pwgen 🔐

pwgen is a fast, secure CLI tool for generating passwords and passphrases directly from your terminal.

Built with Node.js + TypeScript, it uses cryptographically secure randomness and supports both traditional character-based passwords and modern Diceware passphrases.

✨ Features

🔐 Password Generation

• Generate secure passwords of any length

• Fully customizable character sets:

  • Numbers
  • Lowercase
  • Uppercase
  • Symbols

🎲 Diceware Passphrases (v1.1.0)

• Generate human-readable, secure passphrases
• Custom word count and separators
• Optional capitalization

🧠 Entropy & Strength Analysis (v1.1.0)

• Calculate password entropy (in bits)
• Classify strength: Weak → Very Strong
• Optional --stats flag to display analysis

📋 Clipboard Support

• Copy generated passwords directly to clipboard

Clipboard support works reliably on Windows and macOS.

⚠️ On some Linux systems (especially Wayland), the CLI may appear to hang after copying. The password is usually copied successfully. Press Ctrl + C to exit if needed.

⚡ CLI First

• Lightweight and fast
• Simple, developer-friendly commands

📦 Installation

npm install -g @nilesh-padiyar/pwgen

NOTE:-

Before installing, make sure you have:

1. Node.js (version 14 or higher recommended)
2. npm (comes with Node.js)

Check versions in terminal:

node -v #Node.js version check
npm -v  #npm version check

🚀 Usage

🔐 Generate Passwords (Character-Based)

# Default (10 chars)
pwgen generate

# Custom length
pwgen generate -L 20

# Show entropy & strength
pwgen generate --stats

# Copy to clipboard
pwgen generate -c

# Disable specific character sets
pwgen generate -L 12 --no-u --no-s

Example Output:

FEP39S$vA*
Entropy: 63.58 bits
Strength: Medium

🎲 Generate Diceware Passphrases

# Default (5 words)
pwgen diceware

# Custom word count
pwgen diceware -w 4

# Show entropy & strength
pwgen diceware --stats

# Custom separator
pwgen diceware -w 4 -s "_"

# Capitalized words
pwgen diceware -w 5 -C

# Copy to clipboard
pwgen diceware -c

Example output:

orbit-ember-shadow-tiger-forest
Entropy: 64.62 bits
Strength: Medium

🧠 Why pwgen?

• Uses Node.js crypto module for secure randomness

• Designed for developers who prefer terminal workflows

• Provides transparent security metrics (entropy + strength)

• Supports both:

  • 🔑 Strong random passwords
  • 🧠 Memorable passphrases

⚙️ CLI Options

generate

• -L, --length <length> → Password length (default: 10)
• -n, --numbers → Include numbers
• -l, --lowercase → Include lowercase
• -u, --uppercase → Include uppercase
• -s, --special → Include symbols
• -c, --copy → Copy to clipboard
• --stats → Show entropy and strength

diceware

• -w, --words <number> → Number of words (default: 5)
• -s, --separator <sep> → Separator (default: "-")
• -C, --capitalize → Capitalize words
• -c, --copy → Copy to clipboard
• --stats → Show entropy and strength

🛠 Development

git clone https://github.com/nilesh-padiyar/pwgen.git
cd pwgen
npm install
npm run build

Run locally:

node dist/index.js

🔗 Use Locally (Optional)

npm link
pwgen generate

CLI Configuration:

Make sure your package.json includes:

"bin": {
    "pwgen": "dist/index.js"
}

And you entry file (index.js) starts with shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env node

🔄 Update

npm update -g @nilesh-padiyar/pwgen

🧱 Tech Stack

• TypeScript
• Node.js
• CAC (CLI framework)
• clipboardy
• chalk
• Node.js crypto module

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Submit a pull request

📄 License

MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute

👨‍💻 Author

Nilesh Padiyar