Recovery code

A recovery code is a one-time secret, shown once when you create your account, that can unlock your data if you forget your password.

Why it has to exist

In a system where your encryption key is derived from your password, the operator has no way to decrypt your data — that’s the entire point of encryption at rest done properly. But it creates an obvious problem: forget your password and your data is mathematically unreachable, by everyone, forever.

A recovery code is the escape hatch. It’s a second, independent secret that can unwrap the same key. Two doors into the same room, both of which require something only you have.

Why it’s shown only once

If the recovery code were retrievable later, it would have to be stored somewhere the service could read — which would mean the service could unlock your data, which would defeat the guarantee. So it’s generated, displayed, and then only a form the system can verify against is kept.

That means nobody can resend it to you. Not support, not the operator, not a court order.

Storing it properly

Treat it like a spare key to your house, because functionally that’s what it is.

Reasonable: a password manager, a printed copy in a filing cabinet or safe, a note in a document safe with your other important records.

Not reasonable: an email to yourself, a screenshot in your phone’s photo roll, a plain text file on the desktop, a browser note synced to an account protected by the same password you’re trying to back up.

The point is that it should survive the two failure modes it exists for — you forgetting a password, and you losing a device — without being trivially readable by anyone who gets brief access to your stuff.

What happens if you lose both

Your data is unrecoverable. That is not a policy that can be appealed; it’s a consequence of the math. You can create a new account and start over, but the old data is ciphertext with no key.

This is the honest cost of a system where the operator can’t read your finances. Most services avoid the awkward conversation by keeping a key they can use — and then they can read everything.