PQClean for Node.js, Deno, and more

This package provides Node.js bindings for PQClean, a collection of post-quantum cryptography algorithm implementations, including 16 key encapsulation mechanisms and 19 digital signature algorithms.

In addition to the native addon for Node.js, this package also provides an implementation for Deno and other JavaScript runtimes, such as browsers, based on WebAssembly.

Installation

To use this package in Node.js, install it as usual.

npm i pqclean

By default, node-pqclean will attempt to compile PQClean as a native addon for Node.js. Only if that fails, for example, because necessary tools are not installed or because the operating system is unsupported, the package will continue with the installation, but only the WebAssembly backend will be available at runtime.

It is possible to customize the installation procedure through the use of an npm config variable pqclean-backend.

• pqclean-backend=prefer-native (default) attempts to build the native addon and only uses the WebAssembly backend if building the native addon fails.
• pqclean-backend=native builds and uses the native addon only. If building the native addon fails, the package installation fails as well.
• pqclean-backend=wasm does not build the native addon. Only the WebAssembly backend will be available at runtime. This option may be useful when loading native addons poses a security risk.

You can read more about npm config variables here.

Building for the web (Deno, browsers, etc.)

Emscripten and a recent version of Node.js are required to build the web distribution, which is based on WebAssembly. If you encounter any problems despite having installed emcc, please open an issue.

Clone the repository and run npm run build-wasm && npm run build-web. This will produce the web distribution in web/dist.

API

See API.md.

Security

See SECURITY.md.

License

This project is distributed under the MIT license. Please check deps/PQClean for licenses that apply to individual algorithm implementations.