LAST WORDDeming by Design
end-to-end · private demingbydesign.com ↗
A dead man's switch for your secrets

Some messages should only arrive when you can't send them yourself.

Seal a letter, a password, a seed phrase, or a stack of files. Set it to release on a future date — or only if you stop checking in. Everything is encrypted right here in your browser, so the package that gets stored is something no one, not even us, can read.

Your keys never leave this tab
Manage a switch from another device, or recover your links

Or paste a management link you received by email:

compose

What you're leaving behind

Write the message your recipient should get, and attach any files you need to. This is the only screen where the contents exist in the clear — they're encrypted the moment you seal.

Attach files (optional) — drop or click
they stay in your browser · large files make a large package
protect

How it gets locked

Choose who can open it. A passphrase is simplest. Trustees split the key so no single person — including you or us — can open it alone.

Passphrase
Strength shows as you type

Deliver the passphrase to your recipient out of band — tell them in person, leave it with your will, or store it somewhere they'll reach. Without it, the message can't be opened. We never see it.

release rule

When it should fire

This is the dead-man's-switch part. In the live service, our servers run this clock and send escalating reminders; if you miss them past the grace window, the package is released. This policy is recorded inside the sealed package.

seal

Lock it

This encrypts everything above in your browser and produces a sealed package plus the instructions to hand off. Nothing is sent anywhere.

recover

Open a sealed package

Paste a Last Word package below. This works entirely offline — so a package can still be opened even if the service that delivered it no longer exists.

…or drop a package file
the mechanism

How the switch works

1

You seal it here

Your message and files are encrypted in your browser with a key derived from your passphrase, or a key that's split across your trustees. The plaintext never leaves this tab.

2

Only ciphertext is stored

The sealed package — unreadable without the key — is what the service holds. A breach of the server exposes nothing, because the server never has the key.

3

You check in

On your cadence, you get a reminder with a one-tap "I'm still here." Each check-in resets the clock. Miss one and the reminders escalate.

4

If you go quiet, it fires

Miss every reminder through the grace window — or hit your release date — and the package is delivered to your recipient. They supply the passphrase, or your trustees combine their shares, to open it.

Recoverable even if we vanish. Because opening only needs the package plus the passphrase or trustee shares — never our servers — your recipient can always recover the contents with the Open tab, offline.
Built so it won't fire by accident. Generous grace periods, escalating reminders, a one-tap check-in, and an optional trusted verifier who must confirm before release — so a long vacation never triggers your switch.
honest note

What this page does today

This page is the encryption engine — sealing and opening are fully working and fully client-side. The live check-in clock, reminders, and automatic release run on demingbydesign's servers (a scheduled job plus email) and are wired up separately from this file. The cryptography you can verify right here is the part that guarantees your secrets stay private.