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Programmatically Accessing Keychain Items from the Command Line on macOS Tahoe

While Keychain Access provides a graphical interface, you can also access and manage Keychain items programmatically using the security command-line tool. This is useful for scripting and automation.

The Security Command

The security command is a powerful utility for interacting with the macOS Keychain. It is located in /usr/bin/security.

Listing Keychain Items

To see a list of all items in your default keychain:

security find-generic-password -g

This will prompt you for your password and then display a list of services, account names, and other attributes.

Finding Specific Items

You can filter the results to find specific items.

By Service Name

To find a password for a specific website (service):

security find-internet-password -s "example.com" -g

By Account Name

To find a password for a specific account:

security find-generic-password -a "myusername" -g

Combining Criteria

You can combine criteria to narrow down the search:

security find-internet-password -s "example.com" -a "myusername" -g

Getting the Password

To retrieve the actual password, pipe the output of security to awk:

security find-internet-password -s "example.com" -a "myusername" -g 2>&1 | awk '/password: "(.*)"/'

Adding a New Keychain Item

To add a new generic password item to the keychain:

security add-generic-password -a "accountName" -s "serviceName" -w "mySecretPassword

Warning: Storing passwords directly in scripts is highly discouraged due to security risks. Anyone with access to the script can view the password.

Alternatives:

  • Prompt the User: Use a secure input method (e.g., read -s in Zsh) to prompt the user for the password at runtime.
  • Environment Variables: Store the password in an environment variable that is not stored in the script itself.
  • Prompting at Runtime: Consider using osascript to prompt the user for a password via a GUI dialog.

Deleting a Keychain Item

To delete an item from the keychain:

security delete-generic-password -a "accountName" -s "serviceName"
  • Managing Passwords with Keychain Access on macOS Tahoe
  • Terminal Basics and Zsh Customization on macOS Tahoe
Created: March 17, 2026 • Last Modified: February 24, 2026