Why trust a pixie?

Does PassPixie keep the password?

No. Generation runs entirely in your browser. There is no account, no history tray, no localStorage of the secret, and no network request when you press Generate. Refresh the page and the string is gone. “Copy a link to these settings” copies the shape — word count, separator, and so on — in the URL hash. The hash is not the password.

Should I get a password from a website at all?

Honestly? Prefer your password manager’s generator, then save it there. This page exists because those generators are stingy about structure: one separator, one taped-on digit, no maximum length, no “put the number between the words.” If you want to be stricter, download this folder and open index.html from disk. It needs no server.

What is a passphrase, and why isn’t it “correct horse battery staple”?

A passphrase is several words drawn at random from a known list and joined by a separator. Because a machine picks the words rather than a person, a four to six word passphrase is far stronger than a human-invented password of the same length — and much easier to type from memory. Spaces are fine when a site allows them; many do not, which is why Memorable uses hyphens and two digits so the result still reads like words to you and like a “complex password” to a badly written policy form.

Where do the words come from?

The EFF Dice-Generated Passphrase lists. The long list has 7,776 words; the short list has 1,296. Short box uses the 3–4 letter slice of the short list, so three jammed words plus digits and a symbol can fit through a 16-character door.

Is the randomness any good?

It uses window.crypto.getRandomValues with rejection sampling, so the pick is not skewed the way a naive modulo would skew it. If your browser has no Web Crypto, the pixie refuses rather than falling back to Math.random.

What does “bits of recipe” mean?

How large the search space of the recipe is, in log₂. Four words from the long list are about 51.7 bits before separators, digits, and case tricks. That is the honest number. The “75 million centuries” meters on other sites use a different model, are often wrong for diceware-style phrases, and train people to trust theater.

Short box is weaker on purpose. A 16-character field cannot hold a strong four-word phrase, and the page says so instead of pretending.

How many bits is strong enough?

One or two bars — under about 56 bits — is throwaway territory, fine for a forum you don’t care about. Three bars is reasonable for most accounts. Four or five, roughly 72 bits and up, is what you want on anything holding money, mail, or other credentials. The number beside the bars is always the real answer.

Why is there no “test my current password” box?

Because that box trains people to paste live secrets into a page they found on the internet. Strength here describes this output only.

What does “Swap one word” do?

It rerolls one piece — usually a single word, sometimes the digits — and leaves the rest alone. Useful when one word is awkward to type or looks like a pattern you would rather not keep.

Why only three recipes and three knobs?

Because that is what nearly everyone needs. Memorable is the everyday answer. Policy-proof is for forms that demand a symbol and a number. Short box is for the field that refuses more than sixteen characters. Word count, separator, and digits sit under them; everything else — capitals, where the digits land, the symbol set, a maximum length, which word list — lives in Fussier options, one click away and unchanged in power.

Is PassPixie a password manager?

No. Put the result in Bitwarden, 1Password, or whatever you already use. This page generates. It does not remember.

Can I share a recipe?

Yes. Use “Copy a link to these settings” at the bottom of the panel. Everything after the # rebuilds the knobs, and Generate then rolls a fresh secret. Do not send anyone a link you think contains a password. It doesn’t.

Who is the pixie?

A small forest pest. Slightly rude. Not Disney, not a brand mascot with a quest log. If the picture ever matters more than the string, rip it out — the generator does not depend on it.