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Auth ​

Make an encrypted backup of your codes:

sh
ente account login --app auth
ente auth export "$HOME/Backups/Auth"

Login uses the selected account. Add --account NAME to choose another saved account or add one under a new name.

The CLI asks for an export password and its confirmation, refreshes your codes from the server, and prints:

Exported 12 codes to /home/alice/Backups/Auth/ente-auth-2026-10-22.json.

The file name carries the date. A second backup on the same day becomes ente-auth-2026-10-22-2.json, then -3; the CLI never overwrites a backup. The export password is separate from your account password, and nobody can recover it for you.

Verify the backup ​

Import it into the Ente Auth app on another device: open Settings > Data > Import codes, choose Ente encrypted export, select the file, and enter the export password. Check that the number of codes matches.

Decrypt a backup ​

sh
ente auth decrypt "$HOME/Backups/Auth/ente-auth-2026-10-22.json" --output codes.txt

Prints Decrypted to codes.txt. The output is one otpauth:// link per line. No account or network is needed. Without --output, the links go to stdout.

Show a current code ​

sh
ente auth code view github
GitHub (alice@example.com)
123456
Valid until 2026-10-22T10:30:30Z

The selector is a code ID, the displayed name, or words matched against the issuer and account name, ignoring case. When several codes match, the CLI lists them and you pick an ID. ente auth code list --search github finds codes without showing their values. Codes depend on your computer's clock, so keep its date and time correct.

Work offline ​

Add --offline to code list, code view or export to use the codes synced by the last online run.

Export plaintext or stream to stdout ​

sh
ente auth export "$HOME/Backups/Auth" --plaintext
ente auth export --output - > backup.json

--plaintext writes unencrypted otpauth:// links to a dated .txt file. --output PATH writes to that exact file and refuses to overwrite it; --output - writes the backup to stdout with no summary.

Use from a script ​

Set ENTE_CLI_PASSWORD to the export password; an encrypted backup with --no-input requires it, a --plaintext export does not. With --json, export prints {"output": "...", "codes": 12, "failures": {"total": 0}}, code list returns objects with id, name, issuer, accountName and type (totp, hotp or steam), and code view adds otp and validUntil (UTC). otp is a string, so leading zeroes are kept. Learn more in Automation.

Limits ​

  • TOTP and Steam codes are shown. HOTP codes are listed and backed up but not shown.
  • Codes in Trash are not listed or shown, but backups include them. Restore them in the Ente Auth app to use them.
  • The CLI does not add, edit or import codes; use the Ente Auth app.