PAM - Quick Start

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PAM Quick Start

Get up and running in five minutes.

What is PAM?

PAM (Personal Account Manager) is a single-page web app that stores your passwords and other sensitive data in an encrypted file that you control. Everything happens in your browser — no data is ever sent to a server.

Step 1 — Open PAM

Visit https://jlinoff.github.io/pam/www/ in any modern browser, or run it locally:

git clone https://github.com/jlinoff/pam
cd pam
make run        # starts a local server on port 8081
# open http://localhost:8081 in your browser

Step 2 — Create your first record

  1. Click the ☰ menu (top right) and choose New Record.
  2. Type a title — for example, GitHub.
  3. Fill in the fields (website, login, password, note). The default fields are all required — if you don’t need one, you can delete it with the trash icon on that field row.
  4. Click Save.

The record now appears in the accordion list. Click it to expand and see the fields.

Step 3 — Copy a password to the clipboard

Expand a record and click the clipboard icon next to the field you want. The value is copied silently — nothing is shown on screen.

To reveal a password in place, click the eye icon next to the field.

Step 4 — Save your records to a file

  1. Click ☰ menu → Save File.
  2. Enter a strong master password. This is the only password that protects your data — if you lose it, your records cannot be recovered.
  3. Enter a filename (default: example.txt).
  4. Click Save.

Your browser will download an encrypted file. Store it somewhere safe — cloud storage, a USB drive, wherever you keep important files.

Step 5 — Load your records next time

  1. Click ☰ menu → Load File.
  2. Click Choose File and select your saved file.
  3. Enter your master password.
  4. Click Load.

Your records reappear exactly as you left them.

Searching

Type anything in the search box at the top. PAM filters records in real time by title (and optionally by field names and values — see Preferences → Search).

Generating a strong password

  1. In any password field while editing a record, click the gear icon to open the password generator.
  2. Choose Cryptic (random characters) or Memorable (word-based).
  3. Adjust the length or word count.
  4. Click Copy or Use to apply it.

You can also open the generator from the key icon in the toolbar.

A few things worth knowing

Your master password is never stored. PAM only keeps it in memory for the current session (by default). If you reload the page you will need to enter it again when saving or loading.

The file format is plain JSON, encrypted with AES-256-CBC. You can inspect or migrate it with standard tools if you ever need to leave PAM.

Records have flexible fields. The default fields (website, login, password, note) are just a starting point. You can add any field with any type — text, URL, email, date, password, textarea, or HTML — from the edit dialog.

Inactive records are hidden by default. To deactivate a record without deleting it, click the active/inactive toggle on the record’s title row. Inactive records can be shown again from Preferences → Hide Inactive Records.

Where to go next