NAME¶

age-inspect - inspect age(1) encrypted files

SYNOPSIS¶

age-inspect [--json] [INPUT]

DESCRIPTION¶

age-inspect reads an age(1) encrypted file from INPUT (or standard input) and displays metadata about it without decrypting.

This includes the recipient types, whether it uses post-quantum encryption, and a size breakdown of the file components.

OPTIONS¶

--json

Output machine-readable JSON instead of human-readable text.

--version

Print the version and exit.

JSON FORMAT¶

When --json is specified, the output is a JSON object with these fields:

○

version: The age format version (e.g., "age-encryption.org/v1").

○

postquantum: Whether the file uses post-quantum encryption: "yes", "no", or "unknown".

○

armor: Boolean indicating whether the file is ASCII-armored.

○

stanza_types: Array of recipient stanza type strings (e.g., ["X25519"] or ["mlkem768x25519"]).

○

sizes: Object containing size information in bytes:

○

header: Size of the age header.

○

armor: Armor encoding overhead (0 if not armored).

○

overhead: Stream encryption overhead.

○

min_payload, max_payload: Payload size bounds (currently always matching).

○

min_padding, max_padding: Padding size bounds (currently always 0).

The fields add up to the total size of the file.

EXAMPLES¶

Inspect an encrypted file:

$ age-inspect secrets.age
secrets.age is an age file, version "age-encryption.org/v1".
This file is encrypted to the following recipient types:
- "mlkem768x25519"
This file uses post-quantum encryption.
Size breakdown (assuming it decrypts successfully):


    Header                      1627 bytes


    Encryption overhead           32 bytes


    Payload                       42 bytes


                        -------------------


    Total                       1701 bytes
Tip: for machine-readable output, use --json.

Get JSON output for scripting:

$ age-inspect --json secrets.age
{


    "version": "age-encryption.org/v1",


    "postquantum": "yes",


    "armor": false,


    "stanza_types": [


        "mlkem768x25519"


    ],


    "sizes": {


        "header": 1627,


        "armor": 0,


        "overhead": 32,


        "min_payload": 42,


        "max_payload": 42,


        "min_padding": 0,


        "max_padding": 0


    }
}

SEE ALSO¶

age(1), age-keygen(1)

AUTHORS¶

Filippo Valsorda age@filippo.io