose a master seed to anyone except 
for a person you wish to collaborate with, and then only used the shared master 
seed for shared secrets.  All of your private secrets should be generated from 
private master seeds.  The seeds generally include the master seed, the account 
name, the secret name, and perhaps a version name.  For example, imagine having 
a Gmail account, then the account name might simply be 'gmail', and the secret 
name might be 'passcode'.  In this case, your master seed is combined with the 
words 'gmail' and 'passcode', the combination is hashed, and then password is 
generated with an appropriate recipe that you specify.  There are recipes for 
passwords, pass phrases, PINs, security questions, etc.  The password itself is 
not stored, rather it is the seeds that are stored and the password is 
regenerated when needed. Notice that all the seeds except the master seed need 
not be kept secure. Thus, once you have shared a master seed with 
a collaborator, all you need to do is share the remaining seeds and your 
collaborator can generate exactly the same password. Another important thing to 
notice is that the generated password is dependent on the account and secret 
names. Thus if you rename your account or your secret, the password will change.  
So you should be careful when you first create your account to name it 
appropriately so you don't feel the need to change it in the future. For 
example, 'gmail' might not be a good account name if you expect to have multiple 
Gmail accounts. In this case you might want to include your username in the 
account name. You can always make the shorter 'gmail' as an account alias so you 
can still access the account quickly.


Installation
------------

Install with::

   pip3 install --user avendesora

This will place avendesora in ~/.local/bin, which should be added to your path.

You will also need to install some operating system commands. On Fedora use::

   dnf install gnupg2 xdotool xsel gobject-introspection-devel cairo-gobject-devel

If you would like to use scrypt as a way of encrypting fields, you will need to 
install scrypt by hand using::

   pip3 install --user scrypt


Upgrading
---------

Avendesora is primarily a password generator. As a result, there is always 
a chance that something could change in the password generation algorithm that 
causes the generated passwords to change. Of course, the program is thoroughly 
tested to assure this does not happen, but there is still a small chance that 
something slips through.  To assure that you are not affected by this, you 
should archive your passwords before you upgrade with::

   avendesora changed
   avendesora archive

The *changed* command should always be run before an *archive* command. It 
allows you to review all the changes that have occurred so that you can verify 
that they were all intentional.  Once you are comfortable, run the *archive* 
command to save all the changes.  Then upgrade with::

   pip3 install -upgrade --user avendesora

Finally, run::

   avendesora changed

to confirm that none of your generated passwords have changed.

It is a good idea to run 'avendesora changed' and 'avendesora archive' on 
a routine basis to keep your archive up to date.

Upon updating you may find that Avendesora produces a message that a 'hash' has 
changed.  This is an indication that something has changed in the program that 
could affect the generated secrets.  Again, care is taken when developing 
Avendesora to prevent this from happening.  But it is an indication that you 
should take extra care.  Specifically you should follow the above procedure to 
assure that the value of your generated secrets have not changed.  Once you have 
confirmed that the upgrade has not affected your generated secrets, you should 
follow the directions given in the warning and update the appropriate hash 
contained in ~/.config/avendesora/.hashes.


Requirements
------------

GPG
"""
To use Avendesora, you will need GPG and you will need a GPG ID that is 
associated with a private key. That GPG ID could be in the form of an email 
address or an ID string that can be found using 'gpg --list-keys'.

If you do not yet have a GPG key, you can get one using::

   $ gpg --gen-key

You should probably choose 4096 RSA keys. Now, edit ~/.gnupg/gpg-conf and add 
the line::

   use-agent

That way, you generally need to give your GPG key pass phrase less often. The 
agent remembers the passphrase for you for a time. Ten minutes is the default, 
but you can configure gpg-agent to cache passphrases for as long as you like.

If you use the agent, be sure to also use screen locking so your passwords are 
secure when you walk away from your computer.


Vim
"""

If you use Vim, it is very helpful for you to install GPG support in Vim. To do 
so first download::

    http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=3645

Then copy the file into your Vim configuration hierarchy::

    cp gnupg.vim ~/.vim/plugin


Initialization
--------------

To operate, Avendesora needs a collection of configuration and accounts files 
that are stored in ~/.config/avendesora. To create this directory and the 
initial versions of these files, run::

    avendesora init -g <gpg_id>

For example::

    avendesora init -g bob@nurdletech.com

or::

    avendesora init -g 1B2AFA1C

If you would like to have more than one person access your passwords, you should 
give GPG IDs for everyone::

    avendesora init -g bob@nurdletech.com,rob@nurdletech.com

After initialization, there should be several files in ~/.config/avendesora. In 
particular, you should see at least an initial accounts files and a config file.


