PearPass is an open-source, end-to-end encrypted password and identity manager for macOS, Linux, and Windows that keeps credentials encrypted on disk and syncs them directly between devices over Pear Runtime rather than through a central server.

What it is

PearPass is built on Pear Runtime, the peer-to-peer application stack from pears.com, and is written in TypeScript. The desktop client lives in the tetherto/pearpass-app-desktop repository, alongside a mobile app (pearpass-app-mobile) and a browser extension (pearpass-app-browser-extension). Before anything is written to disk, the vault encrypts passwords, credit cards, secure notes, and custom fields, so the at-rest format is ciphertext rather than a plaintext or server-readable store. Syncing between devices is peer-to-peer and mediated by Pear Runtime.

The concrete problem it addresses is the central sync point that traditional password managers depend on. A cloud vault means one operator holds the copy that reconciles every device, which dictates the availability, the trust model, and the account relationship. PearPass replaces that centralised server with direct device-to-device sync, and because the vault is local it also remains usable with no network connection at all. The product positioning is stated plainly in the README: it is privacy-first, and data stays under the user's control.

Key capabilities

• Encrypted-at-rest storage covering passwords, credit cards, secure notes, and custom fields, encrypted before being written to disk.
• Cross-device sync performed directly between the user's own devices through Pear Runtime, with no central server in the path.
• Offline access to the vault, so credentials remain available without a network connection.
• Password health analysis that assesses password strength and identifies weak passwords.
• Random password generator for producing strong, unique credentials.
• Multi-platform builds for macOS, Linux, and Windows, with companion implementations for mobile and for the browser.
• Optional diagnostic logging, enabled by the in-app toggle at Settings → Diagnostics → Enable logs or by the --enable-logging launch flag, writing main.log from the host process and core.log from the vault worker; the worker sink redacts known sensitive fields, the host logger does not.

Who uses it and how

• Individuals who want one vault across their own desktop, mobile device, and browser without creating an account with a hosting provider.
• Developers and self-builders who work from source: clone tetherto/pearpass-app-desktop, run npm install, npm run build, then npm run dev, with Node.js matched to .nvmrc and Pear Runtime installed first.
• Users in environments where connectivity cannot be assumed, since offline access is a first-class feature rather than a fallback.
• Nightly-build users on PearPass-nightly, where logging is enabled automatically and the in-app toggle is locked.
• Contributors validating changes with npm test, which runs the Jest unit suite.

Getting started

The documented path is building from source: install Node.js at the version in .nvmrc and Pear Runtime, clone [email protected]:tetherto/pearpass-app-desktop.git, then run npm install, npm run build, and npm run dev. Setup, vault management, and syncing guides are published at docs.pass.pears.com, with downloads at pass.pears.com.

How it compares

No comparable alternatives and no list of paid products are named in the facts provided for this entry, so the project stands alone in this registry on those terms. Any comparison against hosted commercial password managers would have to rest on the axes the README does state: peer-to-peer sync in place of a central server, local encrypted storage in place of a cloud vault, and open-source code in place of a proprietary client.

When to use it — and when not to

The README carries an explicit warning that PearPass is paused from active development and should be used with caution until further notice, which is the single most important trade-off on this page. Operating it means building from source with Node.js and Pear Runtime on hand; the repository documents no package-manager install, published image, or hosted option, and the licence is recorded as NOASSERTION, so the terms should be verified before any organisational deployment. Teams that need vendor support, maintenance guarantees, or Intel Mac builds should not choose it: Intel-based Mac builds are deprecated and shipped without official support or active testing, and anyone enabling logging should note that values passed to logger.* in main.cjs reach main.log without redaction.

node --version

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone [email protected]:tetherto/pearpass-app-desktop.git

# 2. Go to the cloned directory
cd pearpass-app-desktop

# 3. Install dependencies
npm install

# 4. Generate translation keys
npm run build

# 5. Start the development app
npm run dev

npm test

<!-- index.html -->
<script type="module" src="./dist/app.js"></script>

"ignore": [".github", "appling", ".git", ".gitignore", "packages", "src"]