Pkeygen -

In this post, we’ll dive into what pkeygen is, how it differs from traditional methods, and why you might want to add it to your crypto toolkit. Unlike the interactive wizards of GnuPG, pkeygen is designed to be non-interactive and data-driven . It reads a simple JSON configuration file (or string) and outputs a binary or armored OpenPGP keyring.

I’d love to hear about your workflows. Drop a comment below or ping me on the OpenPGP mailing list. Want to dive deeper? Check out the official RNP documentation or explore the pkeygen man page ( man pkeygen ).

The JSON interface is modern, the output is predictable, and the learning curve is shallow. Next time you find yourself writing a bash script to feed gpg --batch with a heredoc full of magic strings, stop. Reach for pkeygen . pkeygen

pkeygen --config ephemeral.json --output build-key.gpg sign-commit --key build-key.gpg # Destroy after use Store your key config in a Git repo, then:

The key takeaway: pkeygen is for automation, CI/CD pipelines, and anyone who hates answering “Real name:” and “Email:” a hundred times. GnuPG does have a batch mode, but its configuration syntax is arcane. Compare this: In this post, we’ll dive into what pkeygen

pkeygen --config key-config.json --output public-key.gpg --public You’ll get a binary OpenPGP keyring. Convert it to ASCII armor if needed:

pkeygen --config key-config.json --output my-private-key.gpg To generate a public key only (for distribution): I’d love to hear about your workflows

rnpkeys --export --armor --output my-pubkey.asc The real power of pkeygen is defining multiple subkeys for different purposes (authentication, encryption, signing). Here’s a production-ready config:

$ pkeygen --version rnp 0.17.0 Create a file called key-config.json :

%echo Generating a default key Key-Type: RSA Key-Length: 3072 Subkey-Type: RSA Subkey-Length: 3072 Name-Real: Joe Tester Name-Comment: Automation Name-Email: joe@example.com Expire-Date: 0 %commit