OpenPGP.js
OpenPGP.js is a Javascript implementation of the OpenPGP protocol. This is defined in RFC 4880.
Node support
For server side use, install via npm:
npm install --save openpgp
Browser support
For use in browser, install via bower:
bower install --save openpgp
Or Fetch a minified build under dist.
The library can be loaded as a CommonJS module, an AMD module or accessed globally via window.openpgp
.
Dependencies
OpenPGP.js only supports browsers that implement window.crypto.getRandomValues
. Also, if the browsers support native WebCrypto via the window.crypto.subtle
api, this will be used. Though this can be deactivated by setting config.useWebCrypto = false
. In this case the library will fall back to Web Worker operations if the initWorker(workerPath)
is set.
OpenPGP.js uses ES6 promises which are available in most modern browsers. If you need to support browsers that do not support Promises, fear not! There is a polyfill, which is included in the build step. So no action required on the developer's part for promises!
Examples
Generate new keypair
var openpgp = require('openpgp');
var options = {
numBits: 2048,
userId: 'Jon Smith <[email protected]>',
passphrase: 'super long and hard to guess secret'
};
openpgp.generateKeyPair(options).then(function(keypair) {
// success
var privkey = keypair.privateKeyArmored;
var pubkey = keypair.publicKeyArmored;
}).catch(function(error) {
// failure
});
Encryption
var openpgp = require('openpgp');
var key = '-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK ... END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----';
var publicKey = openpgp.key.readArmored(key);
openpgp.encryptMessage(publicKey.keys, 'Hello, World!').then(function(pgpMessage) {
// success
}).catch(function(error) {
// failure
});
Decryption
var openpgp = require('openpgp');
var key = '-----BEGIN PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK ... END PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----';
var privateKey = openpgp.key.readArmored(key).keys[0];
privateKey.decrypt('passphrase');
var pgpMessage = '-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE ... END PGP MESSAGE-----';
pgpMessage = openpgp.message.readArmored(pgpMessage);
openpgp.decryptMessage(privateKey, pgpMessage).then(function(plaintext) {
// success
}).catch(function(error) {
// failure
});
Documentation
A jsdoc build of our code comments is available at doc/index.html. Public calls should generally be made through the OpenPGP object doc/openpgp.html.
Security Audit
To date the OpenPGP.js code base has undergone two complete security audits from Cure53. The first audit's report has been published here.
Security recommendations
It should be noted that js crypto apps deployed via regular web hosting (a.k.a. host-based security) provide users with less security than installable apps with auditable static versions. Installable apps can be deployed as a Firefox or Chrome packaged app. These apps are basically signed zip files and their runtimes typically enforce a strict Content Security Policy (CSP) to protect users against XSS. This blogpost explains the trust model of the web quite well.
It is also recommended to set a strong passphrase that protects the user's private key on disk.
Development
To create your own build of the library, just run the following command after cloning the git repo. This will download all dependencies, run the tests and create a minifed bundle under dist/openpgp.min.js
to use in your project:
npm install && npm test
Mailing List
You can sign up for our mailing list and ask for help there. We've recently worked on getting our archive up and running.
How do I get involved?
You want to help, great! Go ahead and fork our repo, make your changes and send us a pull request.
License
GNU Lesser General Public License (3.0 or any later version). Please take a look at the LICENSE file for more information.
Resources
Below is a collection of resources, many of these were projects that were in someway a precursor to the current OpenPGP.js project. If you'd like to add your link here, please do so in a pull request or email to the list.
- http://www.hanewin.net/encrypt/
- https://github.com/seancolyer/gmail-crypt
- https://github.com/mete0r/openpgp-js
- http://fitblip.github.com/JSPGP-Stuffs/
- http://qooxdoo.org/contrib/project/crypto
- https://github.com/GPGTools/Mobile/wiki/Introduction
- http://gpg4browsers.recurity.com/
- https://github.com/gmontalvoriv/mailock