TweetNaCl.js
Port of TweetNaCl / NaCl
to JavaScript for modern browsers and Node.js. Public domain.
Demo: https://dchest.github.io/tweetnacl-js/
Documentation
Overview
The primary goal of this project is to produce a translation of TweetNaCl to
JavaScript which is as close as possible to the original C implementation, plus
a thin layer of idiomatic high-level API on top of it.
There are two versions, you can use either of them:
-
nacl.js is the port of TweetNaCl with minimum differences from the
original + high-level API.
-
nacl-fast.js is like nacl.js, but with some functions replaced with
faster versions. (Used by default when importing NPM package.)
Audits
TweetNaCl.js has been audited by Cure53 in January-February
2017 (audit was sponsored by Deletype):
The overall outcome of this audit signals a particularly positive assessment
for TweetNaCl-js, as the testing team was unable to find any security
problems in the library. It has to be noted that this is an exceptionally
rare result of a source code audit for any project and must be seen as a true
testament to a development proceeding with security at its core.
To reiterate, the TweetNaCl-js project, the source code was found to be
bug-free at this point.
[...]
In sum, the testing team is happy to recommend the TweetNaCl-js project as
likely one of the safer and more secure cryptographic tools among its
competition.
Read full audit report
Installation
You can install TweetNaCl.js via a package manager:
Yarn:
$ yarn add tweetnacl
NPM:
$ npm install tweetnacl
or download source code.
Examples
You can find usage examples in our wiki.
Usage
All API functions accept and return bytes as Uint8Arrays. If you need to
encode or decode strings, use functions from
https://github.com/dchest/tweetnacl-util-js or one of the more robust codec
packages.
In Node.js v4 and later Buffer objects are backed by Uint8Arrays, so you
can freely pass them to TweetNaCl.js functions as arguments. The returned
objects are still Uint8Arrays, so if you need Buffers, you'll have to
convert them manually; make sure to convert using copying: Buffer.from(array)
(or new Buffer(array) in Node.js v4 or earlier), instead of sharing:
Buffer.from(array.buffer) (or new Buffer(array.buffer) Node 4 or earlier),
because some functions return subarrays of their buffers.
Public-key authenticated encryption (box)
Implements x25519-xsalsa20-poly1305.
nacl.box.keyPair()
Generates a new random key pair for box and returns it as an object with
publicKey and secretKey members:
{
publicKey: ..., // Uint8Array with 32-byte public key
secretKey: ... // Uint8Array with 32-byte secret key
}
nacl.box.keyPair.fromSecretKey(secretKey)
Returns a key pair for box with public key corresponding to the given secret
key.
nacl.box(message, nonce, theirPublicKey, mySecretKey)
Encrypts and authenticates message using peer's public key, our secret key, and
the given nonce, which must be unique for each distinct message for a key pair.
Returns an encrypted and authenticated message, which is
nacl.box.overheadLength longer than the original message.
nacl.box.open(box, nonce, theirPublicKey, mySecretKey)
Authenticates and decrypts the given box with peer's public key, our secret
key, and the given nonce.
Returns the original message, or null if authentication fails.
nacl.box.before(theirPublicKey, mySecretKey)
Returns a precomputed shared key which can be used in nacl.box.after and
nacl.box.open.after.
nacl.box.after(message, nonce, sharedKey)
Same as nacl.box, but uses a shared key precomputed with nacl.box.before.
nacl.box.open.after(box, nonce, sharedKey)
Same as nacl.box.open, but uses a shared key precomputed with nacl.box.before.
Constants
nacl.box.publicKeyLength = 32
Length of public key in bytes.
nacl.box.secretKeyLength = 32
Length of secret key in bytes.
nacl.box.sharedKeyLength = 32
Length of precomputed shared key in bytes.
nacl.box.nonceLength = 24
Length of nonce in bytes.
nacl.box.overheadLength = 16
Length of overhead added to box compared to original message.
Secret-key authenticated encryption (secretbox)
Implements xsalsa20-poly1305.
nacl.secretbox(message, nonce, key)
Encrypts and authenticates message using the key and the nonce. The nonce must
be unique for each distinct message for this key.
Returns an encrypted and authenticated message, which is
nacl.secretbox.overheadLength longer than the original message.
nacl.secretbox.open(box, nonce, key)
Authenticates and decrypts the given secret box using the key and the nonce.
Returns the original message, or null if authentication fails.
Constants
nacl.secretbox.keyLength = 32
Length of key in bytes.
nacl.secretbox.nonceLength = 24
Length of nonce in bytes.
nacl.secretbox.overheadLength = 16
Length of overhead added to secret box compared to original message.
Scalar multiplication
Implements x25519.
nacl.scalarMult(n, p)
Multiplies an integer n by a group element p and returns the resulting
group element.
nacl.scalarMult.base(n)
Multiplies an integer n by a standard group element and returns the resulting
group element.
Constants
nacl.scalarMult.scalarLength = 32
Length of scalar in bytes.
nacl.scalarMult.groupElementLength = 32
Length of group element in bytes.
Signatures
Implements ed25519.
nacl.sign.keyPair()
Generates new random key pair for signing and returns it as an object with
publicKey and secretKey members:
{
publicKey: ..., // Uint8Array with 32-byte public key
secretKey: ... // Uint8Array with 64-byte secret key
}
nacl.sign.keyPair.fromSecretKey(secretKey)
Returns a signing key pair with public key corresponding to the given
64-byte secret key. The secret key must have been generated by
nacl.sign.keyPair or nacl.sign.keyPair.fromSeed.
nacl.sign.keyPair.fromSeed(seed)
Returns a new signing key pair generated deterministically from a 32-byte seed.