Configuration
-------------

The config file (~/.config/avendesora/config) allows you to personalize 
Avendesora to your needs. After initializing your account you should take the 
time to review the config file and adjust it to fit your needs. You should be 
very thoughtful in this initial configuration, because some decisions (or 
nondecisions) you make can be very difficult to change later.  The reason for 
this is that they may affect the passwords you generate, and if you change them 
you may change existing generated passwords. In particular, be careful with 
*dictionary_file* and *default_passphase_separator*. Changing these values when 
first initializing Avendesora is fine, but should not be done or done very 
carefully once you start creating accounts and secrets.

During an initial configuration is also a convenient time to determine which of 
your files should be encrypted with GPG. To assure that a file is encrypted, 
give it a GPG file suffix (.gpg or .asc). The appropriate settings to adjust 
are: *archive_file*, *log_file*, both of which are set in the config file, and 
the accounts files, which are found in ~/.config/avendesora/.accounts_files. For 
security reasons it is highly recommended that the archive file be encrypted, 
and any accounts file that contain sensitive accounts. If you change the suffix 
on an accounts file and you have not yet placed any accounts in that file, you 
can simply delete the existing file and then regenerate it using::

    avendesora init -g <gpg_id>

Any files that already exist will not be touched, but any missing files will be 
recreated, and this time they will be encrypted or not based on the extension 
you give.


Using Avendesora
----------------

Avendesora supports a series of commands, the complete list of which can be had 
by running the help command::

    > avendesora help

More information on a command is accessed by adding the name of the command as 
the second argument to the help command::

    > avendesora help name

As an aid to finding the right help topic the topics that contain a particular 
search term are listed by adding the -s or --search command line option::

    > avendesora help -s term

If the first argument is not a command, then it must be the name of an account.  
In this case, the *credentials* command is run if only the account name is 
given, otherwise the *value* command is run (any options to the value command 
should be given after the account name). The *credentials* command generally 
gives the information you would need to login to an account, typically the 
username or email and the passcode.  The *value* command allows you to request 
the value of a specific piece of information from the account. So for example::

    > avendesora amazon
    email: albert@ricochet.com
    password: XDyfL5it

    > avendesora citi pin
    56713522

    > avendesora southwest 0
    questions.0 (First foreign country I visited): contour subtract impel

If you give a number for the desired value, Avendesora assumes you want the 
answer to the corresponding security question.


Accounts
--------

Avendesora holds information about your accounts in accounts files. The list of 
current accounts files is contained in ~/.config/avendesora/.accounts_files.  
Each is a possibly encrypted Python file. All information known about 
a particular account is contained in the attributes of a class that is created 
for that account. For example:

.. code-block:: python

    class BigBank(Account):
        aliases = 'bb'
        username = 'gman33'
        email = 'gman33@pizza.com'
        urls = 'https://bigbank.com/login'
        passcode = Password(length=12)
        verbal = Passphrase(length=2)
        pin = PIN()
        accounts = {
            'checking':   Hidden('MTIzNDU2Nzg='),
            'savings':    Hidden('MjM0NTY3ODk='),
            'creditcard': Hidden('ODczMi0yODk0LTI4NjEtMjgxMA=='),
        }
        questions = [
            Question('What city were you born in?'),
            Question('What street did you grow up on?'),
            Question('What was your childhood nickname?'),
        ]
        customer_service = '1-866-229-6633'

Each attribute represents a piece of information that can be requested. For 
example, a summary of all information can be requested with::

    > avendesora values bb
    names: bigbank, bb
    accounts:
        checking: <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank accounts.checking'>
        creditcard: <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank accounts.creditcard'>
        savings: <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank accounts.savings'>
    customer service: 1-866-229-6633
    email: gman33@pizza.com
    passcode: <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank passcode'>
    pin: <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank pin'>
    questions:
        0: What city were you born in? <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank questions.0'>
        1: What street did you grow up on? <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank questions.1'>
        2: What was your childhood nickname? <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank questions.2'>
    urls: https://bigbank.com/login
    username: gman33
    verbal: <reveal with 'avendesora show bigbank verbal'>

The attributes have various levels of confidentiality.  Simple strings are not 
considered sensitive. Those values provided by Python classes inherit the 
confidentiality of the class.  Hide() and Hidden() provides simple concealment.  
GPG() and Scrypt() provides full encryption. And classes like Password(), 
PasswordRecipe(), Passphrase(), PIN() and Question() generate secrets.  
Attributes that are considered sensitive are not shown in the above summary, but 
can be requested individually::

