devcert-sanscache

devcert - Development SSL made easy

Fork of https://github.com/davewasmer/devcert/ with the following change:

A full root certificate is generated and authorized each time for security, deleting the private keybefore returning the signed key and certificate which should then be cached by the application. If the certificate is invalidated, a new full generation process can be run.

So, running a local HTTPS server usually sucks. There's a range of approaches, each with their own tradeoff. The common one, using self-signed certificates, means having to ignore scary browser warnings for each project.

devcert makes the process easy. Want a private key and certificate file to use with your server? Just ask:

import * as https from 'https';
import * as express from 'express';
import getDevelopmentCertificate from 'devcert';

let app = express();

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('Hello Secure World!');
});

getDevelopmentCertificate('myapp').then((ssl) => {
  https.createServer(ssl, app).listen(3000);
});

Now open https://myapp:3000 (assuming host configuration, or otherwise https://localhost:3000) and voila

• your page loads with no scary warnings or hoops to jump through.

Certificate Installation

Thankully, Firefox makes this easy. There's a point-and-click wizard for importing and trusting a certificate - devcert will instead automatically open Firefox and kick off this wizard for you. Simply follow the prompts to trust the certificate.

The software installed varies by OS:

• Mac: brew install nss
• Linux: apt install libnss3-tools
• Windows: N/A

How it works

When you ask for a development certificate, devcert will first check to see if it has run on this machine before. If not, it will create a root certificate authority and add it to your OS and various browser trust stores. You'll likely see password prompts from your OS at this point to authorize the new root CA. This is the only time you'll see these prompts.

This root certificate authority allows devcert to create a new SSL certificate whenever you want without needing to ask for elevated permissions again. It also ensures that browsers won't show scary warnings about untrusted certificates, since your OS and browsers will now trust devcert's certificates. The root CA certificate is unique to your machine only, and is generated on-the-fly when it is first installed.

Once devcert is sure that it has a root certificate authority installed, it will create a new SSL certificate & key pair for your app, signed by this root certificate authority. Since your browser & OS now trust the root authority, they'll trust the certificate for your app - no more scary warnings!

License

MIT © Dave Wasmer