AGE(1) General Commands Manual AGE(1) (NAME) age - (SYNOPSIS) age [--encrypt] (-r RECIPIENT | -R PATH)... [--armor] [-o OUTPUT] [INPUT] age [--encrypt] --passphrase [--armor] [-o OUTPUT] [INPUT] age --decrypt [-i PATH | -j PLUGIN]... [-o OUTPUT] [INPUT] (DESCRIPTION) age INPUT OUTPUT . INPUT . INPUT . -o OUTPUT . -p/--passphrase . RECIPIENTS -r/--recipient -R/--recipients-file . . -d/--decrypt . IDENTITIES -i/--identity . age . (OPTIONS) -o, --output=OUTPUT OUTPUT . OUTPUT . --armor age (TTY) . - OUTPUT . --version . (Encryption options) -e, --encrypt INPUT OUTPUT. . -r, --recipient=RECIPIENT RECIPIENT. . . -R, --recipients-file=PATH RECIPIENTS PATH ( ). # . PATH - . INPUT . . -p, --passphrase . age . . -a, --armor "armored". armored age PEM AGE ENCRYPTED FILE . ASCII armored . -i, --identity=PATH RECIPIENTS IDENTITIES PATH. PATH age-keygen -y -R/--recipients-file . PATH -i/--identity . -i/--identity -e/--encrypt . -j PLUGIN PLUGIN. -i/--identity . -j -e/--encrypt . (Decryption options) -d, --decrypt INPUT OUTPUT. INPUT . IDENTITIES -i/--identity . ASCII armoring . -i, --identity=PATH IDENTITIES PATH. PATH : . IDENTITIES . "#" . . age IDENTITIES . . . . SSH PKCS#1 PKCS#8 OpenSSH. SSH . SSH . . "-" . INPUT . . . INPUT -i/--identity . -j PLUGIN PLUGIN. -i/--identity . (RECIPIENTS AND IDENTITIES) (RECIPIENTS) . (IDENTITIES) RECIPIENT . (Native keys) age age-keygen(1) X25519 X25519 + ML-KEM-768 . . (RECIPIENT) age1pq1 : age1pq167[... 1950 more characters ...] (IDENTITY) AGE-SECRET-KEY-PQ-1 : AGE-SECRET-KEY-PQ-1K30MYPZAHAXHR22YHH27EGDVLU0QNSUH3DSV7J7NR3X6D9LHXNWSDLTV4T (RECIPIENT) age1 : age1gde3ncmahlqd9gg50tanl99r960llztrhfapnmx853s4tjum03uqfssgdh (IDENTITY) AGE-SECRET-KEY-1 : AGE-SECRET-KEY-1KTYK6RVLN5TAPE7VF6FQQSKZ9HWWCDSKUGXXNUQDWZ7XXT5YK5LSF3UTKQ . . SSH (SSH keys) age RSA Ed25519 ssh(1) . RSA . . SSH . RECIPIENT SSH authorized_keys ( sshd(8) ) ssh-rsa ssh-ed25519 : ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABgQDULTit0KUehbi[...]GU4BtElAbzh8= ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIH9pO5pz22JZEas[...]l1uZc31FGYMXa . -R/--recipients-file SSH authorized_keys .keys . ( ). (IDENTITY) SSH -i/--identity . YubiKey ssh-agent(1) . SSH . SSH age . (Plugins) age . RECIPIENT IDENTITY . ( ). RECIPIENT example age1example1 IDENTITY AGE-PLUGIN-EXAMPLE-1 . . age age-plugin-example PATH . age . . . X25519 . . ( ) IDENTITY -e/--encrypt -i/--identity . ( ) -j . age age1tag1 ( P-256 ECDH) age1tagpq1 ( ML-KEM-768 + P-256) . . ( ) . (tag) ( ) . (EXIT STATUS) age 0 . . . (BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY) age ( ) . . (EXAMPLES) : $ age-keygen -pq -o key.txt Public key: age1pq167[... 1950 more characters ...] $ tar cvz ~/data | age -r age1pq167[...] > data.tar.gz.age $ age -d -o data.tar.gz -i key.txt data.tar.gz.age example.jpg example.jpg.age: $ age -o example.jpg.age -r age1pq167[...] -r age1pq1e3[...] example.jpg : $ cat > recipients.txt # Alice age1pq167[... 1950 more characters ...] # Bob age1pq1e3[... 1950 more characters ...] $ age -R recipients.txt example.jpg > example.jpg.age : $ age -p secrets.txt > secrets.txt.age Enter passphrase (leave empty to autogenerate a secure one): Using the autogenerated passphrase "release-response-step-brand-wrap-ankle-pair-unusual-sword-train". $ age -d secrets.txt.age > secrets.txt Enter passphrase: : $ age-keygen | age -p > key.age Public key: age1yhm4gctwfmrpz87tdslm550wrx6m79y9f2hdzt0lndjnehwj0ukqrjpyx5 Enter passphrase (leave empty to autogenerate a secure one): Using the autogenerated passphrase "hip-roast-boring-snake-mention-east-wasp-honey-input-actress". $ age -r age1yhm4gctwfmrpz87tdslm550wrx6m79y9f2hdzt0lndjnehwj0ukqrjpyx5 secrets.txt > secrets.txt.age $ age -d -i key.age secrets.txt.age > secrets.txt Enter passphrase for identity file "key.age": SSH: $ age -R ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub example.jpg > example.jpg.age $ age -d -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 example.jpg.age > example.jpg age-plugin-yubikey: $ age-plugin-yubikey # run interactive setup, generate identity file and obtain recipient $ age -r age1yubikey1qwt50d05nh5vutpdzmlg5wn80xq5negm4uj9ghv0snvdd3yysf5yw3rhl3t secrets.txt > secrets.txt.age $ age -d -i age-yubikey-identity-388178f3.txt secrets.txt.age SSH : $ curl https://github.com/benjojo.keys | age -R - example.jpg > example.jpg.age (SEE ALSO) age-keygen(1), age-inspect(1) (AUTHORS) Filippo Valsorda age@filippo.io August 2026 AGE(1)