SMF·DASHLANE
Can a prompt replace Dashlane?
Security & passwords — password manager
Exhibit tracking slip
Verdict
A command-line encrypted vault — add, generate, and retrieve credentials from one passphrase-protected file — is a real one-sitting build with mature, well-vetted encryption tools. What a personal clone cannot responsibly claim is Dashlane's browser and mobile autofill, passkey support, breach monitoring, or the recovery and audited trust a professional security team provides.
Exhibit A — The prompt
Received on30.07.2026Build a command-line password vault: one encrypted file on disk holding entries (name, username, password, URL, notes), encrypted with a well-vetted tool like age, using a master passphrase that's prompted at runtime and never written to disk. Commands: add, get <name> (copy to clipboard, clear it after about 20 seconds), list, generate (a long random password, plus a diceware-style passphrase option), edit, delete. Add a backup command that writes a dated copy of the already-encrypted file to a folder you can sync with any file tool you already trust. Everything stays local: no accounts, no telemetry, zero network calls.
Do not build browser-extension autofill, passkey support, breach monitoring, or secure sharing — do not invent any cryptography, use the encryption tool exactly as documented. State plainly in the README that Bitwarden or KeePassXC is the sane choice for most people, and that a forgotten master passphrase means the vault is permanently gone — there is no recovery path here.Opening prefills the prompt — press enter to run it.
Exhibit B — What you lose
- B.1 browser and mobile autofill
- B.2 passkey support
- B.3 breach and security alerts
- B.4 account recovery
- B.5 independently audited security
- B.6 secure sharing with others
Prior art
Exhibit C — Why people still pay: security/trust/cross-platform
People pay for low-friction autofill everywhere and the confidence that the vault itself won't be lost or compromised — not because storing an encrypted file is technically hard.
Questions
Can I import my existing Dashlane vault?
Dashlane exports a CSV of your credentials, and a short import script can turn that into entries here. Passkeys and any shared items don't come across — they're not part of the standard export.
Will it work on my phone?
Not usefully. There's no mobile app and no autofill, so retrieving a password means running the CLI on a computer — this is realistically a desktop tool.
What does it cost to run?
Nothing — no hosting, no API key, no subscription. The only cost is your own time if something goes wrong.
What's the one thing that doesn't survive the rebuild?
Recovery and breach monitoring. Dashlane can help you back into a locked-out account and warns you when a saved credential shows up in a breach; this vault has neither — lose the passphrase and it's gone, and nothing watches for your passwords leaking elsewhere.
Related tools
Receipt