/
Menu

Quickstart

Create your account, add a passkey, save your recovery key, create a project and add your first item.

This page takes you from nothing to a vault with one project and one item. It takes about ten minutes.

#Before you start

  • Use a recent Chrome, Edge or Safari. StackHangar has no password fallback, so your browser must support passkeys that can lock a vault. If it doesn't, the page tells you before you create anything.
  • Have somewhere safe for the recovery key: a password manager or a sheet of paper.
  • Have an email address you can read, or a GitHub account with a verified email.

#1. Create your account

  1. Open the sign-in page at app.stackhangar.com and choose Create account.
  2. Enter your email address and choose Continue with email, or choose Continue with GitHub. GitHub uses the verified email on your GitHub account.
  3. If you used email, enter the 8-digit code we send you and choose Continue. Check spam if it doesn't arrive.

You are now signed in, but your vault doesn't exist yet. Setup starts next.

#2. Create your first passkey

  1. On Lock your vault with a passkey, choose Create passkey.
  2. Your browser shows two passkey prompts: one to create the passkey, one to confirm it can lock your vault. Approve both.

#3. Save your recovery key

The next screen, Save your recovery key, shows eight groups of four characters. This key is your only way back in if you lose every passkey.

  1. Choose Copy to paste it into a password manager, or Download as a text file, or write it down.
  2. Type the last group into the confirmation box.
  3. Choose I saved it.

Warning

StackHangar can't recover your vault without this key and doesn't keep a copy. Don't store it in email. Leaving the page before you confirm asks you first, because the key isn't saved anywhere else yet.

#4. Add a second passkey

On Add a second passkey, choose Add second passkey and use your phone, another computer or a security key. It takes three passkey prompts: your first passkey approves, then you create the new one and confirm it.

You can choose Skip for now, then Skip anyway. With one passkey, losing that device leaves your recovery key as the only way in. You can add one later in Settings. See passkeys.

#5. Create your first project

  1. On Name your first project, enter the name of one of your products.
  2. Choose Create project, then Open my vault.

The name is encrypted on your device. We can't see it.

#6. Add your first item

Your Home page shows Add what your product runs on with three ways in: paste a .env file, import a CSV from a password manager, or launch a new product. To add one thing by hand:

  1. Choose Add in the sidebar, then open the Add one item tab.
  2. Choose the provider and the type, for example API key.
  3. Enter a Name, the Environment, the value and, if it has one, an expiry or renewal date.
  4. Choose Save to vault.

The item is encrypted on your device and saved. See items for what each type holds.

#What happens next

Next time you open StackHangar, one passkey prompt unlocks your vault. Read signing in and unlocking to see how that works, and alerts to see how dates turn into reminders.

#If something goes wrong

  • The browser says passkeys can't lock a vault. Open StackHangar in a recent Chrome, Edge or Safari. If your passkey provider does support it, setup offers a button to try anyway.
  • You closed the page before saving the recovery key. The next time the vault opens, StackHangar asks you to make a new recovery key before anything else. See recovery key.
  • A code didn't work. Codes from earlier emails stop working when you ask for a new one. Use the newest.