keybase/saltpack
a modern crypto messaging format observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
75/100
- Activity 95
- Release rhythm 35
- Longevity 100
Flags: no_releases
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: n/a
- age_days: 3824
- days_rel: n/a
- days_push: 33
- n_releases_24m: 0
Adoption not part of the score
1019 stars · 65 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded
Saltpack is a modern crypto messaging format built on the NaCl library, encoding encrypted, signed, and signcrypted messages as MessagePack binary chunks with an ASCII-armored presentation similar to PGP. This repository is the Go implementation, used in Keybase's production app since 2017.
Use cases
- encrypt messages with a modern alternative to PGP
- sign messages with repudiable authentication
- signcrypt messages to hidden recipients
- armor binary crypto output as ASCII text
- stream large files in authenticated 1MB chunks
When to avoid
- you need X.509/OpenPGP interoperability with existing tooling
- you need a full key management or identity system (saltpack is only a message format)
- you need TLS-style transport encryption rather than message formats
Facets
library · maturity stable
cryptography serialization security privacy developer-tools go cross-platform nacl messagepack pgp-alternative signcryption message-format encryption signing
3 sources
- readme: https://github.com/keybase/saltpack · fetched 2026-08-28 · 014d4c370457
- homepage: https://saltpack.org/ · fetched 2026-08-29 · afaea608e5aa
- site_page: https://saltpack.org/faq · fetched 2026-08-29 · 1a4c44d74dcb
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| keybase/saltpack | main | 75 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="keybase/saltpack")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem