How to use Codex to prototype a password manager
Codex helped build an explicitly unfinished password manager with a CLI, encrypted storage, synchronization, and basic Firefox autofill. The author preserved development prompts in commits.
news.ycombinator.com
Original prompt
Shared by the source author. See source notes for context.
ok give me a prompt I can give to codex to get a basic repo going
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See placements →Evidence at a glance
Sourced account- Source poster / publisher
- ninkendo
- Original account
- Read the source ↗
- Published
- Source link checked
- Reported result
- The published prototype included a background vault agent, CRUD CLI, encrypted storage, WebDAV synchronization, and basic Firefox autofill, but remained explicitly incomplete.
- Human involvement
- The author inspected code organization and requested module splits; the post does not describe a security audit or production-readiness review.
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How the agent did it
- The author discussed a conflict-free password synchronization protocol with ChatGPT.
- ChatGPT produced a repository-starting prompt for Codex, and the author continued development through prompts.
- The author prompted a basic Firefox password-filling extension over two or three rounds.
The author described building kenpass, an unfinished password manager, after considering a subscription price increase. The project began with a ChatGPT conversation about a conflict-free synchronization protocol. They then asked ChatGPT for a prompt to give Codex to establish a basic repository and continued developing from there.
The reported implementation included a background agent keeping the unsealed vault in memory, a CLI for basic create, read, update, and delete operations, and encrypted on-disk storage. The author listed PBKDF2 with 600,000 iterations among its encryption details. Synchronization worked with a server supporting WebDAV, ETags, and mutual TLS authentication. They also had an LLM produce an nginx configuration and created a basic Firefox password-filling extension through two or three prompting rounds.
Before publishing, the author asked for crates initially written in single lib.rs files to be split into modules for readability. They said each AI-written commit included its Codex prompt, allowing others to reproduce the development.
The author explicitly described the project as incomplete and had not decided whether to use it full time. The post does not establish a security audit.
Who it's for: This account may interest developers exploring agent-assisted prototypes and prompt-preserving development histories.
Prompt
Original prompt
Source: Hacker News · ninkendo
Frequently asked questions
Was the password manager complete?
No. The author said it was not close to complete and had not decided whether to use it full time.
How were the development prompts preserved?
The author said every AI-written commit contained the prompt given to Codex; some prompts had been constructed by ChatGPT 5.2.
More details
Remaining steps
- The author requested module splits for readability before publishing the repository.
About this account
Codex generated project code through successive prompts, with some prompts prepared by ChatGPT and structural changes requested by the author.
Platform: Hacker News. Attribution: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47198117. Prompt: Original (quoted from source). Sourced by the Agents In Use pipeline.
Credit: ninkendo on Hacker News
Source published
Added to Agents In Use
Source checked
Tools and topics
Codex · ChatGPT 5.2 · WebDAV · nginx · Firefox
Password manager · Prototype · Prompt history
Editorial completeness: 100/100. Measures documented fields, not agent performance or verified outcomes.