Your code stays on your machine. Your secrets stay encrypted. Every access is proven.

The open source core of the NoData Information Access Processor — the local node that encrypts your secrets and proves every access, with nothing ever leaving your machine in the clear.

We encourage you not to pay.
Developers — let's make a deal.
If you encrypt, you don't pay. Ever.
(We only block abusive bots and unfair automation — never you.)

When you grow, you'll want Capsule — a personal vault, and a whole world of security, privacy, and ease of use.

The Problem

Your .env file contains your database password, your API keys, your cloud credentials — in plain text.

One poisoned VS Code extension. One npm package with a postinstall hook. One git push mistake. One stolen laptop. Game over.

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-Ax7Q...        ← anything on your machine can read this
DATABASE_URL=postgres://prod:pass@...  ← and this
STRIPE_KEY=sk_live_4eC39...            ← and this

This is exactly how GitHub itself was breached in 2024 — a poisoned editor extension read a developer's secrets straight off disk. No zero-day required.

The Fix: One Command

npx @nodatachat/protect encrypt

OPENAI_API_KEY=aes256gcm:v2:hUPNqLZ:Rgd1Dh...   ← useless if stolen
DATABASE_URL=aes256gcm:v2:8KmQ2cV:p0Ls9a...      ← useless if stolen
STRIPE_KEY=aes256gcm:v2:c3D9a0X:Fv7Kd2...        ← useless if stolen

Your app still works. Secrets are decrypted in memory only at runtime:

npx @nodatachat/protect run -- npm start
# Secrets exist only in RAM. Never on disk.

How NoData Protect works: encrypt locally, key wrapped server-side and device-bound, decrypt to RAM only

Quick Start

# 1. Setup (creates free API key — no signup, no credit card)
npx @nodatachat/protect init

# 2. Encrypt all secrets in .env
npx @nodatachat/protect encrypt

# 3. Run your app with decrypted secrets (memory only)
npx @nodatachat/protect run -- npm run dev

# 4. Check status
npx @nodatachat/protect status

Works with any stack: Node.js, Python, Go, Ruby, Docker, docker-compose.

Seal Your Code, Too

A poisoned dependency or an over-eager AI doesn't just read secrets — it can silently edit your code. Sign your source as a Merkle tree, and any change is provable:

nodata sign --dir src/        # one signature over the whole tree
nodata verify --dir src/      # flags every added / removed / modified file

The bundled Claude Code Skill refuses to modify a signed region without first running verify and asking you — so a silent rewrite can't break your chain of custody.

Claude Code Skill

Install once — ask your AI to encrypt your secrets when you need it:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/nodata-protect && \
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/daviderez4/nodatachat-core/main/skill/nodata-protect/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/nodata-protect/SKILL.md

What happens after install:

Ask Claude to encrypt your .env — it knows how
Encryption is local (AES-256-GCM, on your machine)
Adds dev:safe to package.json
Verifies .gitignore covers sensitive files
Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf

The skill does NOT activate automatically. It only runs when you ask. You're in control — the AI executes.

Cryptographic Proof

Every encryption and decryption generates HMAC-SHA256 proof:

What	Proof
Secret encrypted	Timestamp + device ID + field hash
Secret accessed	When, from where, which device
Secret destroyed	Proof of deletion with hash chain

You don't trust your secrets are safe. You prove it.

Public Witness Feed — Trustless Proof Anchoring

Operator receipts issued by the NoData platform are sealed every UTC hour into a Merkle tree and published to a separate public repository: github.com/proofbydefault/witness-feed. Each file is commitment-only — root hashes, counts, timestamps, prev-epoch chain links. No proof refs, no receipt ids, no tenant ids, no payloads.

Receipt holders can verify their inclusion locally with the verifyInclusion() primitive in @nodatachat/core:

import { verifyInclusion } from '@nodatachat/core';

const ok = await verifyInclusion(
  myReceiptLeaf,           // from /verify/ref/<ref> on nodatacapsule.com
  inclusionProof,          // sibling chain from same page
  witnessRoot,             // from the public witness feed JSON
);
// → pure SHA-256 math, no network calls, no NoData servers in the path

Why the split: the platform code stays private, but every cryptographic claim NoData makes is independently re-derivable from a open source verifier (@nodatachat/core) plus a public, append-only data source (the witness feed). Even if NoData disappears, the proofs still verify.

See packages/core/src/README.md for the verification protocol.

Security Model

State	Without NoData	With NoData
On disk (.env)	Plaintext	Encrypted (`aes256gcm:v2:…`)
In Git (accident)	Catastrophic	Harmless ciphertext
In CI/CD logs	Can leak	`aes256gcm:v2:…` only
In memory (runtime)	Plaintext	Plaintext (same)
Stolen by malware / extension	Full access	Nothing useful

Design principles:

100% local encryption — AES-256-GCM runs on your machine. No secret value ever leaves your computer.
Server-held KEK — your key is wrapped under a key-encryption-key on the server and bound to your device. The .env file alone is useless ciphertext.
run is not a proxy — decrypts to process memory only. Values die with the process.
What IS sent: only metadata (field name + timestamp + hash). Never the actual value. Disconnect your internet and verify.
Open source — read every line on GitHub, audit it, verify it before you run it.
Audit-ready — cryptographic proof chain for compliance (SOC 2).

How We're Different

	NoData	HashiCorp Vault	AWS Secrets Manager	SOPS	GitGuardian
Setup time	10 seconds	Hours	30 min	15 min	10 min
Free tier	Unlimited encrypt + decrypt, forever	Self-host	Paid	Self	Free (scan)
Access proof	HMAC-SHA256 receipts	Audit log	CloudTrail	No	No
Code-integrity signing	Yes (Merkle)	No	No	No	No
AI-native skill	Yes	No	No	No	No
Zero knowledge	Yes	No	No	Partially	No

Packages

nodatachat-core/
  packages/
    crypto/      Low-level encryption (AES-256-GCM, RSA-OAEP, PBKDF2)
    core/        Identity, seed phrases, Merkle witness verification
    cli/         CLI tools — nodata-send, nodata-proof
    protect/     @nodatachat/protect — .env encryption + code signing
  skill/
    nodata-protect/   Claude Code Skill for .env protection

All packages here are Apache 2.0 — genuinely open source. Read it, audit it, fork it, ship it, build on it — no strings attached. This open core is what we give; the commercial NoData Platform (orchestration, policy engine, receipts, control plane) is what we sell — and the open core feeds it.

The Full Processor

This repo is the open source core — local encryption, code signing, proof primitives, CLI.

The full NoData Information Access Processor adds the governed side:

Deep PII/secret scanning across your data sources
Policy-based access computed per request, for people and AI
Continuous monitoring + signed audit receipts
Field-level encryption orchestration (the key never leaves you)
Compliance proof packs

See the processor →

nodatachat-core