    > avendesora value bb pin
    pin: 7784

Attributes can be simple scalars, such as *pin*. They can be arrays, such as 
*questions*::

    > avendesora value bigbank questions.1
    questions.1 (What street did you grow up on?): lockout insulator crumb

Or they can be dictionaries::

    > avendesora value bb accounts.checking
    accounts.checking: 12345678

The passcode attribute is the default scalar attribute::

    > avendesora value bb
    passcode: Nj3gpqHNfiie

The questions attribute is the default array attribute, which is used if the 
requested field is a number::

    > avendesora value bb 0
    questions.0 (What city were you born in?): muffin favorite boyfriend

You can also use simple scripts as the requested value::

    > avendesora value 'username: {username}, password: {passcode}'
    username: gman33, password: Nj3gpqHNfiie

Finally, the attributes themselves may be scripts. For example, if you added the 
following to you account::

    cc = Script('{accounts.creditcard} 02/23 363')

Then you could access a summary of your credit card information with::

    > avendesora value cc
    8732-2894-2861-2810 02/23 363


Adding And Editing Accounts
---------------------------

You add new accounts using the *add* command::

    > avendesora add [<template>]

The available templates can be found using::

    > avendesora help add

You can add new templates or edit the existing templates by changing 
*account_templates* in ~/.config/avendesora/config.

The *add* command will open your editor (set this with the *edit_template* 
setting in the config file). If you are using default version of *edit_template* 
the template will be opened in Vim with the *n* key is mapped to take you to the 
next field. You can edit any part of the template you like, but at a minimum you 
need to edit the fields.

Once an account exists, you can edit it using::

    > avendesora edit [<account>]

This opens the accounts file with your editor (set this with the *edit_account* 
setting in the config file). If you are using default version of *edit_account*, 
which uses VIM, it should take you directly to the account.


Finding Accounts
----------------

There are two ways of finding accounts. First, you can list any accounts whose 
name or aliases contains a text fragment. For example::

    > avendesora find bank
    bank:
        bankofamerica (boa)

Second, you can list any accounts that contain a text fragment in any non-secret 
field. For example::

    > avendesora search 4408
    4408:
        bankofamerica (boa)


Autotyping Passwords
--------------------

There are a couple of things that must be done to enable autotyping of 
passwords. First, at least some secrets must be configured for discovery.  
Discovery allows secrets to determine whether they are good candidates for use 
in a particular situation based on the environment. The environment includes 
such things as with title of the active window, the user name, the host name, 
etc.  If multiple secrets are suitable, a small window pops up and lets you 
choose between them. To see how to configure secrets for discovery, run 
'avendesora help discovery'.

To make secret discovery easier and more robust it is helpful to add a plugin to 
your web browser to make its title more informative. For Firefox, the best 
plugin to use is *AddURLToWindowTitle*. For Chrome it is *URLinTitle*. (The 
latest versions of Firefox are incompatible with *AddURLToWindowTitle*, however 
you can use the Firefox version of *URLinTitle* instead.) It is recommended that 
you install the appropriate one into your browser.  For AddURLToWindowTitle, set 
the following options:

  | show full URL = yes
  | separator string = '-'
  | show field attributes = no

For URLinTitle, set:

  | tab title format = '{title} - {protocol}://{hostname}{port}/{path}'

Finally, you need to configure your window manager to run Avendesora when you 
type a special hot key, such as ``Alt p``.  The idea is that you are in 
a situation where you need a secret, such as visiting your bank's website in 
your browser, then you click on the account name field with your mouse and type 
your hot key. This runs Avendesora without an account name. In this case, 
Avendesora uses secret discovery to determine which secret to use and the script 
that should be used to produce the required information. Generally the script 
would be to enter the account name, then tab, then the password, and finally 
return, but you can configure the script as you choose. This is all done as part 
of configuring discovery. The method for associating Avendesora to a particular 
hot key is dependent on your window manager. With Gnome, it requires that you 
open your Keyboard Shortcuts preferences and create a new shortcut. When you do 
this, choose 'avendesora value' as the command to run.


