Get started

This takes about an hour at the computer, one step at a time. You fill in your register as a form, like any web form, with no code to write. The result is an encrypted file and a printed page your executor can follow forever.

Here is the honest shape of it. There is no app and no account. A few of the steps happen in a program called the Terminal, where you paste a line and press return. That is the cost of a tool with nothing behind it that can shut down. Every command below tells you exactly where to type it and what it does before you run it, and nothing is timed. Stop whenever you like and pick up where you left off.

Set it up, step by step

Eight steps. Each one is a single action. Follow them in order and you go from this page to a sealed file and a printed page with no gap in between.

Download the tool
The download is one compressed file, like a zip, holding a folder of small scripts and examples. No GitHub account is needed, and nothing about the download is tracked by us.
Download Executor File v0.3.1
On a Mac: open your Downloads folder in Finder and double-click the file executor-file-v0.3.1.tar.gz. It unpacks itself into a folder called executor-file-v0.3.1. That folder is the tool. There is nothing to install for it, and you can move it wherever you keep your files.
On Linux instead
Unpack and enter the folder in the Terminal with tar -xzf executor-file-v0.3.1.tar.gz then cd executor-file-v0.3.1. The rest of the steps below are the same.
Optional: check the download arrived intact
In the Terminal (see the next step for how to open it), paste shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/executor-file-v0.3.1.tar.gz and press return. The long code it prints should match this one, read from the release page when this page was built:
```
d67e2f90fdfbe84fabb98c901053df6efdd89edcd4dc543666f8a2c8f2fa4bb2
```
If it matches, the file arrived exactly as published. If it does not, delete the file and download it again.
Open the Terminal and point it at the folder
The Terminal is a plain app that comes with your Mac. It lets you give a program one typed instruction at a time. You do not need to understand it: you copy a line, paste it in, and press return.
Open it by pressing Cmd+Space, typing "Terminal", and pressing return. Then copy the line below, paste it into the Terminal window, and press return. It points the Terminal at the folder you just unpacked, so the later commands can find the scripts.
In the Terminal, paste this and press return
```
cd ~/Downloads/executor-file-v0.3.1
```
Every command from here on is typed into this same Terminal window. If nothing seems to happen after a command, that is normal: most of them do their work quietly and hand you back a fresh line.
Install the two tools it uses
Two small, standard tools do the actual work: age encrypts your file, and ssss splits the key into shares. Both are free and open source. You install them once, with a single command.
In the Terminal, paste this and press return
```
brew install age ssss
```
If the Terminal says brew is not found, install Homebrew first (one copy-paste command from brew.sh), then run the line above again.
On Linux instead
On Ubuntu or Debian, install the two tools with sudo apt install age ssss.
On Windows instead
The owner side is built for Mac and Linux. On Windows, turn on Microsoft's built-in Linux feature: run wsl --install in an administrator PowerShell, then follow the Linux notes above inside Ubuntu. Your executor never needs any of this: recovery on Windows has its own printed sheet.
Check your computer is ready
A quick pre-flight check. It confirms the two tools are present and warns about hazards such as folders that sync to the cloud. It changes nothing: it only looks.
In the Terminal, paste this and press return
```
scripts/doctor.sh
```
Fill in your register, as a form
This is the heart of it, and it needs no code. The tool includes a form that opens in your web browser: dropdowns, plain-English help, no file to hand-edit. Run the same one-line command as the steps above, and the form opens.
In the Terminal, paste this and press return
```
scripts/edit.sh
```
The form runs entirely on your own computer. Nothing you type into it is sent anywhere: no internet, no account, no server. It records where things are and what you want done, never passwords. When you are finished, click Save and it writes a file called estate.yaml to your Downloads folder.
Prefer to open it without the Terminal (Mac)
Open your executor-file-v0.3.1 folder in Finder and double-click Edit-Executor-File.command. If nothing happens, that is macOS blocking programs downloaded from the internet: use the scripts/edit.sh command above instead, which always works.
Prefer to write the file by hand
You can skip the form and edit the register as a text file instead. Copy the worked example, then open it in a plain editor:
In the Terminal, paste each line and press return
```
cp examples/estate.example.yaml estate.yaml
nano estate.yaml
```
The sample Executor File shows what a filled-in register looks like.
Seal it
One command does the whole sealing. It checks your register, then encrypts it, splits the key into three shares so any two can open it, and proves the chain works by rebuilding the key from two shares and decrypting a test copy before it reports success. The line below reads the file the form saved to your Downloads folder.
In the Terminal, paste this and press return
```
scripts/setup.sh ~/Downloads/estate.yaml
```
It then walks you through the physical part: copying the three shares as they are shown, and saving your passphrase in your password manager. If you wrote the register by hand into the tool folder, run scripts/setup.sh on its own instead.
Print the Executor Instructions
This fills in the two-page printed guide from your register: the page your executor actually follows, in plain language, naming the two standard tools rather than any script of ours.
In the Terminal, paste this and press return
```
scripts/make-guide.sh
```
Prove the paper works
The fire drill. With two of the printed shares in hand, this walks the exact path your executor will take one day and confirms the file opens from the paper alone. Do it now, while you can fix anything that is wrong.
In the Terminal, paste this and press return
```
scripts/test-recovery.sh
```

Once a year, or whenever something changes, one command reopens the register in the same form, re-seals it with the same passphrase (so your holders' shares stay valid), and sets a calendar reminder for next time: scripts/review.sh. The exact commands, in the tool's own words, are in the project README at the version this page is built from.

Then the physical part

Put one printed share with each of three holders and tell them what it is. Store the encrypted file in at least two private places. Keep the printed Executor Instructions with your will. The paper matters more than the software. The software exists to make the paper true.

Your executor never needs this download, or this website. The printed instructions use the two standard tools directly.

Questions along the way? The FAQ covers the common ones, including what happens if a share holder dies.

Get started

Set it up, step by step

Download the tool

Open the Terminal and point it at the folder

Install the two tools it uses

Check your computer is ready

Fill in your register, as a form

Seal it

Print the Executor Instructions

Prove the paper works

Then the physical part