Fileverse Cryptography

Fileverse is a privacy-first and decentralized workspace, with collaborative apps for note-taking, spreadsheets, file-sharing, and presentation slides. This repo contains a comprehensive, type-safe cryptographic library for the end-to-end encrypted Fileverse applications, including dsheets.new and ddocs.new. The library provides a set of easy-to-use cryptographic primitives with a focus on security, type safety, and flexibility, which can be used for any JavaScript/TypeScript applications.

Features

• ECIES (Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme) for asymmetric encryption
• RSA encryption with envelope encryption support for large messages
• NaCl Secret Box for fast, secure symmetric encryption using TweetNaCl
• HKDF (HMAC-based Key Derivation Function) for secure key derivation
• Argon2id password hashing for secure password storage and key derivation
• Encoding Utilities for consistent data format handling
• Type-Safe API with TypeScript generics for encoding types
• Cross-platform compatible with Node.js and modern browsers

Installation

npm install @fileverse/crypto

Usage

ECIES

Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme for secure asymmetric encryption.

import {
  generateECKeyPair,
  eciesEncrypt,
  eciesDecrypt,
} from "@fileverse/crypto/ecies";

// Generate a key pair
const keyPair = generateECKeyPair();
// { publicKey: "Uint8Array", privateKey: "Uint8Array" }

// Or generate with base64 encoding
const keyPairB64 = generateECKeyPair("base64");
// { publicKey: string, privateKey: string }

// Encrypt a message
const message = new TextEncoder().encode("Secret message");
const encrypted = eciesEncrypt(keyPair.publicKey, message);

// Decrypt a message
const decrypted = eciesDecrypt(keyPair.privateKey, encrypted);
console.log(new TextDecoder().decode(decrypted)); // "Secret message"

// You can also use the raw format for the encrypted data
const encryptedRaw = eciesEncrypt(keyPair.publicKey, message, "raw");
// { ephemeralPublicKey: string, nonce: string, ciphertext: string, mac: string }

Shared Secret Derivation

import { generateECKeyPair, deriveSharedSecret } from "@fileverse/crypto/ecies";

const aliceKeyPair = generateECKeyPair();
const bobKeyPair = generateECKeyPair();

// Alice derives shared secret using her private key and Bob's public key
const aliceSharedSecret = deriveSharedSecret(
  aliceKeyPair.privateKey,
  bobKeyPair.publicKey
);

// Bob derives the same shared secret using his private key and Alice's public key
const bobSharedSecret = deriveSharedSecret(
  bobKeyPair.privateKey,
  aliceKeyPair.publicKey
);

// aliceSharedSecret === bobSharedSecret

NaCl Secret Box

Fast, secure symmetric encryption using TweetNaCl's secretbox implementation. Perfect for encrypting data when you have a shared secret key.

import {
  generateSecretBoxKey,
  secretBoxEncrypt,
  secretBoxDecrypt,
} from "@fileverse/crypto/nacl";

// Generate a secret key (32 bytes)
const secretKey = generateSecretBoxKey();

// Encrypt a message
const message = new TextEncoder().encode("Secret message");
const encrypted = secretBoxEncrypt(secretKey, message);

// Decrypt the message
const decrypted = secretBoxDecrypt(secretKey, encrypted);
console.log(new TextDecoder().decode(decrypted)); // "Secret message"

// URL-safe base64 encoding
const encryptedUrlSafe = secretBoxEncrypt(secretKey, message, true);

Key Features

• Authenticated encryption: Built-in authentication prevents tampering
• Fast performance: Optimized for speed using TweetNaCl
• Secure nonces: Automatically generates cryptographically secure 24-byte nonces
• URL-safe encoding: Optional URL-safe base64 encoding for web applications
• Type safety: Full TypeScript support with proper error handling

RSA

RSA encryption with support for envelope encryption to handle messages of any size.

import {
  generateRSAKeyPair,
  rsaEncrypt,
  rsaDecrypt,
  encryptEnvelope,
  decryptEnvelope,
} from "@fileverse/crypto/webcrypto";
import { toBytes } from "@fileverse/crypto/utils";

// Generate an RSA key pair (default 4096 bits)
const keyPair = await generateRSAKeyPair();
// { publicKey: "base64-encoded-string", privateKey: "base64-encoded-string" }

// Or generate with bytes encoding
const keyPairBytes = await generateRSAKeyPair(4096, "bytes");
// { publicKey: Uint8Array, privateKey: Uint8Array }

// Standard RSA encryption (for small messages)
const message = new TextEncoder().encode("Hello, RSA encryption!");
const encrypted = await rsaEncrypt(keyPairBytes.publicKey, message);

// Decrypt
const decrypted = await rsaDecrypt(keyPairBytes.privateKey, toBytes(encrypted));
console.log(new TextDecoder().decode(decrypted)); // "Hello, RSA encryption!"

