Terms

Terms v2.0.0 — a security toolkit for managing API keys, tokens, and credentials from the command line. Generate, store, rotate, audit, and revoke secrets — all logged locally with timestamps for full accountability.

Why Terms?

• Works entirely offline — your data never leaves your machine
• Simple command-line interface, no GUI needed
• Timestamped logging for every credential operation
• Export to JSON, CSV, or plain text for compliance evidence
• Automatic history and activity tracking
• Searchable records across all security operations

Getting Started

# See all available commands
terms help

# Check current health status
terms status

# View summary statistics
terms stats

Commands

Security Operations Commands

Each command works in two modes: run without arguments to view recent entries, or pass input to record a new entry.

Utility Commands

Data Storage

All data is stored locally in ~/.local/share/terms/. Structure:

• generate.log, rotate.log, audit.log, etc. — one log file per command, pipe-delimited (timestamp|value)
• history.log — unified activity log across all commands
• export.json / export.csv / export.txt — generated export files

Each entry is stored as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM|<input>. Use export to back up your data anytime.

Requirements

• Bash 4+ (uses set -euo pipefail)
• Standard Unix utilities (date, wc, du, tail, grep, sed, cat)
• No external dependencies or internet access needed

When to Use

1. Credential lifecycle management — Track every API key from generation through rotation to revocation, maintaining a complete chain of custody
2. Compliance auditing — Use audit and report to document credential reviews and produce evidence for SOC 2, ISO 27001, or PCI DSS audits
3. Incident response — When a key is compromised, log the revoke action, then search to find all related operations and assess blast radius
4. Rotation tracking — Record every rotate event with the old/new key identifiers so you know exactly when credentials changed and why
5. Policy enforcement — Use policy to document rotation schedules and strength requirements, then check-strength to verify compliance

Examples

# Record generating a new API key
terms generate "Created prod API key for payment-service, expires 2025-06-01"

# Check and log key strength
terms check-strength "payment-service key: 256-bit, AES — STRONG"

# Record a rotation event
terms rotate "Rotated DB password for analytics-ro user, old key revoked"

# Log an audit finding
terms audit "Q1 review: 3 keys older than 90 days found, rotation scheduled"

# Record a revocation
terms revoke "Emergency revoke: staging key leaked in public repo, rotated immediately"

# Export audit trail to JSON
terms export json

# Search for a specific service
terms search "payment-service"

Output

All commands output to stdout. Redirect to a file if needed:

terms stats > credential-summary.txt
terms export csv

Configuration

Set TERMS_DIR environment variable to override the default data directory (~/.local/share/terms/).

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