Install, store a secret, use it.

1. Install

All three paths verify minisign before extracting. The picker shows the right command for your OS — switch tabs if you're on a different machine:

On macOS / Linux the installer places binaries in /opt/homebrew/bin/ (or /usr/local/bin/), generates a random 24-byte passphrase, stores it in your Keychain or secret-service, and starts the daemon as a launchd / systemd user agent. On Windows the PowerShell installer (Windows PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7, no admin) drops binaries under %LOCALAPPDATA%\ClauLock\bin, encrypts the passphrase via DPAPI, and registers the daemon as a per-user logon task so it is up — and unlocked — after every sign-in. All three paths merge the PreToolUse / PostToolUse Bash hooks and the claulock MCP server into ~/.claude/settings.json and ~/.claude.json without clobbering existing entries.

Prefer a direct download? Grab the signed tarball, .deb, .rpm, macOS .pkg, the Windows installer (-setup.exe), the Windows .msi for IT deployment, or Windows .tar.gz for your architecture from the latest release. Every artifact is signed (minisign over SHA256SUMS plus per-binary cosign sigs) — see Verify downloads below.

Windows note: the Windows installer installs the ClauLock app with everything it needs, without admin rights, and opens it when it finishes — the app sets up the vault and connects Claude Code, no terminal involved. The .msi is for IT deployment and installs the command-line tools only. Both ship unsigned for now. SmartScreen will show "Windows protected your PC" on first launch — click More info then Run anyway. Verify the download against the minisigned SHA256SUMS first if you want belt-and-suspenders. An Authenticode-signed build ships when the cert lands; until then the supply-chain story is identical to every other artifact in the release (same minisign + cosign chain).

1b. Verify downloads (optional but recommended)

Every release ships two independent signatures: a minisign signature over SHA256SUMS (covers every tarball, .deb, .rpm, and .pkg) and a cosign signature per shipped binary.

The public keys live in the repo at minisign.pub and cosign.pub, and are also attached to every release. Builds run on ClauLock's own CI, not on a rented platform; releases 1.5.0 to 1.5.2 additionally carry an SLSA Build L3 provenance file from the hosted pipeline of that period.

2. Verify the daemon

Expect an Unlocked state, a socket at $TMPDIR/clsec-<uid>.sock, and a vault path of ~/.clsec/vault.clsec.

3. Store your first secret

From the CLI, ClauLock reads the value from stdin so it never appears in your shell history:

You can also let Claude ask you directly. Start Claude Code and say "use the GitHub API to list my repos". Claude will call the secret_request_from_user tool; a password box appears in the Claude Code TUI; the value goes straight from that box into the local daemon. The chat transcript never sees it.

4. Use it in a Bash call

Ask Claude to hit GitHub. It will write something like:

The PreToolUse hook rewrites the command to run under clsec-exec; the shim asks the daemon for the value; the daemon returns it over the Unix socket; the shim execves bash -lc with the placeholder substituted. The model sees the placeholder form in the transcript. Never the value.

5. Common commands

6. Uninstall

Remove the claulock MCP server and Bash hooks from ~/.claude.json and ~/.claude/settings.json by hand.

Next

• Read the security model for the full threat model and crypto parameters.
• Skim the FAQ for the usual questions.
• Read the source on GitHub.