stash

The single CLI for CipherStash. It handles authentication, project initialization, EQL database lifecycle (install, upgrade, validate, push, migrate), schema building, and encrypted secrets management. Install it as a devDependency alongside the runtime SDK @cipherstash/stack.

Quickstart

npm install -D stash
npx stash auth login    # authenticate with CipherStash
npx stash init          # scaffold encryption schema and install dependencies
npx stash db install    # scaffold stash.config.ts (if missing) and install EQL

What each step does:

• auth login — opens a browser-based device code flow and saves a token to ~/.cipherstash/auth.json.
• init — generates your encryption client file and installs stash as a dev dependency. Pass --supabase or --drizzle for provider-specific setup.
• db install — detects your encryption client, writes stash.config.ts if it's missing, and installs EQL extensions in a single step.

After db install, declare which columns to encrypt — either run @cipherstash/wizard to do it automatically, or edit your encryption client file (default ./src/encryption/index.ts) by hand.

Recommended flow

npx stash auth login
    └── npx stash init
            └── npx stash db install
                    └── npx @cipherstash/wizard       ← fast path: AI edits your files
                            OR
                        Edit schema files by hand     ← escape hatch

stash covers authentication, initialization, EQL install/upgrade/validate/push/migrate, and schema introspection. The wizard (@cipherstash/wizard) is a separate package that calls back into these cli commands after its AI agent finishes editing your schema files.

Configuration

stash.config.ts is the single source of truth for database-touching commands. Create it in your project root:

import { defineConfig } from 'stash'

export default defineConfig({
  databaseUrl: process.env.DATABASE_URL!,
  client: './src/encryption/index.ts',
})

| Option | Required | Default | Description | |--------|----------|---------|-------------| | databaseUrl | Yes | — | PostgreSQL connection string | | client | No | ./src/encryption/index.ts | Path to your encryption client file |

The CLI loads .env files automatically before reading the config, so process.env references work without extra setup. The config file is resolved by walking up from the current working directory.

Commands that consume stash.config.ts: db install, db upgrade, db push, db validate, db status, db test-connection, schema build. db install will scaffold stash.config.ts for you if it's missing.

Commands reference

npx stash init

Scaffold CipherStash for your project. Generates an encryption client file, writes initial schema code, and installs stash as a dev dependency.

npx stash init [--supabase] [--drizzle]

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --supabase | Use the Supabase-specific setup flow | | --drizzle | Use the Drizzle-specific setup flow |

After init completes, the Next Steps output tells you to run npx stash db install, then edit your encryption client file directly.

npx stash auth login

Authenticate with CipherStash using a browser-based device code flow.

npx stash auth login

Saves the token to ~/.cipherstash/auth.json. Database-touching commands check for this file before running.

npx stash secrets

Manage end-to-end encrypted secrets.

npx stash secrets <subcommand> [options]

| Subcommand | Description | |------------|-------------| | set | Store an encrypted secret | | get | Retrieve and decrypt a secret | | get-many | Retrieve and decrypt multiple secrets (2–100) | | list | List all secrets in an environment | | delete | Delete a secret |

Flags:

| Flag | Alias | Description | |------|-------|-------------| | --name | -n | Secret name (comma-separated for get-many) | | --value | -V | Secret value (set only) | | --environment | -e | Environment name | | --yes | -y | Skip confirmation (delete only) |

Examples:

npx stash secrets set -n DATABASE_URL -V "postgres://..." -e production
npx stash secrets get -n DATABASE_URL -e production
npx stash secrets get-many -n DATABASE_URL,API_KEY -e production
npx stash secrets list -e production
npx stash secrets delete -n DATABASE_URL -e production -y

npx stash db install

Configure your database and install CipherStash EQL extensions in a single command. Run this after npx stash init.

When stash.config.ts is missing, the command auto-detects your encryption client file (or asks for the path) and writes the config before installing. Supabase and Drizzle are detected from your DATABASE_URL and project files, so the matching flags default on. Install uses bundled SQL for offline, deterministic runs.

npx stash db install [options]

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --force | Reinstall even if EQL is already installed | | --dry-run | Show what would happen without making changes | | --supabase | Supabase-compatible install (no operator families + grants Supabase roles) | | --exclude-operator-family | Skip operator family creation | | --drizzle | Generate a Drizzle migration instead of direct install | | --latest | Fetch the latest EQL from GitHub | | --name <value> | Migration name (Drizzle mode, default: install-eql) | | --out <value> | Drizzle output directory (default: drizzle) |

The --supabase flag uses a Supabase-specific SQL variant and grants USAGE, table, routine, and sequence permissions on the eql_v2 schema to the anon, authenticated, and service_role roles.

Good to know: Without operator families, ORDER BY on encrypted columns is not supported. Sort application-side after decrypting results as a workaround. This applies to both --supabase and --exclude-operator-family installs.

npx stash db upgrade

Upgrade an existing EQL installation to the version bundled with the package (or the latest from GitHub).

npx stash db upgrade [options]

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --dry-run | Show what would happen without making changes | | --supabase | Use Supabase-compatible upgrade | | --exclude-operator-family | Skip operator family creation | | --latest | Fetch the latest EQL from GitHub |

The install SQL is idempotent and safe to re-run. If EQL is not installed, the command suggests running npx stash db install instead.

npx stash db push

Push your encryption schema to the database. Only required when using CipherStash Proxy. If you use the SDK directly with Drizzle, Supabase, or plain PostgreSQL, skip this step.

npx stash db push [--dry-run]

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --dry-run | Load and validate the schema, print as JSON. No database changes. |

When pushing, the CLI loads the encryption client from stash.config.ts, runs schema validation (warns but does not block), maps SDK types to EQL types, and upserts the config row in eql_v2_configuration.

