credential-sheets(1)

💖 credential-sheets(1) — the User Account Credentials Tool, but make it a vibe 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this little tool is genuinely iconic and I need you to know about it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

credential-sheets — Account Credential Sheets Tool. that's it, that's the whole name, slay 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

credential-sheets [ [options] <CSV-file-1> [<CSV-file-2> [...]]  ]

yes you can throw MULTIPLE csv files at it, she's flexible like that 🌈

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the situation, and it's giving very "sysadmin at 11pm" energy 😭: after a mass import of user accounts (think, like, into LDAP) or a mass creation of WiFi voucher codes, most site administrators have to create information sheets (or snippets) containing all those brand-new credentials — username, password, policy of usage, etc. every. single. time. exhausting.

with this tiny tool, handing those pieces of information to multiple users becomes really simple. genuinely obsessed. the account data comes from a CSV file, and the sheets get output as PDF using easily configurable LaTeX template files ✨ lowkey genius, highkey convenient.

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

the credential-sheets command accepts these command line options, one at a time, no chaos:

• --help — displays a help with all available command line options and exits. she's helpful AND she leaves 💅
• --template=<tpl-name> — the name of the template to use. pick your fighter 🎀
• --cols=<x> — render <x> columns per sheet. grid layout goes brrr 🌸
• --rows=<y> — render <y> rows per sheet. yes you pair it with --cols, they're a duo 🦋
• --zip — do create a ZIP file at the end. zipped and shipped 📦
• --zipfilename=<zip-file-name> — alternative ZIP file name (default: name of parent folder). naming rights, bestie 👑
• --debug — don't remove temporary files. leaving the mess behind on purpose, iykyk 💀

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✨ CSV FILE FORMAT ✨

okay this part is important so listen up 🙈 the credential-sheets tool can handle any sort of column arrangement in the given CSV file(s). it expects the CSV file(s) to have column names in their first line. first line = the labels, no cap.

those given column names have to map to the "VAR-<column-name>" placeholders in credential-sheets's LaTeX templates. that's the whole trick 🪄

the shipped-with templates "students" and "teachers" can handle these column names:

• login — the user account's login id (uid)
• lastName — the user's last name(s)
• firstName — the user's first name(s)
• password — the user's password
• form — the form name/ID (student template only)
• subjects — subjects taught by a teacher (teachers template only)

and the shipped-with template "wifivouchers" can handle these column names:

• essid — the WiFi network's ESSID (network name)
• login — the voucher´s login id (if any)
• code — the voucher´s login code
• duration — the validity period of a voucher code

if you create your own templates, you can be very flexible in using your own column names and template names. go off, main character 💜 the only thing to check: make sure the column names provided in the CSV file(s)'s first line match the variables used in the customized LaTeX template. see below for details ⬇️

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✨ CUSTOMIZATIONS ✨

the shipped-with credential sheets templates are expected to be installed in /usr/share/credential-sheets/ for system-wide installations. when customizing templates, simply place a modified copy of any of those files into ~/.credential-sheets/ or /etc/credential-sheets/. for further details, see below 👀

the credential-sheets tool uses these configuration files:

• header.tex (LaTeX file header)
• <tpl-name>-template.tex (whereas <tpl-name> "students", "teachers" and "wifivouchers" are provided on default installations, this is extensible by defining your own template files, see below).
• footer.tex (LaTeX file footer)

search paths for configuration files (in listed order, top wins bestie):

• $HOME/.credential-sheets/
• ./
• /etc/credential-sheets/
• /usr/local/share/credential-sheets/
• /usr/share/credential-sheets/

you can easily customize the resulting PDF files generated with this tool by placing your own template files, header and footer where appropriate. it's giving bespoke ✨🎀

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✨ FILES ✨

• /usr/share/credentail-sheets/*.tex
• /etc/credential-sheets/*.tex (optional)
• $HOME/.credential-sheets/*.tex (optional)

yes, that first path really does say credentail-sheets in the original manual. not a typo of mine, I am copying it exactly as printed 💀 keep it in mind!

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✨ AUTHOR ✨

this manual and the credential-sheets tool itself has been written for the Debian Edu project by Mike Gabriel <mike.gabriel@das-netzwerk-team.de>. respect the author, she ate 👑

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and that's the whole page, bestie 💖 this manual describes Version 0.0.6, dated Aug 2026 — so if you're reading this in some far-future terminal, hi, hope the vibes held up 🦋✨ periodt.