What is jose?
The 'jose' npm package is a JavaScript library that provides a variety of cryptographic operations based on JSON Web Tokens (JWT), JSON Web Encryption (JWE), JSON Web Signature (JWS), and JSON Web Key (JWK). It is designed to be compliant with the JOSE (JSON Object Signing and Encryption) suite of standards, and it supports various algorithms for encryption, decryption, signing, and verification of tokens.
What are jose's main functionalities?
JWT Signing
This code sample demonstrates how to create and sign a JWT with a specified algorithm and secret.
const { SignJWT } = require('jose');
const jwt = await new SignJWT({ 'urn:example:claim': true })
.setProtectedHeader({ alg: 'HS256' })
.setIssuedAt()
.setIssuer('urn:example:issuer')
.setAudience('urn:example:audience')
.setExpirationTime('2h')
.sign(new TextEncoder().encode('your-256-bit-secret'));
console.log(jwt);
JWT Verification
This code sample shows how to verify a JWT using a secret key and retrieve the payload and protected header.
const { jwtVerify } = require('jose');
const { payload, protectedHeader } = await jwtVerify(jwt, new TextEncoder().encode('your-256-bit-secret'));
console.log(payload);
console.log(protectedHeader);
JWE Encryption
This code sample illustrates how to encrypt a JWT using RSA-OAEP-256 for key management and A256GCM for content encryption.
const { EncryptJWT } = require('jose');
const jwe = await new EncryptJWT({ 'urn:example:claim': true })
.setProtectedHeader({ alg: 'RSA-OAEP-256', enc: 'A256GCM' })
.setIssuedAt()
.setIssuer('urn:example:issuer')
.setAudience('urn:example:audience')
.setExpirationTime('2h')
.encrypt(publicKey);
console.log(jwe);
JWE Decryption
This code sample demonstrates how to decrypt a JWE and obtain the payload and protected header using a private key.
const { jwtDecrypt } = require('jose');
const { payload, protectedHeader } = await jwtDecrypt(jwe, privateKey);
console.log(payload);
console.log(protectedHeader);
JWK Key Generation
This code sample shows how to generate a public and private key pair for the RS256 algorithm.
const { generateKeyPair } = require('jose');
const { publicKey, privateKey } = await generateKeyPair('RS256');
console.log(publicKey);
console.log(privateKey);
Other packages similar to jose
jsonwebtoken
The 'jsonwebtoken' package is similar to 'jose' in that it provides functionality for creating and verifying JWTs. It is widely used and has a simpler API for basic JWT operations, but it does not support JWE or more advanced JOSE features.
node-jose
The 'node-jose' package is another alternative that implements the JOSE suite of standards. It offers similar functionalities to 'jose' but has a different API design and may have different performance characteristics.
jws
The 'jws' package is focused on JSON Web Signatures (JWS). It is a simpler library that allows signing and verifying messages but does not handle JWTs, JWEs, or JWKs directly.
jose
jose
is JavaScript module for JSON Object Signing and Encryption, providing support for JSON Web Tokens (JWT), JSON Web Signature (JWS), JSON Web Encryption (JWE), JSON Web Key (JWK), JSON Web Key Set (JWKS), and more. The module is designed to work across various Web-interoperable runtimes including Node.js, browsers, Cloudflare Workers, Deno, Bun, and others.
Support from the community to continue maintaining and improving this module is welcome. If you find the module useful, please consider supporting the project by becoming a sponsor.
Dependencies: 0
jose
has no dependencies and it exports tree-shakeable ESM. CJS is also supported.
Documentation
jose
is distributed via npmjs.com, deno.land/x, cdnjs.com, jsdelivr.com, and github.com.
example
ESM import
import * as jose from 'jose'
example
CJS require
const jose = require('jose')
JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
The jose
module supports JSON Web Tokens (JWT) and provides functionality for signing and verifying tokens, as well as their JWT Claims Set validation.
Encrypted JSON Web Tokens
The jose
module supports encrypted JSON Web Tokens and provides functionality for encrypting and decrypting tokens, as well as their JWT Claims Set validation.
Key Utilities
The jose
module supports importing, exporting, and generating keys and secrets in various formats, including PEM formats like SPKI, X.509 certificate, and PKCS #8, as well as JSON Web Key (JWK).
- Key Import Functions
- Key and Secret Generation Functions
- Key Export Functions
JSON Web Signature (JWS)
The jose
module supports signing and verification of JWS messages with arbitrary payloads in Compact, Flattened JSON, and General JSON serialization syntaxes.
JSON Web Encryption (JWE)
The jose
module supports encryption and decryption of JWE messages with arbitrary plaintext in Compact, Flattened JSON, and General JSON serialization syntaxes.
Other
The following are additional features and utilities provided by the jose
module:
Implemented specifications
The jose
module implements the following specifications:
- JSON Web Signature (JWS) - RFC7515
- JSON Web Encryption (JWE) - RFC7516
- JSON Web Key (JWK) - RFC7517
- JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) - RFC7518
- JSON Web Token (JWT) - RFC7519
- JSON Web Key Thumbprint - RFC7638
- JSON Web Key Thumbprint URI - RFC9278
- JWS Unencoded Payload Option - RFC7797
- CFRG Elliptic Curve ECDH and Signatures - RFC8037
- secp256k1 EC Key curve support - RFC8812
The algorithm implementations have been tested using test vectors from their respective specifications as well as RFC7520.
Supported Runtimes
The jose
module is compatible with JavaScript runtimes that support the utilized Web API globals and standard built-in objects or are Node.js.
The following runtimes are supported (this is not an exhaustive list):
Please note that certain algorithms may not be available depending on the runtime used. You can find a list of available algorithms for each runtime in the specific issue links provided above.
Supported Versions
Version | Security Fixes 🔑 | Other Bug Fixes 🐞 | New Features ⭐ |
---|
v5.x | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
v4.x | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
v2.x | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |