What if the recipient loses the passphrase?

Give it to a second trusted party. Two envelopes, two rooms — very standard.

Can I re-seal with a new date later?

Yes — open it, add or edit, re-seal with the same or new passphrase.

Answers/The life queries

What to do with the folder you don't want anyone to find until the right time

There is a specific kind of folder that is not for now — a letter for a wedding twenty years off, a message for a child's eighteenth, notes for the family after you're gone. The setup is the same as an estate folder, but the instruction is different: 'open on [date]', or 'open only if [condition]'. What holds the folder shut is discipline plus encryption.

The mechanics

Seal the folder with a passphrase. Give the sealed bundle to the recipient (or to their guardian) now, with a paper instruction naming the date or condition. Give the passphrase separately: in an envelope with a lawyer to be opened on the date, or with a trusted third party.

Why Elba works long-term

The HTML file is offline-forever. The source becomes free in 2030 — well before most 'time capsule' opens. Whoever holds the bundle in twenty years can open it with a copy of the file, or with any conforming AES-256-GCM implementation once the source is public.

Questions people actually ask

What if the recipient loses the passphrase?: Give it to a second trusted party. Two envelopes, two rooms — very standard.
Can I re-seal with a new date later?: Yes — open it, add or edit, re-seal with the same or new passphrase.

Take the island

Elba is one HTML file. It runs locally in a Chromium browser, seals a folder with AES-256-GCM, never phones home, and becomes open source on 1 January 2030.

€49MMXXVI· now ·
€39MMXXVII2027
€29MMXXVIII2028
€19MMXXIX2029
FreeMMXXX2030

the price falls each year · free to all 1 jan 2030

Take the island — €49

pay once · no account · nothing leaves