ReMemory - Split a recovery key among friends
TL;DR: The founder created ReMemory to address a specific personal problem: ensuring trusted friends could access important files if something happened to them, without any single person or service having complete access. Rather than finding an existing solution, they built a self-contained, offline tool that encrypts files and splits the decryption key among friends using Shamir's Secret Sharing (e.g., any 3 of 5 friends can cooperate to recover the key). The tool runs entirely in the browser, requires no servers or internet connection, and remains functional even if the website disappears. The founder open-sourced the project under Apache-2.0 license and provides demo bundles to help users understand the recovery process before using it with real secrets. The project emphasizes transparency through open source code, a self-audit document explaining cryptographic choices, and uses age encryption. The founder's motivation was solving their own problem and sharing the solution in case it helps others, following the indie maker philosophy of scratching your own itch.
Key Insights
- Built solution for personal need when existing tools didn't meet requirements
- Open-sourced with comprehensive documentation to build trust in security tool
- Designed for offline functionality and resilience (works without the original website)
Actionable Takeaways
- Build tools to solve your own specific problems rather than waiting for perfect solutions
- For security/privacy tools, provide transparency through open source code and security documentation
- Design self-contained tools that don't depend on your infrastructure for long-term usability