jwt-simple

What is jwt-simple?

The jwt-simple npm package is a lightweight library for encoding and decoding JSON Web Tokens (JWT). It provides a simple API for creating and verifying JWTs, which are commonly used for authentication and secure data exchange.

What are jwt-simple's main functionalities?

Encoding a JWT

This feature allows you to encode a payload into a JWT using a secret key. The resulting token can be used for secure data transmission.

const jwt = require('jwt-simple');
const payload = { foo: 'bar' };
const secret = 'mysecretkey';
const token = jwt.encode(payload, secret);
console.log(token);

Decoding a JWT

This feature allows you to decode a JWT using the same secret key that was used to encode it. The decoded payload can then be accessed and used as needed.

const jwt = require('jwt-simple');
const token = 'your.jwt.token';
const secret = 'mysecretkey';
const decoded = jwt.decode(token, secret);
console.log(decoded);

Other packages similar to jwt-simple

jsonwebtoken

The jsonwebtoken package is a popular library for working with JSON Web Tokens. It offers more features and flexibility compared to jwt-simple, including support for various algorithms, token expiration, and more advanced options for token verification.

jose

The jose package is a comprehensive library for JSON Web Encryption (JWE), JSON Web Signature (JWS), and JSON Web Token (JWT). It provides a wide range of features and supports multiple algorithms, making it suitable for more complex use cases.

njwt

The njwt package is another library for creating and verifying JSON Web Tokens. It offers a simple API similar to jwt-simple but includes additional features such as token expiration and claims validation.

README

jwt-simple

JWT(JSON Web Token) encode and decode module for node.js.

Install

$ npm install jwt-simple

Usage

var jwt = require('jwt-simple');
var payload = { foo: 'bar' };
var secret = 'xxx';

// HS256 secrets are typically 128-bit random strings, for example hex-encoded:
// var secret = Buffer.from('fe1a1915a379f3be5394b64d14794932', 'hex')

// encode
var token = jwt.encode(payload, secret);

// decode
var decoded = jwt.decode(token, secret);
console.log(decoded); //=> { foo: 'bar' }

decode params

/*
 * jwt.decode(token, key, noVerify, algorithm)
 */

// decode, by default the signature of the token is verified
var decoded = jwt.decode(token, secret);
console.log(decoded); //=> { foo: 'bar' }

// decode without verify the signature of the token,
// be sure to KNOW WHAT ARE YOU DOING because not verify the signature
// means you can't be sure that someone hasn't modified the token payload
var decoded = jwt.decode(token, secret, true);
console.log(decoded); //=> { foo: 'bar' }

// decode with a specific algorithm (not using the algorithm described in the token payload)
var decoded = jwt.decode(token, secret, false, 'HS256');
console.log(decoded); //=> { foo: 'bar' }

Algorithms

By default the algorithm to encode is HS256.

The supported algorithms for encoding and decoding are HS256, HS384, HS512 and RS256.

// encode using HS512
jwt.encode(payload, secret, 'HS512')