maxgoedjen/secretive

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

8819 stars · 210 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

Secretive is a native macOS app that stores and manages SSH keys inside the Mac's Secure Enclave, making them non-exportable. It adds Touch ID / Apple Watch access control, access notifications, and smart card (YubiKey) support, and acts as an SSH agent.

Use cases

• protect ssh keys from malware theft on mac
• require touch id before ssh key usage
• generate non-exportable ssh keys with secure enclave
• get notified when ssh keys are accessed
• use yubikey smart card for ssh signing
• manage ssh agent on macos

When to choose

• you use SSH from a Mac with a Secure Enclave and want hardware-backed key protection
• you want biometric (Touch ID / Apple Watch) gating of SSH key usage
• you want an open-source, auditable SSH agent with no external dependencies

When to avoid

• you need to back up or transfer SSH keys between machines, since Secure Enclave keys are non-exportable
• you need an SSH agent on Linux or Windows
• your Mac lacks a Secure Enclave and you don't want to use a smart card

Facets

application · maturity active

security cryptography ssh security apple-ecosystem developer-tools ssh-agent secure-enclave ssh-keys touch-id key-management native-app macos

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="maxgoedjen/secretive")