# keybase/saltpack

a modern crypto messaging format

Repository: https://github.com/keybase/saltpack
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/saltpack
Homepage: https://saltpack.org/
Language: Go
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-07-31T16:34:19+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 75/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 95, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3824, "days_push": 33, "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 1019, forks 65 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:15.026269+00:00)

## What it is
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
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: cryptography, serialization
- domain: security, privacy, developer-tools
- platform: go, cross-platform
- tags: nacl, messagepack, pgp-alternative, signcryption, message-format, encryption, signing

## Member repositories
- keybase/saltpack (main) score 75

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:15.026269+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 2026-08-30T07:09:23.462934+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/keybase/saltpack (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:15.026269+00:00, sha 014d4c370457)
  - homepage: https://saltpack.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T13:09:31.021096+00:00, sha afaea608e5aa)
  - site_page: https://saltpack.org/faq (fetched 2026-08-29T13:09:31.030875+00:00, sha 1a4c44d74dcb)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.