AxKeyStore: A Zero-Trust CLI for Managing Secrets Using GitHub as Your Backend

Most developers today juggle secrets across multiple environments—API keys, database credentials, tokens, signing keys. The typical solutions fall into three buckets: .env files (simple, but unsafe and unscalable) Cloud secret managers (secure, but expensive and vendor-locked) Password managers (not developer-native) AxKeyStore introduces a different approach: Use your own GitHub repository as an encrypted, versioned, zero-trust secret store—fully controlled by you. This article breaks down how AxKeyStore works, why its architecture matters, and how you can integrate it into your workflow. AxKeyStore is MIT Licensed Open Source project - https://github.com/basilgregory/axkeystore The Core Idea AxKeyStore is a CLI-first secret manager that: Stores secrets in your own private GitHub repo Uses client-side encryption only Treats GitHub as untrusted storage Ensures no plaintext secrets ever leave your machine This flips the traditional model: Traditional Secret Manager AxKeyStore Trust the