SDK to EQL type mapping:

| SDK dataType() | EQL cast_as | |------------------|---------------| | string / text | text | | number | double | | bigint | big_int | | boolean | boolean | | date | date | | json | jsonb |

npx stash db validate

Validate your encryption schema for common misconfigurations.

npx stash db validate [--supabase] [--exclude-operator-family]

| Rule | Severity | |------|----------| | freeTextSearch on a non-string column | Warning | | orderAndRange without operator families | Warning | | No indexes on an encrypted column | Info | | searchableJson without dataType("json") | Error |

The command exits with code 1 on errors (not on warnings or info). Validation also runs automatically before db push.

npx stash db migrate

Run pending encrypt config migrations.

npx stash db migrate

Good to know: This command is not yet implemented.

npx stash db status

Show the current state of EQL in your database.

npx stash db status

Reports EQL installation status and version, database permission status, and whether an active encrypt config exists in eql_v2_configuration (relevant only for CipherStash Proxy).

npx stash db test-connection

Verify that the database URL in your config is valid and the database is reachable.

npx stash db test-connection

Reports the database name, connected role, and PostgreSQL server version.

npx stash schema build

Build an encryption client file from your database schema using DB introspection.

npx stash schema build [--supabase]

Connects to your database, lets you select tables and columns to encrypt, asks about searchable indexes, and generates a typed encryption client file.

Reads databaseUrl from stash.config.ts.

Drizzle migration mode

Use --drizzle with npx stash db install to add EQL installation to your Drizzle migration history instead of applying it directly. --drizzle is auto-detected when your project has drizzle-orm, drizzle-kit, or a drizzle.config.* file, so you usually don't need to pass it explicitly.

npx stash db install --drizzle
npx drizzle-kit migrate

How it works:

1. Runs npx drizzle-kit generate --custom --name=<name> to create an empty migration.
2. Loads the bundled EQL SQL (or fetches from GitHub with --latest).
3. Writes the EQL SQL into the generated migration file.

With a custom name or output directory:

npx stash db install --drizzle --name setup-eql --out ./migrations
npx drizzle-kit migrate

drizzle-kit must be installed in your project (npm install -D drizzle-kit). The --out directory must match your drizzle.config.ts.

Required database permissions

Before installing EQL, the CLI verifies that the connected role has:

• CREATE on the database (for CREATE SCHEMA and CREATE EXTENSION).
• CREATE on the public schema (for CREATE TYPE public.eql_v2_encrypted).
• SUPERUSER or extension owner privileges (for CREATE EXTENSION pgcrypto, if not already installed).

If permissions are insufficient, the CLI exits with a message listing what is missing.

Programmatic API

import {
  defineConfig,
  loadStashConfig,
  EQLInstaller,
  loadBundledEqlSql,
  downloadEqlSql,
} from 'stash'

defineConfig

Type-safe identity function for stash.config.ts:

import { defineConfig } from 'stash'

export default defineConfig({
  databaseUrl: process.env.DATABASE_URL!,
  client: './src/encryption/index.ts',
})

loadStashConfig

Finds and loads the nearest stash.config.ts, validates it with Zod, applies defaults, and returns the typed config:

import { loadStashConfig } from 'stash'

const config = await loadStashConfig()
// config.databaseUrl — validated non-empty string
// config.client — defaults to './src/encryption/index.ts'

EQLInstaller

Programmatic access to EQL installation:

import { EQLInstaller } from 'stash'

const installer = new EQLInstaller({ databaseUrl: process.env.DATABASE_URL! })

const permissions = await installer.checkPermissions()
if (!permissions.ok) {
  console.error('Missing permissions:', permissions.missing)
  process.exit(1)
}

if (!(await installer.isInstalled())) {
  await installer.install({ supabase: true })
}

| Method | Returns | Description | |--------|---------|-------------| | checkPermissions() | Promise<PermissionCheckResult> | Check required database permissions | | isInstalled() | Promise<boolean> | Check if the eql_v2 schema exists | | getInstalledVersion() | Promise<string \| null> | Get the installed EQL version | | install(options?) | Promise<void> | Execute the EQL install SQL in a transaction |

Install options: excludeOperatorFamily, supabase, latest (all boolean).

loadBundledEqlSql

Load the bundled EQL install SQL as a string:

import { loadBundledEqlSql } from 'stash'

const sql = loadBundledEqlSql()
const sql = loadBundledEqlSql({ supabase: true })
const sql = loadBundledEqlSql({ excludeOperatorFamily: true })

downloadEqlSql

Download the latest EQL install SQL from GitHub:

import { downloadEqlSql } from 'stash'

const sql = await downloadEqlSql()             // standard
const sql = await downloadEqlSql(true)         // no operator family variant

Relationship to @cipherstash/stack

@cipherstash/stack is the runtime SDK. It stays lean with no heavy dependencies like pg and ships in your production bundle. stash is a devDependency: it handles database tooling and schema lifecycle at development time. Think of it like Drizzle Kit — a companion tool that prepares the database while the runtime SDK handles queries.

Links

• Documentation
• Discord
• Support