@btc-vision/ecpair

Overview

Universal Bitcoin signer library with branded types and a pluggable CryptoBackend. Written in TypeScript with zero CommonJS. Ships with a pure-JS backend (@noble/curves) and a legacy adapter for tiny-secp256k1.

What is ecpair?

@btc-vision/ecpair provides secp256k1 key management, ECDSA signing, BIP-340 Schnorr signing, Taproot-style key tweaking, and WIF import/export. It is designed for use with @btc-vision/bitcoin and the broader OPNet ecosystem, but works with any Bitcoin library that consumes standard key types.

Why branded types?

PrivateKey, PublicKey, XOnlyPublicKey, Signature, and other key types are nominal (branded) Uint8Array subtypes. This prevents accidentally passing a raw hash where a private key is expected, or mixing up compressed and x-only public keys. Mistakes are caught at compile time, not at runtime in production.

Why pluggable backends?

CryptoBackend is an interface. The library ships two implementations:

• NobleBackend: pure JavaScript via @noble/curves/secp256k1, zero native dependencies
• LegacyBackend: adapter for existing tiny-secp256k1 installations (WASM or ASM.js)

Swap backends without changing application code.

No hardcoded networks

The library does not ship Bitcoin, testnet, or regtest constants. Consumers must provide a Network object to every factory method. This keeps the library network-agnostic and avoids accidental mainnet usage in test environments.

Installation

npm install @btc-vision/ecpair

Requires Node.js >= 24.0.0. The package is ESM-only ("type": "module").

Quick Start

import {
  ECPairSigner,
  createNobleBackend,
  createPrivateKey,
  createMessageHash,
  verifyCryptoBackend,
} from '@btc-vision/ecpair';
import type { Network } from '@btc-vision/ecpair';

// Define your network
const bitcoin: Network = {
  messagePrefix: '\x18Bitcoin Signed Message:\n',
  bech32: 'bc',
  bech32Opnet: 'op',
  bip32: { public: 0x0488b21e, private: 0x0488ade4 },
  pubKeyHash: 0x00,
  scriptHash: 0x05,
  wif: 0x80,
};

// Create backend and verify integrity
const backend = createNobleBackend();
verifyCryptoBackend(backend);

// Generate a random signer (FIPS 186-5 B.4.2 key generation)
const signer = ECPairSigner.makeRandom(backend, bitcoin);
console.log(signer.toWIF());

// Sign and verify
const hash = createMessageHash(new Uint8Array(32));
const sig = signer.sign(hash);
console.log(signer.verify(hash, sig)); // true

// Schnorr (BIP-340)
const schnorrSig = signer.signSchnorr(hash);
console.log(signer.verifySchnorr(hash, schnorrSig)); // true

API Comparison

| Old API (v3) | New API (v4) | |-------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | ECPairFactory(tinysecp) | createNobleBackend() or createLegacyBackend(tinysecp) | | ECPair.makeRandom() | ECPairSigner.makeRandom(backend, network) | | ECPair.fromPrivateKey(buf, opts) | ECPairSigner.fromPrivateKey(backend, privateKey, network) | | ECPair.fromPublicKey(buf, opts) | ECPairSigner.fromPublicKey(backend, publicKey, network) | | ECPair.fromWIF(str, network) | ECPairSigner.fromWIF(backend, str, network) | | keyPair.network (optional) | signer.network (always set, required parameter) | | { network } in options | Separate network parameter on every factory method | | Set<SignerCapability> | number bitmask of SignerCapability flags |

Usage

Import from WIF

const signer = ECPairSigner.fromWIF(backend, 'KwDiBf89QgGbjEhKnhXJuH7LrciVrZi3qYjgd9M7rFU73sVHnoWn', bitcoin);
console.log(signer.compressed); // true
console.log(signer.toWIF());

From raw private key

const signer = ECPairSigner.fromPrivateKey(
  backend,
  createPrivateKey(new Uint8Array(32).fill(1)),
  bitcoin,
);

Public-key-only signer (verify only, cannot sign)

import { createPublicKey } from '@btc-vision/ecpair';

const pubOnly = ECPairSigner.fromPublicKey(backend, createPublicKey(pubKeyBytes), bitcoin);
console.log(pubOnly.privateKey); // undefined
console.log(pubOnly.verify(hash, sig)); // true

Taproot-style tweaking

import type { Bytes32 } from '@btc-vision/ecpair';

const tweakScalar = new Uint8Array(32).fill(2) as Bytes32;
const tweaked = signer.tweak(tweakScalar);
console.log(tweaked.toWIF());

Legacy backend (tiny-secp256k1)

import { createLegacyBackend } from '@btc-vision/ecpair';
import type { TinySecp256k1Interface } from '@btc-vision/ecpair';
import * as tinysecp from 'tiny-secp256k1';

const legacy = createLegacyBackend(tinysecp as unknown as TinySecp256k1Interface);
const kp = ECPairSigner.makeRandom(legacy, bitcoin);

Custom RNG

import { randomBytes } from 'node:crypto';

const kp = ECPairSigner.makeRandom(backend, bitcoin, {
  rng: (size: number) => new Uint8Array(randomBytes(size).buffer),
});

The rng function receives 48 bytes (FIPS 186-5 seed length) and must return exactly size bytes.

Multiple networks

const testnet: Network = {
  messagePrefix: '\x18Bitcoin Signed Message:\n',
  bech32: 'tb',
  bech32Opnet: 'opt',
  bip32: { public: 0x043587cf, private: 0x04358394 },
  pubKeyHash: 0x6f,
  scriptHash: 0xc4,
  wif: 0xef,
};

// fromWIF accepts an array of candidate networks
const kp = ECPairSigner.fromWIF(backend, wifString, [bitcoin, testnet]);
console.log(kp.network === bitcoin); // true if mainnet WIF

Capabilities

import { SignerCapability } from '@btc-vision/ecpair';

const kp = ECPairSigner.makeRandom(backend, bitcoin);

if (kp.capabilities & SignerCapability.SchnorrSign) {
  console.log('Schnorr signing available');
}

// Or use the convenience method
kp.hasCapability(SignerCapability.EcdsaSign);      // true
kp.hasCapability(SignerCapability.PrivateKeyExport); // true

WIF encode/decode (standalone)

import { encodeWIF, decodeWIF, createPrivateKey } from '@btc-vision/ecpair';

const wif = encodeWIF(createPrivateKey(keyBytes), true, bitcoin);
const decoded = decodeWIF(wif, bitcoin);
// decoded.privateKey, decoded.compressed, decoded.network

Documentation

Visit our API documentation generated by TypeDoc.

Running Tests

npm test
npm run lint
npm run lint:tests
npm run format:ci

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests: npm test
5. Submit a pull request

See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Reporting Issues

• Bugs: Open an issue
• Security: See SECURITY.md - do not open public issues for vulnerabilities

License

MIT

Links

• GitHub
• npm
• OPNet
• @btc-vision/bitcoin