---
name: "profanity-ox-setup"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "profanity"
version: "1:0.19.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/profanity-ox-setup"
---

# profanity-ox-setup(1)

a simple console based XMPP chat client.

## NAME

Profanity - a simple console based XMPP chat client.

## DESCRIPTION

This man page is intended to help you set up XEP-0374: OpenPGP for XMPP Instant Messaging. Also known as OX.

For details on usage see man profanity-ox or /help ox.

Profanity wants to give the user a maximum freedom in setting up their system. So we won’t touch your GPG settings directly. Which means you will need to do some manual steps. They are described here

## Generate OpenPGP key materials

The first step is to create a OpenPGP key pair. The key pair generation will be done with the gpg command of GnuPG.

-

  ```
  gpg --quick-generate-key xmpp:alice@domain.tld future-default default 3y
  ```

This command will generated a OpenPGP key with a UID xmpp:alice@domain.tld. The option future-default has been used to generate a ed25519/cv25519 key. The key is set to expire in threeyears.

Replace the Jabber ID with your JID and do **not** forget the URI xmpp: prefix.

Example output:

-

  ```
  pub   ed25519 2021-09-21 [SC] [verfällt: 2024-09-20]
        583BAE703A801095B6B71A56BD801174B1A0B84A
  uid                      xmpp:alice@domain.tld
  sub   cv25519 2021-09-21 [E]
  ```

## Export your public key

You need to export your public key so you can later upload it into a PEP node. It’s just a way how your chat partners can retrieve the public key from you. Use the command below to export public key:

Example command:

-

  ```
  gpg --export \
    --export-options export-minimal \
    --export-filter 'keep-uid=uid =~ xmpp:alice@domain.tld' \
    --export-filter 'drop-subkey=usage =~ a' \
    583BAE703A801095B6B71A56BD801174B1A0B84A \
    > /tmp/pep-key.gpg
  ```

The key will be exported to /tmp/pep-key.gpg. You may check the key with the command below:

gpg --show-key --with-sig-list /tmp/pep-key.gpg

Keep in mind: Public keys may have some information (signatures, name, e-mail address). Be careful which data will be exported. The export-options and export-filter option of GnuPG will help you to filter the data.

## Publish your key

You can use profanity to publish your exported key into your account (PEP). The /ox announce command will publish your key.

-

  ```
  /ox announce /tmp/pep-key.gpg
  ```

The command will create two PEP node records to store the key.

## Discover keys

To discover public keys of your partners use the /ox discover command.

Example output:

-

  ```
  /ox discover buddy@domain.tld
  Discovering Public Key for buddy@domain.tld
  1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF12345678
  ```

To request and import a key, you can use the /ox request command.

-

  ```
  /ox request buddy@domain.tld 1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF12345678
  Requesting Public Key 1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF12345678 for buddy@domain.tld
  Public Key imported
  ```

The key will be imported into your gnupg keyring.

## Sign the imported key

The key can been shown via gpg gpg -k xmpp:buddy@domain.tld. Make sure the key is the key of your buddy and sign the key with your key.

-

  ```
  gpg --ask-cert-level --default-key 583BAE703A801095B6B71A56BD801174B1A0B84A --sign-key 1234567890ABCDEF1234567890ABCDEF12345678
  ```

The command /ox contacts will show the keys with XMPP-UID. The command /ox keys will show all known OpenPGP keys.

Only once you signed the key you can actually use OX with your partner.

## Use OX

Within a chat window you can start OX via /ox start and stop it via /ox end.

Messages will be send signed and encrypted.