@dfinity/identity

JavaScript and TypeScript library to manage Identities and enable simple Web Authentication flows for applications on the Internet Computer

Visit the Dfinity Forum and SDK Documentation for more information and support building on the Internet Computer.

Additional API Documentation can be found here.

Installation

Using authentication:

npm i --save @dfinity/identity

note: if you are using Secp256k1KeyIdentity, you will also need to install crypto-browserify as a PeerDependency. It is left out of project dependencies to keep @dfinity/identity smaller.

In the browser:

import * as identity from "@dfinity/identity";

or using individual exports:

import { ECDSAKeyIdentity, DelegationIdentity } from "@dfinity/identity";

ECDSAKeyIdentity

Using an ECDSAKeyIdentity, you can now use the native Web Crypto API to manage your keys in agent-js. ECDSAKeyIdentity uses the crypto.subtle interface under the hood, and wraps the conventions for managing identities in the same way as other identities in this package.

Importantly, there is no importing from a private key or from JSON for this library. This should be used only in secure contexts, and you should only in rare circumstances interact directly with the KeyPair or CryptoKeys involved. Importantly, your CryptoKeys can be used in IndexedDb and can be created as extractable or non-extractable for enhanced security properties.

Secp256k1KeyIdentity

This identity can be generated using the bip39 curve from a seed phrase, to produce a consistent identity across dfx and agent-js. In this package, import Secp256k1KeyIdentity and call fromSeed, passing in your seed. You can import the same seed in dfx by writing it to a file, and running dfx identity import --seed-file <filename>.

Depending on the security of what this identity controls, this should not be used carelessly. Even copy/pasting a phrase can be a risk, and you should make your best efforts to discourage your users from storing seed phrases digitally or using them in browser contexts that may be at risk of cross-site scripting.

In Node.js

Depending on your version, you may need to use a polyfill and set global.crypto in a setup file. If you prefer, you can also pass in a subtleCrypto implementation in methods that call for it, either as a direct argument, or in a cryptoOptions object.

Note: depends on @dfinity/agent