The seed must contain enough entropy to be secure. This method is not
recommended for general use: instead, use nacl.sign.keyPair to generate a new
key pair from a random seed.
nacl.sign(message, secretKey)
Signs the message using the secret key and returns a signed message.
nacl.sign.open(signedMessage, publicKey)
Verifies the signed message and returns the message without signature.
Returns null if verification failed.
nacl.sign.detached(message, secretKey)
Signs the message using the secret key and returns a signature.
nacl.sign.detached.verify(message, signature, publicKey)
Verifies the signature for the message and returns true if verification
succeeded or false if it failed.
Constants
nacl.sign.publicKeyLength = 32
Length of signing public key in bytes.
nacl.sign.secretKeyLength = 64
Length of signing secret key in bytes.
nacl.sign.seedLength = 32
Length of seed for nacl.sign.keyPair.fromSeed in bytes.
nacl.sign.signatureLength = 64
Length of signature in bytes.
Hashing
Implements SHA-512.
nacl.hash(message)
Returns SHA-512 hash of the message.
Constants
nacl.hash.hashLength = 64
Length of hash in bytes.
Random bytes generation
nacl.randomBytes(length)
Returns a Uint8Array of the given length containing random bytes of
cryptographic quality.
Implementation note
TweetNaCl.js uses the following methods to generate random bytes,
depending on the platform it runs on:
window.crypto.getRandomValues (WebCrypto standard)window.msCrypto.getRandomValues (Internet Explorer 11)crypto.randomBytes (Node.js)
If the platform doesn't provide a suitable PRNG, the following functions,
which require random numbers, will throw exception:
nacl.randomBytesnacl.box.keyPairnacl.sign.keyPair
Other functions are deterministic and will continue working.
If a platform you are targeting doesn't implement secure random number
generator, but you somehow have a cryptographically-strong source of entropy
(not Math.random!), and you know what you are doing, you can plug it into
TweetNaCl.js like this:
nacl.setPRNG(function(x, n) {
// ... copy n random bytes into x ...
});
Note that nacl.setPRNG completely replaces internal random byte generator
with the one provided.
Constant-time comparison
nacl.verify(x, y)
Compares x and y in constant time and returns true if their lengths are
non-zero and equal, and their contents are equal.
Returns false if either of the arguments has zero length, or arguments have
different lengths, or their contents differ.
System requirements
TweetNaCl.js supports modern browsers that have a cryptographically secure
pseudorandom number generator and typed arrays, including the latest versions
of:
- Chrome
- Firefox
- Safari (Mac, iOS)
- Internet Explorer 11
Other systems:
Development and testing
Install NPM modules needed for development:
$ npm install
To build minified versions:
$ npm run build
Tests use minified version, so make sure to rebuild it every time you change
nacl.js or nacl-fast.js.
Testing
To run tests in Node.js:
$ npm run test-node
By default all tests described here work on nacl.min.js. To test other
versions, set environment variable NACL_SRC to the file name you want to test.
For example, the following command will test fast minified version:
$ NACL_SRC=nacl-fast.min.js npm run test-node
To run full suite of tests in Node.js, including comparing outputs of
JavaScript port to outputs of the original C version:
$ npm run test-node-all
To prepare tests for browsers:
$ npm run build-test-browser
and then open test/browser/test.html (or test/browser/test-fast.html) to
run them.
To run tests in both Node and Electron:
$ npm test
Benchmarking
To run benchmarks in Node.js:
$ npm run bench
$ NACL_SRC=nacl-fast.min.js npm run bench
To run benchmarks in a browser, open test/benchmark/bench.html (or
test/benchmark/bench-fast.html).
Benchmarks
For reference, here are benchmarks from MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)
laptop with 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU (Intel) in Chrome 53/OS X and Xiaomi Redmi
Note 3 smartphone with 1.8 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 64-bit CPU (ARM) in
Chrome 52/Android:
| | nacl.js Intel | nacl-fast.js Intel | nacl.js ARM | nacl-fast.js ARM |
| ------------- |:-------------:|:-------------------:|:-------------:|:-----------------:|
| salsa20 | 1.3 MB/s | 128 MB/s | 0.4 MB/s | 43 MB/s |
| poly1305 | 13 MB/s | 171 MB/s | 4 MB/s | 52 MB/s |
| hash | 4 MB/s | 34 MB/s | 0.9 MB/s | 12 MB/s |
| secretbox 1K | 1113 op/s | 57583 op/s | 334 op/s | 14227 op/s |
| box 1K | 145 op/s | 718 op/s | 37 op/s | 368 op/s |
| scalarMult | 171 op/s | 733 op/s | 56 op/s | 380 op/s |
| sign | 77 op/s | 200 op/s | 20 op/s | 61 op/s |
| sign.open | 39 op/s | 102 op/s | 11 op/s | 31 op/s |
(You can run benchmarks on your devices by clicking on the links at the bottom
of the home page).
In short, with nacl-fast.js and 1024-byte messages you can expect to encrypt and
authenticate more than 57000 messages per second on a typical laptop or more than
14000 messages per second on a $170 smartphone, sign about 200 and verify 100
messages per second on a laptop or 60 and 30 messages per second on a smartphone,
per CPU core (with Web Workers you can do these operations in parallel),
which is good enough for most applications.
Contributors
See AUTHORS.md file.
Third-party libraries based on TweetNaCl.js
Who uses it
Some notable users of TweetNaCl.js:
