# The keyring Starting with the v0.38.0 release, Cosmos SDK comes with a new keyring implementation that provides a set of commands to manage cryptographic keys in a secure fashion. The new keyring supports multiple storage backends, some of which may not be available on all operating systems. ## The 'os' backend The `os` backend relies on operating system-specific defaults to handle key storage securely. Typically, operating systems credentials sub-systems handle passwords prompt, private keys storage, and user sessions according to their users password policies. Here is a list of the most popular operating systems and their respective passwords manager: * macOS (since Mac OS 8.6): [Keychain](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/keychain-access/welcome/mac) * Windows: [Credentials Management API](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/secauthn/credentials-management) * GNU/Linux: * [libsecret](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libsecret) * [kwallet](https://api.kde.org/frameworks/kwallet/html/index.html) GNU/Linux distributions that use GNOME as default desktop environment typically come with [Seahorse](https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Seahorse). Users of KDE based distributions are commonly provided with [KDE Wallet Manager](https://userbase.kde.org/KDE_Wallet_Manager). Whilst the former is in fact a `libsecret` convenient frontend, the former is a `kwallet` client. `os` is the default option since operating system's default credentials managers are designed to meet users' most common needs and provide them with a comfortable experience without compromising on security. ## The 'file' backend The `file` backend more closely resembles the keybase implementation used prior to v0.38.1. It stores the keyring encrypted within the apps configuration directory. This keyring will request a password each time it is accessed, which may occur multiple times in a single command resulting in repeated password prompts. If using bash scripts to execute commands using the `file` option you may want to utilize the following format for multiple prompts: ```sh $ gaiacli config keyring-backend file # use file backend $ (echo '1234567890'; echo '1234567890') | gaiacli keys add me # add the key 'me' $ (echo '1234567890'; echo '1234567890'; echo '1234567890') | gaiad collect-gentxs # multiple prompts ``` ::: tip The first time you add a key to an empty keyring, you will be prompted to type the password twice. ::: ## The 'pass' backend The `pass` backend uses the [pass](https://www.passwordstore.org/) utility to manage on-disk encryption of keys' sensitive data and metadata. Keys are stored inside `gpg` encrypted files within app-specific directories. `pass` is available for the most popular UNIX operating systems as well as GNU/Linux distributions. Please refer to its manual page for information on how to download and install it. ::: tip **pass** uses [GnuPG](https://gnupg.org/) for encryption. `gpg` automatically invokes the `gpg-agent` daemon upon execution, which handles the caching of GnuPG credentials. Please refer to `gpg-agent` man page for more information on how to configure cache parameters such as credentials TTL and passphrase expiration. ::: The password store must be set up prior to first use: ```sh $ pass init ``` Replace `` with your GPG key ID. You can use your personal GPG key or an alternative one you may want to use specifically to encrypt the password store. ## The 'test' backend The `test` backend is a password-less variation of the `file` backend. Keys are stored unencrypted on disk. This backend is meant for testing purposes only and **should never be used in production environments**. ## The 'kwallet' backend The `kwallet` backend uses `KDE Wallet Manager`, which comes installed by default on the GNU/Linux distributions that ships KDE as default desktop environment. Please refer to [KWallet Handbook](https://docs.kde.org/stable5/en/kdeutils/kwallet5/index.html) for more information.