nexus — Utility CLI

nexus provides essential utility commands for encryption, decryption, hashing, and PATH management. It is the go-to tool for managing credentials used across the Nexus toolchain.

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Commands

Encrypt Text

nexus encrypt <TEXT> [--type <TYPE>]

Encrypts a text string using AES-256-GCM encryption. This is primarily used to encrypt database passwords for safe storage in configuration files.

Option	Description	Default
--type	Key type: B (internal), U (user), H (host), S (system)	B

Example:

# Encrypt a database password
nexus encrypt "MySecretPassword"

# Encrypt with a specific key type
nexus encrypt "MySecretPassword" --type H

The output is a base64-encoded encrypted string with a type prefix. Copy this value into your configuration files (e.g., iman.toml, VS Code settings).

Decrypt Text

nexus decrypt <ENCRYPTED_TEXT>

Decrypts a previously encrypted string. The key type is automatically detected from the prefix.

Example:

nexus decrypt "BaGVsbG8gV29ybGQ="

Hash Text

nexus hash <TEXT>

Generates a SHA-256 hash of the input text.

Example:

nexus hash "some important text"

Deduplicate PATH

nexus dedup <PATH_STRING>

Removes duplicate entries from a PATH-style string.

Example:

nexus dedup "C:\bin;C:\tools;C:\bin;C:\app;C:\tools"
# Output: C:\bin;C:\tools;C:\app

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Common Use Cases

Encrypting a Database Password

Every tool that connects to DB2 requires an encrypted password. Here's the typical workflow:

1. Run nexus encrypt "your_password" — copy the output
2. Paste the encrypted value into your configuration:

In iman.toml (for isman server):

[[iman.regions]]
name = "DEV"
dbpass = "Bencrypted_output_here"

In VS Code settings (for the extension):

{
  "binean.nova.NOVA_DBPASS": "Bencrypted_output_here"
}

warning

Never store plain-text passwords in configuration files. Always use nexus encrypt first.

Key Types

Type	Code	Use Case
Internal	B	Default — for local development
User	U	Tied to user identity
Host	H	Tied to specific machine
System	S	System-wide key

For most users, the default B (internal) type is sufficient.