How Potent Cipher keeps your vault private

Encrypted on your device

Your passphrase never leaves your device. The app turns it into a key with Argon2id (64 MiB of memory, 3 passes), a deliberately slow function that makes guessing expensive.

That key unlocks a random 256-bit master key, which unlocks your vault keys, and every item has its own random key. Everything is encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305 before it is sent.

All of this runs inside a compiled, memory-safe core (written in Rust, running as WebAssembly in a background worker), so keys are wiped from memory when the vault locks.

What we can and can't see

• We can't see: your passphrase, your keys, your secrets, their labels, your notes, file names or contents.
• We can see: your account email, how many items you have and how big they are, when they changed, your devices' names (like “Chrome on Windows”) and your plan.
• Every stored item is bound to its own id and vault, so even a compromised server can't swap or move items without it showing.

Recovery, honestly

Your Recovery Key, shown once at setup, is the only way back in if you forget your passphrase. We can't reset it.

Optional email recovery is off unless you turn it on. When on, a copy of your master key is sealed to a key that lives on our server (not in our database), and it can only be released after a 72-hour wait that you are told about and can cancel. It is less private, and we say so where you switch it on.

The web version, and the apps

In a browser, our server delivers the app's code, so you trust that code each time you load it. We keep that surface small: no third-party scripts on vault pages, no analytics there, a strict security policy, and pinned dependencies.

The desktop app and browser extension (coming) are signed builds that update only from our public release feed.

Open, so you can check

The encryption core and the .pcipher file format are public with test vectors, so anyone can verify how your data is protected and decrypt their own files without us.

Found a problem? Write to security@softwaretrinkets.com. We answer every report.