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User Documentation

What is keytar-rs?

keytar-rs is a cross-platform library meant to interact with OS (operating system) credential storage. keytar-rs is written in Rust, and uses other Rust libraries to interface with credential storage APIs (application programming interfaces). It was designed to be a drop-in replacement for node-keytar, a Microsoft (formerly GitHub under "Atom") project that was archived on December 15th, 2022. For context, node-keytar has widespread use in multiple projects with over 500k weekly downloads - this library was created to avoid long-term conflicts/vulnerabilities that may arise with node-keytar now that it is no longer maintained.

Why switch to keytar-rs?

By continuing to use node-keytar, it opens up the user to future problems with the library itself or its dependencies. Until Microsoft provides an update to the status of keytar on NPM, it is unknown whether the package will continue to be supported. As a result, there was a demand for a replacement that can function identically to the original module.

As keytar-rs was modeled after node-keytar, the same operations can be performed in credential storage:

  • Storing credentials
  • Retrieving credentials
  • Searching for passwords based on a matching label
  • Searching for matching credentials based on a prefix/query
  • Deleting credentials

Currently, there are no breaking changes between the use of node-keytar and keytar-rs. This is intended by design, and the library will be maintained with that principle in mind. As a result, keytar-rs is a substitute for the original node-keytar module.

For the end-user, there will be no noticeable change to their operations. Existing credentials stored and retrieved with node-keytar will continue to work with keytar-rs. Existing functionality dependent upon node-keytar will continue to work when keytar-rs is integrated.

Usage (developers)

From a developer's perspective, one can simply update existing Node.js projects to import from keytar-rs instead of node-keytar, allowing for a straightforward transition. All functions previously exported in node-keytar will be available in keytar-rs. Simply add keytar-rs to your project using npm or yarn:

  • npm install git+https://github.com/traeok/keytar-rs.git
  • yarn add git+https://github.com/traeok/keytar-rs.git

Importing a function from keytar-rs is identical to the node-keytar import process:

import { 
    deletePassword, 
    findCredentials, 
    findPassword, 
    getPassword, 
    setPassword 
} from "@traeok/keytar-rs";
// Or import all functions under a namespace...
import * as keytar from "@traeok/keytar-rs";

After the desired functions are imported, feel free to use them in the same fashion as the node-keytar functions. For the examples below, async/await keywords are used, but the functions can also be used with .then/.catch promise blocks:

getPassword("TestService", "AccountA")
.then((pw) => {
    console.log("The password for TestService/AccountA is:", pw);
})
.catch((err) => {
    console.error("An error occurred!", err.message);
});

Examples:

// Set a password with a given service and account name
// Password will be stored under <service>/<account>
await setPassword("TestService", "AccountA", "Apassword");

// Get a password, given a service and account name
await getPassword("TestService", "AccountA");

// Find credentials based on a matching label
await findCredentials("TestService");

// Find password that matches a service and account
await findPassword("TestService/AccountA");

// Delete a credential w/ the provided service and account name
await deletePassword("TestService", "AccountA");

Demo:

keytar-rs demo