Quick start

This page takes you from a fresh install to copying your first code in a few minutes.

Create the vault

When Lockra starts for the first time it asks for a master password. The master password encrypts all your accounts and cannot be recovered: if you forget it, nobody can open the vault, not even with a backup made under it. Choose a sentence that only you know and that you can type reliably, at least eight characters long, and enter it twice. The strength bar under the field helps.

If you already have a Lockra backup, choose Restore a backup instead: the backup's password becomes the master password.

Bring in your accounts

Open Import in the sidebar and choose the source:

• Google Authenticator: export the accounts on the phone, photograph the QR codes with another device, and drop the photos on the window. See Google Authenticator.
• Microsoft Authenticator: see Microsoft Authenticator; it needs a rooted Android phone.
• A website's setup page: when a site shows a QR code to set up an authenticator, take a screenshot of it, or copy its otpauth link, and choose Import from the clipboard.

Lockra lists what it found before saving anything. Check the list and choose Import. Passwords from a browser or a password manager come in the same way (Importing and exporting logins).

You can also add one account by hand: Add › Enter manually on the codes page, or Ctrl N.

Copy a code

The Codes page lists your accounts with their current code and a ring that shows the time left. Click an account to copy its code, then paste it into the site. Lockra clears the clipboard 30 seconds later if it still holds the code.

Ctrl K opens the command palette: type part of an account's name and press Enter to copy its code without touching the mouse.

Turn on automatic backups

Open Backup, turn on Automatic backup and choose a folder, ideally one that a cloud drive synchronises. From now on an encrypted backup is written there a few seconds after every change. See Backups and restore.

Lock when you leave

Lockra locks itself after five idle minutes. Ctrl L locks at once; the master password unlocks again.

The tray icon

Available Available from version 0.10.0.

While Lockra runs on a computer, its padlock sits in the tray: in the notification area on Windows, in the menu bar on macOS. Click it to bring the window up; right-click it for Open Lockra, Quick search, Lock, Settings…, Check for updates… and Quit Lockra. On Linux a click opens that menu. Check for updates… opens the update dialog, and checks at once unless an update is already under way. Lock, Settings… and Check for updates… are greyed out while Lockra is locked.

Closing the window quits Lockra, unless Settings › Browser › Keep running after the window closes is on: then the window hides and Lockra stays in the tray.

Starting at login

Available From version 0.13.0, Settings › General › Start Lockra at login

starts Lockra when you sign in to the computer, so the browser extension and the quick search are ready. It is the system's own entry, for you alone: a value under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run on Windows (Task Manager's startup apps list it), a LaunchAgent in ~/Library/LaunchAgents on macOS (System Settings › General › Login Items lists it), an autostart entry in ~/.config/autostart on Linux. Turned off in Task Manager or in the desktop's startup applications, the switch reads as off too; turned off under macOS's Login Items, Lockra no longer starts, though the switch stays on. With Settings › Browser › Keep running after the window closes on, Lockra started at login stays in the tray and opens no window; otherwise it opens the window. Each start writes an entry that is on again, so it follows Lockra when the program moves (an AppImage, say).