Ask HN: Any way to use Keybase without installing their app? (macOS)

1 point

5 years ago

I have a need every few months to receive a short message or config file from somebody via Keybase for work purposes. Thing is, I'd rather not install their app for a lot of reasons, biggest of those being I simply have no trust in Zoom or Keybase whatsoever. It's bloated, it's unmaintained since the Zoom acquisition, and I have no guarantees that the published source code is actually what they release to the public. There's also mention in the readme's on github[1] of "privileged tasks" being run; I see no reason they need any privileged access at all, which further erodes any credibility they might have had in my mind.

I can't get others to switch (I've tried) and I have no choice but to use it somehow, so I'm trying to find a way to use the keybase CLI, some alternative client should it exist, or some other (preferably not VM based) install method for these infrequent one-offs, but I'm not having much luck with my search results. I'd rather void using a VM for this (seems like it shouldn't be necessary and it's a huge system resource drain for something so small) but will resort to that if there's just no other option.

So can anyone recommend an alternative installation method or client that lets me use actual real keybase.io without having to run their bloated, untrustworthy abandonware? Thanks for your help.

EDIT: I don't see any way to use the website to get messages sent to me or files for some reason. Don't know if that's an org setting or something, or an app-only feature for some reason.

1: https://github.com/keybase/client/tree/master/osx

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