What it is
GNOME Keyring stores passwords, keys and other secrets for your apps in an encrypted file. It’s unlocked with your login password when you sign in, so apps can fetch the secrets they need without asking you each time. Apps reach it through the standard Secret Service interface, so browsers, mail clients and command-line tools can all use it.
Why it’s here
- Fewer password prompts. Apps remember your accounts without storing them in plain text.
- Online Accounts use it. The passwords for accounts you add in GNOME live here.
- Scripts can use it too.
secret-toolstores and reads secrets from the terminal.
On CoreDesktop
GNOME Keyring is installed from pacman as one of CoreDesktop’s maintenance tools. When you connect your Core, the Nextcloud and email accounts added to Online Accounts keep their passwords here, and the daily backups keep their Nextcloud app password and passphrase here, so they can run without asking. The AI sandbox keeps agents out of ~/.local/share/keyrings. update keeps it current.