---
title: "The onecrypto sop command line"
url: https://recursiveai.org/onecrypto/cookbook/onecrypto-sop-cli/
description: "Encrypt, decrypt, sign and verify OpenPGP from the command line with onecrypto sop, the Stateless OpenPGP CLI for .NET: install with dotnet tool install, generate keys, and swap messages with Sequoia sqop and GnuPG 2.4. OneCrypto 0.3.0-preview.2."
version: "0.3.0-preview.2"
---

# The onecrypto sop command line

`onecrypto sop` is the Stateless OpenPGP command line (sop): one subcommand per operation, keys and certificates as files, data on standard input and output, no keyring. Any sop tool takes the same commands, so a script written for Sequoia’s `sqop` runs with `onecrypto sop`. It ships as a .NET tool:

```shell
dotnet tool install --global RecursiveAI.OneCrypto.Cli --version 0.3.0-preview.2
onecrypto sop version --extended
onecrypto --help
```

```text
You can invoke the tool using the following command: onecrypto
Tool 'recursiveai.onecrypto.cli' (version '0.3.0-preview.2') was successfully installed.
onecrypto 0.3.0-preview.2
RecursiveAI.OneCrypto.OpenPgp 0.3.0-preview.2
Running on .NET 10.0.11
Usage: onecrypto <command> [arguments]

Commands:
  sop <subcommand>       the Stateless OpenPGP command line: sign, verify, encrypt, decrypt, generate-key and the rest
  sopv <subcommand>      the verification-only subset of sop (version, verify, inline-verify, validate-userid)
  pgp authenticate       judge how well a User ID is authenticated by the web of trust

`onecrypto sop --help` lists the sop subcommands.
```

It needs the .NET 10 runtime. `onecrypto sop --help` lists the sop subcommands and `onecrypto sop verify --help` shows one subcommand’s options. Generate a key, take its certificate (the public part), then encrypt, decrypt, sign and verify:

```shell
onecrypto sop generate-key 'Alice <alice@example.org>' > alice.key
onecrypto sop extract-cert < alice.key > alice.cert
echo 'Meet at the north entrance at 10:00.' > message.txt

onecrypto sop encrypt alice.cert < message.txt > message.asc
onecrypto sop decrypt alice.key < message.asc

onecrypto sop sign alice.key < message.txt > message.sig
onecrypto sop verify message.sig alice.cert < message.txt
```

```text
Meet at the north entrance at 10:00.
2026-11-02T06:53:34Z 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75 mode:binary {"signers":["alice.cert"]}
```

`decrypt` prints the plaintext; `verify` prints one line per good signature (time, signing key, primary key, mode, and the certificate files that could have made it) and exits 0, or exits 3 when no signature verifies. Output is ASCII-armored unless you pass `--no-armor`. The key above is unprotected; add `--with-key-password=pw.txt` to `generate-key` to protect it, and give the same option to `decrypt` and `sign`. `--with-password` encrypts to a password instead of a key. The other subcommands: `inline-sign`, `inline-verify`, `inline-detach`, `armor`, `dearmor`, `change-key-password`, `revoke-key`, `update-key`, `merge-certs`, `certify-userid`, `validate-userid` and `list-profiles`.

## Which key `generate-key` makes

Since 0.3.0-preview.2, `generate-key` makes a version 4 EdDSA/ECDH Curve25519 key by default, the form GnuPG reads; before, the default was version 6. Ask for `--profile=rfc9580` for a version 6 key (RFC 9580). The profiles:

```shell
onecrypto sop list-profiles generate-key
```

```text
default: use the implementer's recommendations: version 4 EdDSA and ECDH keys over Curve25519, which GnuPG, RNP, Sequoia, OpenPGP.js and GopenPGP all read
rfc9580: version 6 Ed25519 and X25519 keys
rfc9580-v4: version 4 keys with the native Ed25519 and X25519 algorithms
rfc9580-ed448: version 6 Ed448 and X448 keys
rfc9580-rsa: version 6 keys with RSA-3072
rfc4880: version 4 keys with RSA-3072, readable by RFC 4880 implementations (alias: compatibility)
compatibility: alias for rfc4880
draft-koch-eddsa-for-openpgp-00: version 4 EdDSA (legacy) and ECDH Curve25519 keys
nist-p256: version 4 ECDSA and ECDH keys on NIST P-256
nist-p384: version 4 ECDSA and ECDH keys on NIST P-384
nist-p521: version 4 ECDSA and ECDH keys on NIST P-521
security: higher security, maybe reduced performance: version 6 Ed448 and X448 keys
performance: higher performance, maybe reduced security: version 6 Ed25519 and X25519 keys
rfc9980: alias for pqc
pqc: version 6 ML-DSA-65 + Ed25519 and ML-KEM-768 + X25519 keys (RFC 9980; needs platform support)
pqc-high: version 6 ML-DSA-87 + Ed448 and ML-KEM-1024 + X448 keys (RFC 9980; needs platform support)
```

