Ciphora

Zero-Knowledge Password Manager · Local-First · Air-Gap Transfer

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Ciphora is built and maintained by a single developer, entirely in spare time. No VC funding. No subscription fees. No ads. No telemetry. That's intentional — your data should never be someone else's business model.

If Ciphora protects your passwords, saves you from a breach, or just makes your digital life a little less stressful, please consider sponsoring. Even a one-time coffee keeps the project alive and signals that software like this is worth building.

WeChat Pay and Alipay also accepted:

WeChat Pay	Alipay

After sponsoring, drop a comment in Issues and I'll add you to the list ✨

These people make Ciphora possible. Thank you.

悟吉	Your Name Here

Secure Login	Vault Manager
Dashboard	Settings

Most password managers ask you to trust them with your most sensitive data — then sync it to their servers, lock features behind a paywall, and reserve the right to change their privacy policy overnight.

Ciphora takes the opposite approach.

Your vault never leaves your device. No cloud. No sync server. No account required. Everything is encrypted locally with a key that only you can derive, and transferred to other devices through your camera — not the internet.

Beyond passwords, Ciphora stores TOTP/MFA codes, Base64 attachments, JSON structs, and free-form notes — all in the same encrypted vault. No more juggling separate apps for credentials, authenticator codes, and secure notes.

The entire cryptographic layer is written in Rust and runs in an isolated Tauri sandbox. The React frontend has zero access to keys, plaintext, or the filesystem.

There are a lot of password managers. Here's how Ciphora compares in practice:

The short version: if you want a password manager that genuinely cannot phone home (because there's no server), with a crypto layer in a memory-safe language, that works entirely offline — Ciphora is built for that.

Master Password
      │
      ▼
PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256  ←  device-unique salt
      │
      ▼
AES-256-GCM key
      │
      ├──► Encrypt vault → local storage
      └──► Zeroed from memory after use

Master password never stored · Data never leaves your device

• Key derivation — PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 with a per-device unique salt. Resistant to rainbow tables and cross-device precomputation attacks.
• Symmetric encryption — AES-256-GCM provides both confidentiality and integrity. Any tampering with the vault file is detected on next unlock.
• Zero-knowledge verification — Master password is verified against a stored hash only. The original password is never persisted or transmitted in any form.
• Memory isolation — Tauri's sandbox prevents frontend JavaScript from accessing the filesystem, crypto handles, or derived key material. Keys are explicitly zeroed from memory after use.

Transfer Interface	Dynamic Stream — BM Mode

Ciphora integrates the Cimbar (Color Icon Matrix Barcode) protocol for air-gapped device sync. Here's why it matters:

Standard QR codes max out at a few hundred bytes. Cimbar encodes your entire encrypted vault into a continuous video stream using Fountain Codes — there's no size ceiling, and no need to split your vault into pieces.

Dropped frames don't break the transfer. The decoder reconstructs the original file from any sufficient subset of frames received. Move the camera away briefly, keep scanning — it picks up where it left off.

The stream itself reveals nothing. Transfer is completely offline. Combined with mandatory Share Password cascade encryption, your vault remains safe even if someone records the entire session.

Powered by libcimbar by sz3. This capability would not exist without their work.

Get the installer for your platform from Releases:

Requirements: Node.js 18+, Rust 1.75+, Tauri prerequisites

git clone https://github.com/loganchef/Ciphora.git
cd Ciphora
npm install

# Desktop
npm run tauri:dev           # development with hot reload
npm run tauri:build         # production build

# Android
npm run tauri:android:init
npm run tauri:android:build

# iOS (macOS + Xcode required)
npm run tauri:ios:init
npm run tauri:ios:build

Planned features and directions. Watch Releases to follow progress.

• Browser extension for autofill
• Yubikey / hardware key support
• Vault history and non-destructive edits
• Password-protected encrypted export (ZIP)
• More languages (contributions welcome)
• Emergency access / trusted contact unlock

Have a feature request? Open an issue — community feedback directly shapes what gets built next.

Is my data safe if I lose my device?

Your vault file is AES-256-GCM encrypted with a key derived from your master password. Without the password, the file is unreadable — even to you. Keep a backup copy of the vault file somewhere physically safe. Even if someone finds it, they can't open it.

What happens if I forget my master password?

There is no recovery mechanism, by design. Zero-knowledge means there's no server that can reset your access. Write your master password down and store it somewhere physically secure (a safe, a sealed envelope, etc.).

Can I sync across devices without Cimbar?

Yes. You can copy the vault file via USB, local network share, AirDrop, or any transfer method you trust. Cimbar is the built-in solution for when you want to avoid any file transfer infrastructure entirely.

Why Rust instead of JS crypto libraries?

JavaScript runtimes have well-documented issues with secret management — garbage collection doesn't guarantee memory zeroing, and the runtime environment is more exposed. Rust gives us explicit memory control, zeroize on drop, and a hard sandbox boundary between crypto operations and the UI layer.

Is the mobile app the same codebase as desktop?

Yes. Ciphora uses Tauri's mobile bridge, sharing the Rust crypto core and React frontend across all platforms. Android and iOS have the same feature set as desktop with no separate development track.

Pull requests are welcome.

• Bug fixes and translations can be submitted directly
• New features — please open an issue first to align on scope
• Security issues — report privately via GitHub Security Advisories

MIT License · Copyright © 2025 Ciphora