---
id: shamir-mnemonic
version: "0.3.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: dormant
---

# shamir-mnemonic — SLIP-39 Shamir Mnemonics

License: permissive · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 168.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This package is a reference implementation of SLIP-0039, the Shamir's Secret Sharing standard for mnemonic codes. It splits a secret into unique shares distributed among participants, requiring a specified minimum number of shares to reconstruct the original secret—knowledge of fewer shares reveals nothing about the secret. The package provides both a programmatic API and an optional CLI tool for creating and recovering shares.

The implementation is intentionally not hardened against side-channel attacks and explicitly warns against use with sensitive production secrets; its stated purpose is to verify correctness of other implementations. It supports custom multi-group schemes (e.g., requiring completion of multiple threshold groups) and includes test vectors for validation. Runtime dependencies are minimal: only dataclasses on Python 3.6–3.7, and zero extra dependencies on Python 3.7+.

Use it for:

- Verify correctness of other SLIP-0039 implementations by comparing against this reference.
- Split a wallet seed or master secret into shares for distributed backup or recovery testing.
- Implement threshold-based secret recovery in applications that need to distribute trust across multiple parties.
- Create custom multi-group backup schemes where different groups must each reach their own threshold.
- Educational exploration of Shamir's Secret Sharing and SLIP-0039 specification mechanics.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Implements SLIP-0039 Shamir's Secret Sharing to split a secret into shares that require a minimum threshold to reconstruct, with optional CLI tools for share creation and recovery.

Yes, if you need a reference SLIP-0039 implementation for testing, verification, or non-sensitive prototyping. The low install friction and zero extra runtime dependencies make it suitable as a library dependency. No, if you need to handle production secrets—the package explicitly warns it is unsuitable for that purpose and lacks hardening against side-channel attacks. Dormant maintenance is acceptable for a stable cryptographic standard but means no active support.

## Install

pip install shamir-mnemonic
uv add shamir-mnemonic
poetry add shamir-mnemonic

## Installing shamir-mnemonic

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel with only dataclasses as a runtime dependency. Dormant maintenance status (820 days since last release) means no active development, but the stable SLIP-0039 specification it implements is unlikely to require frequent updates.

License in practice: MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and proprietary projects.

Quickstart:

pip install shamir-mnemonic

from shamir_mnemonic import generate_mnemonics, combine_mnemonics

# Split a secret into 5 shares, requiring 3 to recover
shares = generate_mnemonics(group_threshold=1, groups=[(3, 5)])
recovered_secret = combine_mnemonics(shares[:3])

The package explicitly warns it is not suitable for handling sensitive production secrets due to lack of side-channel attack hardening; use only for testing and verification on non-sensitive data.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the implementation has undergone formal security audit or cryptographic review beyond the stated reference implementation purpose.
- Current real-world adoption or compatibility with other SLIP-0039 implementations in production systems.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 168.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

shamir secret sharing, slip-0039 implementation, secret splitting threshold, mnemonic recovery shares, cryptographic secret sharing, threshold secret reconstruction, shamir backup scheme, slip-0039, reference-implementation, threshold-cryptography

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