Python API
----------

You can access account information from Avendesora using Python using a simple 
relatively high-level interface as shown in this example:

.. code-block:: python

    from avendesora import PasswordGenerator, PasswordError
    from inform import display, fatal, os_error
    from shlib import Run
    from pathlib import Path

    try:
        pw = PasswordGenerator()
        account = pw.get_account('mybank')
        name = account.get_value('NAME')
        username = account.get_value('username')
        passcode = account.get_value('passcode')
        url = account.get_value('ofxurl')
    except PasswordError as err:
        fatal(err)

    try:
        curl = Run(f'curl --user {username!s}:{passcode!s} {url!s}', 'sOEW0')
        Path(f'{name!s}.ofx').write_text(curl.stdout)
    except OSError as err:
        fatal(os_error(err))


PasswordGenerator():
    Initializes the password generator. You should pass no arguments.

get_account(name, request_seed=False, stealth_name=None):
    Accesses a particular account. Takes a string for the account name or alias.  
    The name is case insensitive and the '-' may be given for '_'.

    Optionally takes a second argument (*request_seed*) that may be a Boolean, 
    a string, or a function that returns a string. The string is used as an 
    additional seed (see: `avendesora help misdirection`), and if True is passed 
    in, the user in queried for the seed.

    The stealth name is used as account name if the account is a stealth 
    account.


get_name():
    return name of account.

get_value(field):
    Returns the value of a particular account attribute given a user-oriented 
    string that describes the desired attribute.  The value requested must be 
    a scalar value, meaning that you must individually request members of arrays 
    or dictionary attributes. Here are some examples that demonstrate the various 
    ways of accessing the various kinds of attributes:

    .. code-block:: python

        passcode = account.get_value()
        username = account.get_value('username')
        both = account.get_value('username: {username}, password: {passcode}')
        checking = account.get_value('accounts.checking')
        savings = account.get_value('accounts[checking]')
        answer0 = account.get_value(0)
        answer1 = account.get_value('questions.1')
        answer2 = account.get_value('questions[2]')

    If the argument passed to get_value is a field, then it may consist of 
    a name (the identifier for the first level of the field) and a key (the 
    identifier for the second level of the field). The field is case insensitive 
    and a '-' will match a '_' and visa versa.

    You can also specify the name and key separately in a tuple:

    .. code-block:: python

        username = account.get_value(('username',))
        checking = account.get_value(('accounts', 'checking'))
        answer0 = account.get_value((0,))
        answer1 = account.get_value(('questions', 1))

    The value is returned as an object that contains four attributes, value (the 
    actual value), is_secret (whether the value is secret or contains a secret), 
    name (the name of the value), and desc (the description, contains the actual 
    question of the answer to a question is requested).  Converting the object 
    to a string returns the value rendered as a string.  There is also the 
    render() method that returns a string that combines the name and the 
    description with the value. It takes an optional collection of format 
    strings, the first one that matches is used. The format strings may contain 
    keys in braces that get replaced by the corresponding attributes. The known 
    keys are n {name}, k (key), f (field, combination of name and key), 
    d (description) and v (value).  A format string does not match it if 
    contains a key for a value that is not available. If no format string 
    matches, the value is returned as a string.  The default formats are ('{f} 
    ({d}): {v}', '{f}: {v}').

    If a composite field is requested get_value() raises a PasswordError, and 
    the exception contains the *is_collection* and *collection* attributes. The 
    first is a Boolean and the second is the list of available keys.  
    PassworError returns None for unknown attributes, so it is always safe to 
    access these attributes without checking whether they exist.

get_values(field):
    Used to get the values for a composite field. It iterates through the value 
    and returns a tuple that contains the key and the value for each item in the 
    field.

    Field is an identifier that may consist of a name (the identifier for the 
    first level of the field) and a key (the identifier for the second level of 
    the field).  The field is case insensitive and a '-' will match a '_' and 
    visa versa.

    Here is how you might iterate through both the scalar and composite values 
    in an account:

    .. code-block:: python

        try:
            value = acct.get_value(field)
            lines += value.render('{n}: {v}').split('\n')
        except PasswordError as e:
            if not e.is_collection:
                raise
            lines += [name + ':']
            for key, value in acct.get_values(name):
                lines += indent(
                    value.render(('{k}) {d}: {v}', '{k}: {v}'))
                ).split('\n')

get_fields():
    Iterates through the fields, each iteration yields a name and possibly 
    a collection of keys ([None] is returned if the name corresponds to 
    a scalar).  The name and keys returned are the resolved names, which can be 
    passed to get_scalar() and get_composite().