// For larger messages, use envelope encryption (hybrid RSA/AES)
const largeMessage = new Uint8Array(1024 * 500); // 500KB message
const envelope = await encryptEnvelope(keyPairBytes.publicKey, largeMessage);

// Decrypt envelope
const decryptedLarge = await decryptEnvelope(keyPairBytes.privateKey, envelope);

HKDF

HMAC-based Key Derivation Function for deriving secure cryptographic keys.

import { deriveHKDFKey } from "@fileverse/crypto/hkdf";

// Derive a key
const keyMaterial = new TextEncoder().encode("some-secure-key-material");
const salt = new TextEncoder().encode("salt-value");
const info = new TextEncoder().encode("context-info");

// Get key as Uint8Array (default)
const key = deriveHKDFKey(keyMaterial, salt, info);

// Or get key as base64 string
const keyBase64 = deriveHKDFKey(keyMaterial, salt, info, "base64");

Argon2id

Argon2id password hashing for secure password storage and key derivation.

import { getArgon2idHash } from "@fileverse/crypto/argon";

// Hash a password with default options
const password = "mySecurePassword123";
const salt = crypto.getRandomValues(new Uint8Array(16)); // 16-byte salt

// Get hash as Uint8Array (default)
const hash = await getArgon2idHash(password, salt);

// Or get hash as base64 string
const hashBase64 = await getArgon2idHash(password, salt, "base64");

// Use custom Argon2 options
const customOptions = {
  t: 3, // time cost (iterations)
  m: 65536, // memory cost in KiB
  p: 4, // parallelism
  dkLen: 32, // derived key length in bytes
};

const customHash = await getArgon2idHash(
  password,
  salt,
  "base64",
  customOptions
);

Encoding Utilities

Utilities for handling encoding conversions consistently.

import { toBytes, bytesToBase64, encodeData } from "@fileverse/crypto/utils";

// Convert base64 to Uint8Array
const bytes = toBytes("SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=");

// Convert Uint8Array to base64
const base64 = bytesToBase64(new TextEncoder().encode("Hello World"));

// Generic encoding with type safety
const data = new TextEncoder().encode("Test data");
const bytesResult = encodeData(data, "bytes"); // Returns Uint8Array
const base64Result = encodeData(data, "base64"); // Returns string

API Reference

ECIES Module

generateECKeyPair<E extends EncodingType = "bytes">(encoding?: E): EciesKeyPairType<E>

Generates an ECIES key pair with the specified encoding.

• Parameters:
  • encoding: Optional. The encoding type to use ("base64" or "bytes"). Default: "bytes".
• Returns: An object containing publicKey and privateKey in the specified encoding.

deriveSharedSecret<E extends EncodingType = "bytes">(privateKey: Uint8Array | string, publicKey: Uint8Array | string, encoding?: E): EncodedReturnType<E>

Derives a shared secret from a private key and a public key.

• Parameters:
  • privateKey: The private key (base64 string or Uint8Array).
  • publicKey: The public key (base64 string or Uint8Array).
  • encoding: Optional. The encoding type for the result. Default: "bytes".
• Returns: The shared secret in the specified encoding.

eciesEncrypt(publicKey: string | Uint8Array, data: Uint8Array, format?: "base64" | "raw"): string | EciesCipher

Encrypts data using ECIES.

• Parameters:
  • publicKey: The public key (base64 string or Uint8Array).
  • data: The data to encrypt.
  • format: Optional. The format of the result ("base64" or "raw"). Default: "base64".
• Returns: The encrypted data as a string or EciesCipher object.

eciesDecrypt(privateKey: string | Uint8Array, encryptedData: string | EciesCipher): Uint8Array

Decrypts data using ECIES.

• Parameters:
  • privateKey: The private key (base64 string or Uint8Array).
  • encryptedData: The encrypted data (string or EciesCipher object).
• Returns: The decrypted data as a Uint8Array.

NaCl Secret Box Module

generateSecretBoxKey(): Uint8Array

Generates a cryptographically secure 32-byte secret key for use with secret box encryption.

• Returns: A 32-byte Uint8Array suitable for secret box operations.

secretBoxEncrypt(key: Uint8Array, message: Uint8Array, urlSafe?: boolean): string

Encrypts data using NaCl's secretbox authenticated encryption.

• Parameters:
  • key: The 32-byte secret key as a Uint8Array.
  • message: The data to encrypt as a Uint8Array.
  • urlSafe: Optional. Whether to use URL-safe base64 encoding. Default: false.
• Returns: The encrypted data as a base64-encoded string containing nonce and ciphertext.
• Throws: Error if the key length is invalid (not 32 bytes).

secretBoxDecrypt(key: Uint8Array, encrypted: string): Uint8Array

Decrypts data that was encrypted with secretBoxEncrypt.

• Parameters:
  • key: The 32-byte secret key as a Uint8Array.
  • encrypted: The encrypted data string returned by secretBoxEncrypt.
• Returns: The decrypted data as a Uint8Array.
• Throws:
  • Error if the key length is invalid (not 32 bytes).
  • Error if the encrypted message format is invalid.
  • Error if the nonce length is invalid (not 24 bytes).
  • Error if decryption fails (authentication failure or corrupted data).

