Apple brokers keychain access through a helper that only runs inside an approved browser — there is no public API. apwlib runs that plumbing for you: a background daemon hosts the real iCloud Passwords extension in a headless browser, pairs with the macOS PIN once, and your code gets a small, typed facade.

• Typed facade — get_password, save_password, get_otp, list_otp returning dataclasses, keyed by site URL
• Zero babysitting — the daemon auto-starts as a detached singleton and is reused across programs and runs
• Transparent pairing — pass a pin_provider and an unpaired call pairs itself; apwlib.pinwindow collects the PIN on screen when there's no terminal
• Nothing leaves your Mac — Apple's own extension does the crypto (SRP pairing, AES-GCM per command); apwlib is local transport around it
• Small public surface — the package root plus apwlib.pinwindow and apwlib.diagnostics; everything else is private and underscore-named

Install

uv add apwlib    # or: pip install apwlib

Requires macOS with a supported browser installed (Chrome, Brave, Edge, or Chromium); the iCloud Passwords extension itself is downloaded automatically from the Chrome Web Store.

Quickstart

from apwlib import ApplePasswords

pw = ApplePasswords(pin_provider=lambda: input("PIN: "))

for entry in pw.get_password("github.com"):
    print(entry.username)  # entry.password holds the real value

The first call starts the daemon and, if the session isn't paired yet, macOS shows a 6-digit PIN and your pin_provider supplies it. Keep one ApplePasswords instance around and call it whenever you need a credential.

Usage

from apwlib import ApplePasswords, ApwError, SessionError

pw = ApplePasswords(pin_provider=lambda: input("PIN: "))

# Entries for a site. Matching is by registrable domain: a bare host, a full
# URL, or a subdomain all resolve to the same entries. Narrow with a username,
# or omit it for every match. An empty list means no match; reads don't raise
# for "not found".
for entry in pw.get_password("github.com", "me@example.com"):
    login(entry.username, entry.password)

# Create or update a credential.
pw.save_password("example.com", "me@example.com", "s3cret-passw0rd")

# One-time codes: what's available, and the current code.
for code in pw.list_otp("github.com"):
    print(code.username, code.domain)
for code in pw.get_otp("github.com"):
    print(code.code)

# The paired session lives in the browser and can drop; catch SessionError
# to re-pair, or ApwError for anything protocol-level.
try:
    pw.get_password("github.com")
except SessionError:
    print("session dropped — pair again")
except ApwError as exc:
    print(f"request failed (status {int(exc.status)}): {exc}")

Constructor options: pin_provider (callable returning the PIN; without it an unpaired call raises NotPairedError), auto_start=False (require an already-running daemon), socket_path (override the daemon socket).

Pairing

Pairing needs a 6-digit PIN that macOS displays, once per daemon lifetime. A pin_provider callback handles it transparently; to drive it explicitly:

from apwlib import Daemon

daemon = Daemon()
daemon.request_challenge()  # macOS shows a 6-digit PIN
paired = daemon.verify_challenge(input("PIN: "))  # blocks until settled

A pairing cannot outlive the daemon (the helper issues a fresh PIN per handshake by design), so keeping the daemon alive is what keeps the PIN rare.

No terminal to prompt in? apwlib.pinwindow.request_pin is a ready-made pin_provider that collects the PIN in a small on-screen window (six code boxes, opened chromeless in an installed browser) — it's what apwcli uses when stdin is not a TTY:

from apwlib import ApplePasswords
from apwlib.pinwindow import request_pin

pw = ApplePasswords(pin_provider=request_pin)

The window is a plain HTML page with a bundled default stylesheet. Restyle it by passing CSS text (pin_provider=lambda: request_pin(css=...)) or by dropping a replacement at ~/.apwlib/pinwindow.css.

Daemon control & diagnostics

Most programs never touch the daemon — the facade auto-starts and reuses it. For explicit lifecycle control (a setup step, a health endpoint):

from apwlib import Daemon
from apwlib.diagnostics import run_checks

daemon = Daemon()
daemon.start()      # no-op if already running; raises DaemonStartError if not ready
daemon.status()     # {"running": ..., "bridge": ..., "paired": ..., ...}
daemon.restart()    # replace a wedged daemon
daemon.stop()

for check in run_checks(daemon):  # what `apwcli doctor` renders
    print(check.key, check.ok, check.detail)

Data model

Reads return dataclasses (PasswordEntry, OTPEntry):

from apwlib import PasswordEntry

entry = PasswordEntry(username="me@example.com", domain="github.com", password="hunter2")
print(entry.username, entry.domain)
#> me@example.com github.com

PasswordEntry.password is None when the vault withholds it.

Errors

Every failure raises ApwError (or a subclass — SessionError, DaemonNotRunningError, NotPairedError, DaemonStartError, ServerError) carrying a Status:

from apwlib import SessionError

try:
    raise SessionError()
except SessionError as exc:
    print(int(exc.status))
    #> 9

Examples

Runnable scripts, ordered by complexity, live in examples/: reading entries, one-time codes, saving a credential, and explicit daemon control. Run any with uv run python examples/<dir>/main.py.

How it works

The design notes cover the whole story: Apple's helper and its kernel-enforced launch constraint, the SRP pairing and SMSG encryption, and why a (headless) browser is involved at all. The full API reference is generated from the source at michel-tricot.github.io/apwcli.

License

MIT © Michel Tricot