## Check it with Sequoia

Sequoia’s `sqop` 0.37.3 takes the same files. It decrypts and verifies what `onecrypto` wrote, and `onecrypto` decrypts and verifies what it writes:

```shell
sqop decrypt alice.key < message.asc
sqop verify message.sig alice.cert < message.txt

echo 'Reply from Sequoia.' | sqop encrypt alice.cert > reply.asc
onecrypto sop decrypt alice.key < reply.asc
echo 'Reply from Sequoia.' > reply.txt
sqop sign alice.key < reply.txt > reply.sig
onecrypto sop verify reply.sig alice.cert < reply.txt
```

```text
Meet at the north entrance at 10:00.
2026-11-02T06:53:34Z 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75 mode:binary {"signers":["alice.cert"]}
Reply from Sequoia.
2026-11-02T06:53:34Z 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75 mode:binary {"signers":["alice.cert"]}
```

## Check it with GnuPG

GnuPG 2.4.8 reads the default key as it is: it imports it, decrypts and verifies what `onecrypto` wrote, and `onecrypto` opens what GnuPG writes. `GNUPGHOME` points gpg at a new, empty home for this terminal session, so nothing here touches your own keyring; the later gpg commands on this page use the same home.

```shell
export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)"
gpg --batch --import alice.key
gpg --batch --decrypt message.asc
gpg --verify message.sig message.txt

gpg --batch --trust-model always --armor -r alice@example.org \
  --encrypt < message.txt > from-gpg.asc
onecrypto sop decrypt alice.key < from-gpg.asc
gpg --batch --armor --detach-sign -u alice@example.org < message.txt > from-gpg.sig
onecrypto sop verify from-gpg.sig alice.cert < message.txt
```

```text
gpg: keybox '/tmp/tmp.fxRJX5t6Vs/pubring.kbx' created
gpg: /tmp/tmp.fxRJX5t6Vs/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: key CB5DF2AE7C266E75: public key "Alice <alice@example.org>" imported
gpg: key CB5DF2AE7C266E75: secret key imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1
gpg:       secret keys read: 1
gpg:   secret keys imported: 1
gpg: encrypted with cv25519 key, ID 2129DE476AE4AC48, created 2026-11-02
      "Alice <alice@example.org>"
Meet at the north entrance at 10:00.
gpg: Signature made Mon 02 Nov 2026 06:53:34 AM UTC
gpg:                using EDDSA key 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75
gpg: Good signature from "Alice <alice@example.org>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 076F 94B7 75A8 52F8 E03C  7172 CB5D F2AE 7C26 6E75
Meet at the north entrance at 10:00.
2026-11-02T06:53:34Z 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75 076F94B775A852F8E03C7172CB5DF2AE7C266E75 mode:binary {"signers":["alice.cert"]}
```

GnuPG’s “not certified with a trusted signature” warning means what it says: nothing in its keyring vouches for Alice’s key yet. The same commands from C#: [Encrypt and decrypt a file with PGP](https://recursiveai.org/onecrypto/cookbook/pgp-encrypt-decrypt-file/), [Sign and verify with PGP](https://recursiveai.org/onecrypto/cookbook/pgp-sign-verify/) and [Generate a PGP key](https://recursiveai.org/onecrypto/cookbook/generate-pgp-key/).

## Limits

- **Not audited.** OneCrypto (cryptography, not cryptocurrency) has not been independently audited. It is a preview: 0.3.0-preview.2, and the API can change.
- **Version 6 keys and GnuPG.** `rfc9580`, `rfc9580-ed448`, `rfc9580-rsa`, `security`, `performance` and the `pqc` profiles make version 6 keys, which GnuPG 2.4 doesn’t read. `rfc9580-v4` is version 4 with the native Ed25519 algorithms: GnuPG 2.4 imports it but can’t check its signatures. `generate-key` writes version 4 and 6 keys only.
- **`verify` checks signatures, not identities.** A good signature line means the certificate you passed made it; whether that certificate belongs to the person is yours to establish. `onecrypto pgp authenticate --root FINGERPRINT FILE` computes it from certifications ([OpenPGP trust models](https://recursiveai.org/onecrypto/docs/openpgp-trust/)).
- The subcommands and options are the sop draft’s (draft-dkg-openpgp-stateless-cli, version 16); `--help` is the tool’s own addition. `onecrypto sopv` is the verification-only subset.
- `pqc` and `pqc-high` need ML-DSA and ML-KEM on the platform; elsewhere they exit 13.

When you’re done: `dotnet tool uninstall --global RecursiveAI.OneCrypto.Cli`. Every subcommand, the interoperability scoreboard against Sequoia and GopenPGP, and the test corpus: [onecrypto sop](https://recursiveai.org/onecrypto/docs/sop/).