RSA Module

generateRSAKeyPair<E extends EncodingType = "base64">(keySize?: number, encoding?: E): Promise<RsaKeyPairType<E>>

Generates an RSA key pair with the specified key size and encoding.

• Parameters:
  • keySize: Optional. The key size in bits. Default: 4096.
  • encoding: Optional. The encoding type to use ("base64" or "bytes"). Default: "base64".
• Returns: A promise resolving to an object containing publicKey and privateKey in the specified encoding.

rsaEncrypt<E extends "base64" | "bytes" = "base64">(publicKey: Uint8Array, message: Uint8Array, returnFormat?: E): Promise<E extends "base64" ? string : Uint8Array>

Encrypts data using RSA-OAEP.

• Parameters:
  • publicKey: The public key as a Uint8Array.
  • message: The data to encrypt.
  • returnFormat: Optional. The format of the result ("base64" or "bytes"). Default: "base64".
• Returns: A promise resolving to the encrypted data in the specified format.

rsaDecrypt(privateKey: Uint8Array, cipherText: Uint8Array): Promise<Uint8Array>

Decrypts data using RSA-OAEP.

• Parameters:
  • privateKey: The private key as a Uint8Array.
  • cipherText: The encrypted data.
• Returns: A promise resolving to the decrypted data as a Uint8Array.

encryptEnvelope(publicKey: Uint8Array, message: Uint8Array): Promise<string>

Encrypts a message of any size using envelope encryption (hybrid RSA/AES).

• Parameters:
  • publicKey: The public key as a Uint8Array.
  • message: The data to encrypt.
• Returns: A promise resolving to the enveloped ciphertext as a string.

decryptEnvelope(privateKey: Uint8Array, envelopedCipher: string): Promise<Uint8Array>

Decrypts an envelope-encrypted message.

• Parameters:
  • privateKey: The private key as a Uint8Array.
  • envelopedCipher: The enveloped ciphertext.
• Returns: A promise resolving to the decrypted data as a Uint8Array.

HKDF Module

deriveHKDFKey<E extends EncodingType = "bytes">(keyMaterial: Uint8Array, salt: Uint8Array, info: Uint8Array, encoding?: E): EncodedReturnType<E>

Derives a key using HKDF.

• Parameters:
  • keyMaterial: The key material.
  • salt: The salt.
  • info: The context info.
  • encoding: Optional. The encoding type for the result. Default: "bytes".
• Returns: The derived key in the specified encoding.

Argon2id Module

getArgon2idHash<E extends EncodingType = "bytes">(password: string, salt: Uint8Array, returnFormat?: E, opts?: ArgonOpts): Promise<EncodedReturnType<E>>

Generates an Argon2id hash from a password and salt.

• Parameters:
  • password: The password to hash.
  • salt: The salt as a Uint8Array (recommended: 16 bytes minimum).
  • returnFormat: Optional. The encoding type for the result ("base64" or "bytes"). Default: "bytes".
  • opts: Optional. Argon2 configuration options. Default uses secure defaults.
• Returns: A promise resolving to the hash in the specified encoding.

Default Argon2 Options:

• t: 2 (time cost/iterations)
• m: 102400 (memory cost in KiB, ~100MB)
• p: 8 (parallelism)
• dkLen: 32 (derived key length in bytes)

Encoding Utilities

toBytes(base64: string): Uint8Array

Converts a base64 string to a Uint8Array.

bytesToBase64(bytes: Uint8Array, urlSafe = false): string

Converts a Uint8Array to a base64 string.

• Parameters:
  • bytes: The bytes to convert.
  • urlSafe: Optional. Whether to use URL-safe base64 encoding. Default: false.
• Returns: The base64 encoded string.

encodeData<E extends EncodingType>(data: Uint8Array, encoding: E): EncodedReturnType<E>

Encodes data in the specified format.

• Parameters:
  • data: The data to encode.
  • encoding: The encoding type ("base64" or "bytes").
• Returns: The encoded data in the specified format.

Technical Implementation

This library leverages the following dependencies for cryptographic operations:

• @noble/curves - For elliptic curve cryptography
• @noble/hashes - For cryptographic hash functions
• @noble/ciphers - For symmetric encryption
• tweetnacl - For NaCl secret box authenticated encryption
• js-base64 - For base64 encoding/decoding

Security Considerations

• This library uses well-established cryptographic primitives but has not undergone a formal security audit.
• Always keep private keys secure and never expose them in client-side code.
• For production use cases with high-security requirements, consider a formal security review.
• The library doesn't handle key storage - use appropriate secure storage mechanisms for your platform.

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14+)
• npm or yarn

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/fileverse/fileverse-cryptography.git
cd crypto

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run tests
npm test

Building

# Build the library
npm run build

Running Tests

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run specific test files
npx vitest run src/ecies/__tests__/core.test.ts

Browser Compatibility

This library supports all modern browsers that implement the Web Crypto API and TextEncoder/TextDecoder APIs:

• Chrome/Edge 60+
• Firefox 55+
• Safari 11+
• iOS Safari 11+

License

GNU GPL