GenPass

Secure password generator CLI written in Python. Generate strong, random passwords from the command line with customizable character sets.

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Features

• Default behavior: All character types enabled by default (lowercase, uppercase, digits, symbols)
• Specify password length (-l) and quantity (-n)
• Include/exclude character types:
  • --lower - Lowercase letters
  • --upper - Uppercase letters
  • --digits - Digits
  • --symbols - Symbols
• --no-ambiguous - Exclude confusing characters (l, 1, I, O, 0)
• --symbol-set - Custom symbol set
• --no-ensure - Disable "at least one from each type" rule
• --entropy - Calculate and display password entropy
• --clipboard / -c - Copy password to clipboard
• --format - Output format: plain, json, delimited
• --save-config - Save current options as defaults
• --config - Show current configuration
• Shell completions for bash, zsh, and fish

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Installation

1. Via pipx (recommended)

pipx install git+https://github.com/kilyabin/GenPass

2. Local installation

Clone the repo and run the install script:

git clone https://github.com/kilyabin/GenPass.git
cd GenPass
./install.sh

3. Development installation

pipx install --editable .
# or
pip install -e .

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Usage

Basic Usage

Generate a single password (default 16 characters, all character types):

genpass

Generate a password with specific character types:

genpass --lower --upper --digits --symbols

Length and Quantity

Generate 5 passwords of length 20:

genpass -l 20 -n 5

Generate a 32-character password:

genpass -l 32

Character Sets

Password without symbols (only letters and digits):

genpass --lower --upper --digits

Only lowercase and digits:

genpass --lower --digits

Use a custom symbol set:

genpass --symbols --symbol-set "!@#%&"

Excluding Ambiguous Characters

Exclude confusing characters like l, 1, I, O, 0:

genpass --no-ambiguous

Combine with other options:

genpass -l 20 --no-ambiguous --lower --upper --digits

Output Formats

Plain text (default):

genpass -n 3

JSON format:

genpass -n 3 --format json

Output:

{
  "passwords": [
    "abc123...",
    "def456...",
    "ghi789..."
  ]
}

Delimited format (one per line):

genpass -n 3 --format delimited

Entropy Calculation

Display password entropy (in bits):

genpass --entropy

Output:

Kx9#mP2$vL5@nQ8w
# Entropy: 94.56 bits

Clipboard Support

Copy the generated password to clipboard:

genpass --clipboard
# or
genpass -c

Output:

✓ Copied to clipboard
Kx9#mP2$vL5@nQ8w

Note

: Clipboard support requires pyperclip. Install with pip install pyperclip.

Configuration

Save default settings:

genpass -l 24 --no-ambiguous --save-config

Show current configuration:

genpass --config

Configuration is stored in ~/.genpass/config.json.

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Examples

Real-world Usage

Generate a password for a website:

genpass -l 16 --clipboard

Generate multiple passwords and save to file:

genpass -n 10 -l 20 --format json > passwords.json

Generate a memorable password (no ambiguous chars):

genpass -l 12 --no-ambiguous

Generate a high-entropy password:

genpass -l 32 --entropy

Script-friendly JSON output:

genpass --format json | jq -r '.passwords[0]'

Set default password length for all future sessions:

genpass -l 20 --save-config
genpass  # Now generates 20-char passwords by default

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Shell Completion

After installation, completions are automatically copied to your shell folders. Restart your shell or source the completion files manually:

Bash

source ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/genpass

Zsh

source ~/.local/share/zsh/site-functions/_genpass

Fish

source ~/.local/share/fish/vendor_completions.d/genpass.fish

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Development

1. Install in editable mode:

pipx install --editable .
# or
pip install -e .

2. Install dev dependencies:

pip install -e ".[dev]"

3. Run linting:

ruff check genpass/
mypy genpass/
black --check genpass/

4. Run tests:

pytest

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API Usage

Use GenPass as a Python library:

from genpass import generate_password, get_character_pools, calculate_entropy

# Get character pools
pools = get_character_pools(
    use_lower=True,
    use_upper=True,
    use_digits=True,
    use_symbols=True,
    symbol_set="!@#$%",
    exclude_ambiguous=False,
)

# Generate password
password = generate_password(length=16, pools=pools)
print(password)

# Calculate entropy
entropy = calculate_entropy(password, sum(len(p) for p in pools))
print(f"Entropy: {entropy:.2f} bits")

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Command-Line Options

positional arguments:
  (none)

options:
  -h, --help            Show help message
  -l, --length LENGTH   Password length (default: 16)
  -n, --count COUNT     Number of passwords (default: 1)
  --lower               Include lowercase letters
  --upper               Include uppercase letters
  --digits              Include digits
  --symbols             Include symbols
  --symbol-set SET      Custom symbol set
  --no-ensure           Disable ensure-each-type rule
  --no-ambiguous        Exclude ambiguous characters
  --entropy             Show password entropy
  -c, --clipboard       Copy to clipboard
  --format FORMAT       Output format: plain, json, delimited
  --config              Show current configuration
  --save-config         Save options as defaults

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these guidelines:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests and linting (pytest, ruff check, mypy)
5. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
6. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
7. Open a Pull Request

Code Style

This project uses:

• Black for code formatting
• Ruff for linting
• MyPy for type checking

Install dev dependencies and set up pre-commit hooks:

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pre-commit install

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License – see the LICENSE file for details.

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Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.