    Here is how this method can be used to iterate through the account values:

    .. code-block:: python

        # gather user fields
        lines = []
        for field, keys in account.get_fields():
            if keys == [None]:
                v = account.get_value(field)
                lines += v.render('{n}: {v}').split('\n')
            else:
                lines.append(field + ':')
                for k, v in account.get_values(field):
                    lines += indent(
                        v.render(('{k}) {d}: {v}', '{k}: {v}'))
                    ).split('\n')
        account_summary = '\n'.join(lines)

    get_fields() accepts a Boolean argument that if specified and is true will 
    iterate through all fields, including those generally only used by 
    Avendesora, such as aliases and discovery.


get_scalar(name, key=None, default=False):
    A lower level interface than get_value that given a name and perhaps a key 
    returns a scalar value.  Also takes an optional default value that is 
    returned if the value is not found. Unlike get_value, the actual value is 
    returned, not a object that contains multiple facets of the value. Also, the 
    name and key must match exactly.

    The name is the field name, and the key would identity which value is 
    desired if the field is a composite. If default is False, an error is raise 
    if the value is not present, otherwise the default value itself is returned.

    If the value returned is an Avendesora object (GeneratedSecret,
    ObscuredSecret, Script), then you should cast it to a string to get its
    resolved value.

get_composite(name):
    A lower level interface than get_value that given a name returns the value 
    of the associated field, which may be a scalar (string or integer) or 
    a composite (array of dictionary).  Unlike get_value, the actual value is 
    returned, not a object that contains multiple facets of the value.  Also, 
    the name and key must match exactly.

    If the value returned is an Avendesora object (GeneratedSecret,
    ObscuredSecret, Script), then you should cast it to a string to get its
    resolved value.

API Example
-----------

The following example creates encrypted files that contain account information 
that would be needed by close family members and by a business partner in case 
anything happened to you.  This is an abbreviated version of an example given in 
the users' guide.

.. code-block:: python

    #!/bin/env python3

    from avendesora import PasswordGenerator, PasswordError
    from textwrap import dedent
    from inform import (
        display, done, Error, error, indent, is_collection, os_error
    )
    import gnupg


    files = [
        {   'FILENAME': 'family.gpg',
            'RECIPIENTS': 'me@home.com son@home.com daughter@home.com'.split(),
            'ACCOUNTS': 'bank brokerage creditcard'.split(),
        },
        {   'FILENAME': 'partner.gpg',
            'RECIPIENTS': 'me@work.com partner@work.com'.split(),
            'ACCOUNTS': 'login ssh root backups'.split(),
        },
    ]

    try:
        pw = PasswordGenerator()

        for each in files:
            accounts = []
            for account_name in each['ACCOUNTS']:
                acct = pw.get_account(account_name)
                title = acct.get_scalar('desc', default=account_name)
                lines = [title, len(title)*'=']

                for name, keys in acct.get_fields():
                    if keys:
                        lines.append(name + ':')
                        for key, value in acct.get_values(name):
                            lines += indent(
                                value.render(('{k}) {d}: {v}', '{k}: {v}'))
                            ).split('\n')
                    else:
                        value = acct.get_value(name)
                        lines += value.render('{n}: {v}').split('\n')
                accounts.append('\n'.join(lines))

            gpg = gnupg.GPG(gpgbinary='gpg2')
            encrypted = gpg.encrypt('\n\n\n'.join(accounts), each['RECIPIENTS'])
            if not encrypted.ok:
                raise Error(
                    'unable to encrypt:', encrypted.stderr, culprit=each['FILENAME']
                )
            try:
                with open(each['FILENAME'], 'w') as file:
                    file.write(str(encrypted))
                print("%s: created." % each['FILENAME'])
            except OSError as e:
                raise Error(os_error(e))

    except (PasswordError, Error) as e:
        e.terminate()


Getting Help
------------

You can find the documentation on `ReadTheDocs <https://avendesora.readthedocs.io>`_.

The *help* command provides information on how to use Avendesora's various 
features.  To get a listing of the topics available, use::

    avendesora help

Then, for information on a specific topic use::

    avendesora help <topic>

It is worth browsing all of the available topics at least once to get a sense of 
all that Avendesora can do.


Contributing
------------

Please ask questions or report bugs on `Github Issues 
<https://github.com/KenKundert/avendesora/issues>`_. I will entertain pull 
requests if you make improvements. Currently *Avendesora* is very *Fedora* and 
*VIM* centric. I am particularly interested in help adapting *Avendesora* in the 
following ways:

- Support for other editors, window managers and distributions.
- Support for Windows and OSX.
- Support for Android and iOS (perhaps through exports to a password manager 
  that already support smartphones).