A simple and unopinionated ACME client.

This module is written to handle communication with a Boulder/Let's Encrypt-style ACME API.

• RFC 8555 - Automatic Certificate Management Environment (ACME): https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8555
• Boulder divergences from ACME: https://github.com/letsencrypt/boulder/blob/master/docs/acme-divergences.md

• Installation
• Usage
• Cryptography
  • acme.forge
  • acme.openssl
• Auto mode
  • Internal challenge verification
• API
• HTTP client defaults
• Debugging
• License

$ npm install acme-client

const acme = require('acme-client');

const accountPrivateKey = '<PEM encoded private key>';

const client = new acme.Client({
    directoryUrl: acme.directory.letsencrypt.staging,
    accountKey: accountPrivateKey
});

acme.directory.letsencrypt.staging;
acme.directory.letsencrypt.production;

For key pair generation and Certificate Signing Requests, acme-client supports multiple interchangeable cryptographic engines.

• Should be used when node >= v10.12.0 or OpenSSL CLI dependency can not be met
• API documentation: docs/forge.md

Uses node-forge, a pure JavaScript implementation of the TLS protocol.

This engine has no external dependencies since it is completely implemented in JavaScript, however CPU-intensive tasks (like generating a large size key pair) has a performance penalty and will be slower than doing it natively.

This caveat is removed in Node v10.12.0 with the introduction of crypto.generateKeyPair(), a native Node API for key pair generation. The forge engine will automatically use this API when available.

const privateKey = await acme.forge.createPrivateKey();

const [certificateKey, certificateCsr] = await acme.forge.createCsr({
    commonName: '*.example.com',
    altNames: ['example.com']
});

• Can be used when node < v10.12.0 and OpenSSL CLI dependency can be met
• API documentation: docs/openssl.md
• Warning: Will most likely be deprecated some time in the future

Uses openssl-wrapper to execute commands using the OpenSSL CLI.

This engine requires OpenSSL to be installed and available in $PATH.

const privateKey = await acme.openssl.createPrivateKey();

const [certificateKey, certificateCsr] = await acme.openssl.createCsr({
    commonName: '*.example.com',
    altNames: ['example.com']
});

For convenience an auto() method is included in the client that takes a single config object. This method will handle the entire process of getting a certificate for one or multiple domains.

A full example can be found at examples/auto.js.

Documentation: docs/client.md#AcmeClient+auto

const autoOpts = {
    csr: '<PEM encoded CSR>',
    email: '[email protected]',
    termsOfServiceAgreed: true,
    challengeCreateFn: async (authz, challenge, keyAuthorization) => {},
    challengeRemoveFn: async (authz, challenge, keyAuthorization) => {}
};

const certificate = await client.auto(autoOpts);

When ordering a certificate using auto mode, acme-client will first validate that challenges are satisfied internally before completing the challenge at the ACME provider. In some cases (firewalls, etc) this internal challenge verification might not be possible to complete.

If internal challenge validation needs to travel through an HTTP proxy, see HTTP client defaults.

To completely disable acme-clients internal challenge verification, enable skipChallengeVerification:

await client.auto({
    ...,
    skipChallengeVerification: true
});

For more fine-grained control you can interact with the ACME API using the methods documented below.

A full example can be found at examples/api.js.

Documentation: docs/client.md

const account = await client.createAccount({
    termsOfServiceAgreed: true,
    contact: ['mailto:[email protected]']
});

const order = await client.createOrder({
    identifiers: [
        { type: 'dns', value: 'example.com' },
        { type: 'dns', value: '*.example.com' }
    ]
});

This module uses axios when communicating with the ACME HTTP API, and exposes the client instance through .axios.

For example, should you need to change the default axios configuration to route requests through an HTTP proxy, this can be achieved as follows:

const acme = require('acme-client');

acme.axios.defaults.proxy = {
    host: '127.0.0.1',
    port: 9000
};

A complete list of axios options and documentation can be found at:

• https://github.com/axios/axios#request-config
• https://github.com/axios/axios#custom-instance-defaults

acme-client uses debug for debugging which can be enabled by running

DEBUG=acme-client node index.js

MIT