# diafygi/acme-nosudo

Free HTTPS certificates without having to trust the letsencrypt cli with sudo/root

Repository: https://github.com/diafygi/acme-nosudo
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/acme-nosudo
Language: Python
License: AGPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2020-03-13T20:27:22+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4244, "days_push": 2364, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1173, forks 122 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:51.862343+00:00)

## What it is
A Python script that obtains free HTTPS certificates from the Let's Encrypt CA via the ACME protocol without requiring root or sudo access. It signs a user-provided CSR and never touches the user's private keys, printing minimal commands for the few steps that need server access.

## Use cases
- get free letsencrypt certificates without running their client as root
- sign a CSR with letsencrypt without giving access to my private keys
- obtain an SSL certificate without letting a script edit my nginx config
- run ACME certificate issuance off-server
- minimal letsencrypt client that doesn't need sudo

## When to choose
- you want free Let's Encrypt certificates but distrust running the official client as root
- you want to keep your domain private key isolated from the certificate-issuing process
- you prefer a simple, inspectable script over a full-featured ACME client

## When to avoid
- you need an actively maintained tool - the project hasn't been updated since 2020 and ACME has evolved
- you want automated renewal or integration with modern ACME features like TLS-ALPN
- you prefer a full-featured client like certbot or acme.sh

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: security, cryptography, cli
- domain: security, web-development, developer-tools
- platform: python, cli, cross-platform
- tags: letsencrypt, acme, ssl-tls, certificate-management, no-root, https, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- diafygi/acme-nosudo (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:51.862343+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:28:22.260921+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/diafygi/acme-nosudo (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:51.862343+00:00, sha 9a689467caea)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.