node-cipher

node-cipher

Securely encrypt sensitive files for use in public source control. Find on NPM.

Why would I want to encrypt my files?

Let's say you have a file in your project name config.json which contains sensitive information like private keys and database passwords.

What happens if you want to publicly host a repository containing this file? Certainly you wouldn't want to make the contents of config.json visible to the outside world, so instead you can use node-cipher to encrypt the file and add its encrypted counterpart to source control, which can later be decrypted using the encryption key when the repository is cloned.

Just don't forget to add the original config.json file to .gitignore!

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Table of Contents

• Install
• Command Line Interface
  • Usage
  • Commands
  • Flags
• Node JS API
  • Options
  • Methods
    • encrypt()
    • decrypt()
    • list()
• Tips
• Authors
• License

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Install

$ npm install -g node-cipher

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Command Line Interface

Looking for the Node JS API? Click here.

Usage

$ nodecipher [--list] <command> -i input -o output [-p password] [-a algorithm]

When in doubt, $ nodecipher --help

Commands

Command	Description
encrypt	Encrypts a file using the arguments provided.
decrypt	Decrypts a file using the arguments provided.

Flags

Flag	Alias	Description	Required	Default
input	i	The input filename relative to the current working directory.	✓
output	p	The output filename relative to the current working directory.	✓
password	p	The key that you will use to encrypt or decrypt your file. If this is not supplied directly, you will instead be prompted within your command line. If you are decrypting a file, the password must be the same as the one specified during encryption, or else the decryption will fail.
algorithm	a	The cipher algorithm that you will use to encrypt or decrypt your file. If you are decrypting a file, the chosen algorithm must be the same as the one specified during encryption, or else the decryption will fail.		cast5-cbc
list	l	Lists all available cipher algorithms.
version	v	Show the node-cipher version.
help	h	Show the help menu.

Example

Encrypts config.json into config.encrypted.json using the aes-128-cbc cipher algorithm.

$ nodecipher encrypt -i "config.json" -o "config.encrypted.json" -a aes-128-cbc

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Node JS API

Looking for the CLI? Click here.

Options

Name	Type	Description	Required	Default
input	string	The input filename relative to the current working directory.	✓
output	string	The output filename relative to the current working directory.	✓
password	string	The encryption password. Unlike the command line interface, this MUST be specified.	✓
algorithm	string	The algorithm to use. Use nodecipher -l to see a list of available cipher algorithms.		"cast5-cbc"

Methods

• encrypt()
• decrypt()
• list()

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encrypt(options[, callback[, scope]])

Encrypt a file using the options provided.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	The NodeCipher options Object.	✓
callback	Function	The function to call when the encryption has completed.
scope	Object	The Function scope for the callback parameter, if provided.

Example

Encrypts config.json into config.encrypted.json using the password "b0sco".

let nodecipher = require('node-cipher');

nodecipher.encrypt({
  input: 'config.json',
  output: 'config.encrypted.json',
  password: 'b0sco'
}, function (err) {
  if (err) throw err;

  console.log('config.json encrypted.');
});

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decrypt(options[, callback[, scope]])

Decrypts a file using the options provided.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	The NodeCipher options Object.	✓
callback	Function	The function to call when the decryption has completed.
scope	Object	The Function scope for the callback parameter, if provided.

Example

Decrypts config.encrypted.json back into config.json using the password "b0sco".

let nodecipher = require('node-cipher');

nodecipher.decrypt({
  input: 'config.encrypted.json',
  output: 'config.json',
  password: 'b0sco'
}, function (err) {
  if (err) throw err;

  console.log('config.encrypted.json decrypted.');
});

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list():Array

Lists all available cipher algorithms as an Array.

Example

let nodecipher = require('node-cipher');

console.log(nodecipher.list());
// => ['CAST-cbc', 'aes-128-cbc', ..., 'seed-ofb']

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Tips

Using NPM, you can create custom scripts in our package.json file to automate much of the encryption/decryption process.

{
  // ...
  "scripts": {
    "encrypt": "nodecipher encrypt -i config.json -o config.encrypted.json",
    "decrypt": "nodecipher decrypt -i config.encrypted.json -o config.json"
  }
}

Simply run npm run encrypt or npm run decrypt to execute these commands.

Authors

• Nathan Buchar

License

MIT