jose
Universal "JSON Web Almost Everything" - JWA, JWS, JWE, JWT, JWK with no dependencies using native crypto runtimes
Implemented specs & features
The following specifications are implemented by jose
- 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
- JWS Unencoded Payload Option - RFC7797
- CFRG Elliptic Curve ECDH and Signatures - RFC8037
- secp256k1 EC Key curve support - JOSE Registrations for WebAuthn Algorithms
The test suite utilizes examples defined in RFC7520 to confirm its JOSE implementation is correct.
Support
If you or your business use jose
, please consider becoming a sponsor so I can continue maintaining it and adding new features carefree.
Install
npm install jose
Looking for a Node.js only distribution? (Click to expand)
ESM module (import):
npm install jose-node-esm-runtime
CJS module (require):
npm install jose-node-cjs-runtime
Looking for a Browser only distribution? (Click to expand)
npm install jose-browser-runtime
Documentation
- JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
- Signing
- Verification & Claims Set Validation
- Encrypted JSON Web Tokens
- JSON Web Encryption (JWE)
- JSON Web Signature (JWS)
- JSON Web Key (JWK)
- JSON Web Key Set (JWKS)
- Key Pair or Secret Generation (Generate KeyLike)
- Utilities
- Unsecured JWT
- JOSE Errors
Examples
A continuously growing list of examples is available in the tracker.
JOSE Support Matrix
JWK Key Types | Supported |
kty value |
|
---|---|---|---|
RSA | ✓ | RSA | |
Elliptic Curve | ✓ | EC | supported curves: P-256, secp256k1, P-384, P-521 |
Octet Key Pair | ✓ | OKP | supported subtypes: Ed25519, Ed448, X25519, X448 |
Octet sequence | ✓ | oct |
Serialization | JWS Sign | JWS Verify | JWE Encrypt | JWE Decrypt |
---|---|---|---|---|
Compact | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
General JSON | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
Flattened JSON | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
JWT Sign | JWT Verify | JWT Encrypt | JWT Decrypt |
---|---|---|---|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
JWS Algorithms | Supported | |
---|---|---|
RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 | ✓ | RS256, RS384, RS512 |
RSASSA-PSS | ✓ | PS256, PS384, PS512 |
ECDSA | ✓ | ES256, ES256K, ES384, ES512 |
Edwards-curve DSA | ✓ | EdDSA |
HMAC with SHA-2 | ✓ | HS256, HS384, HS512 |
Unsecured JWS | ✓ | none |
JWE Key Management Algorithms | Supported | |
---|---|---|
AES | ✓ | A128KW, A192KW, A256KW |
AES GCM | ✓ | A128GCMKW, A192GCMKW, A256GCMKW |
Direct Key Agreement | ✓ | dir |
RSAES OAEP | ✓ | RSA-OAEP, RSA-OAEP-256, RSA-OAEP-384, RSA-OAEP-512 |
RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 | ✓ | RSA1_5 |
PBES2 | ✓ | PBES2-HS256+A128KW, PBES2-HS384+A192KW, PBES2-HS512+A256KW |
ECDH-ES | ✓ | ECDH-ES, ECDH-ES+A128KW, ECDH-ES+A192KW, ECDH-ES+A256KW |
JWE Content Encryption Algorithms | Supported | |
---|---|---|
AES GCM | ✓ | A128GCM, A192GCM, A256GCM |
AES CBC w/ HMAC | ✓ | A128CBC-HS256, A192CBC-HS384, A256CBC-HS512 |
Legend:
- ✓ Implemented
- ✕ Not Considered
Runtime Support Matrix
Platform | supported versions | caveats |
---|---|---|
Node.js | LTS ^12.19.0 || ^14.15.0 | |
Electron | ^12.0.0 | see [1] |
Deno | ✕ | needs Web Cryptography API integration first |
React Native | ✕ | has no available and usable crypto runtime |
IE | ✕ | implements old version of the Web Cryptography API specification |
Browsers | see caniuse.com | |
--- | ||
Edge | 79+ | see [2], [4] |
Firefox | 57+ | see [2] |
Chrome | 63+ | see [2], [4] |
Safari | 11+ | see [2], [3] |
Opera | 50+ | see [2], [4] |
iOS Safari | 12+ | see [2], [3] |
1 Due to its use of BoringSSL the following is not supported in Electron
- A128KW, A192KW, A256KW, and all composite algorithms utilizing those
- secp256k1 EC curve
- Ed448, X25519, and X448 OKP Sub Types
2 RSA1_5, OKP JWK Key Type, and secp256k1 EC curve is not supported in Web Cryptography API.
3 P-521 EC curve is not supported in Safari
4 192 bit AES keys are not supported in Chromium
FAQ
Supported Versions
Version | Security Fixes |
Other Bug Fixes |
New Features |
---|---|---|---|
3.x.x | |||
2.x.x |
|
||
1.x.x |
What is new in v3.x?
- Revised API
- No dependencies
- Browser support (using Web Cryptography API)
- Promise-based API
v2.x docs?
Semver?
Yes. All module's public API is subject to Semantic Versioning 2.0.0.
jws
, jwa
or jsonwebtoken
?
How is it different from - it supports browser runtime
- it supports encrypted JWTs (i.e. in JWE format)
- supports secp256k1, Ed25519, Ed448, X25519, and X448
- it supports JWK Key Format for all four key types (oct, RSA, EC and OKP)
- it is exclusively using native platform Key object representations (CryptoKey and KeyObject)
- there is JSON Web Encryption support
- it supports the flattened JWS / JWE Serialization Syntaxes
- it supports the "crit" member validations to make sure extensions are handled correctly
node-jose
?
How is it different from node-jose
is also built to work in any javascript runtime, to be able to do that it packs a lot of
polyfills and javascript implementation code in the form of
node-forge
, this significantly increases the footprint
of the modules with dependencies that either aren't ever used or have native implementation available
in the runtime already, those are often times faster and more reliable.
- it has smaller module footprints as it does not bundle unnecessary polyfills
- it does not bundle
node-forge
fallbacks when crypto runtime is unavailable - supports secp256k1, Ed25519, Ed448, X25519, and X448
Uint8Array?!
- Whenever
Uint8Array
is a valid input, so isBuffer
since buffers are instances of Uint8Array. - Whenever
Uint8Array
is returned and you want aBuffer
instead, useBuffer.from(uint8array)
.
Bundle Size, Package Size, Tree Shaking
Yes the bundle size is on the larger side, that is because each module is actually published multiple times so that it can remain truly without dependencies and be universal / isomorphic.
Nevertheless, since each module can be required independently and is fully tree-shakeable, the install size should not be a cause for concern.
Why? Just. Why?
I was using node-jose
for
openid-client
and
oidc-provider
and came to realize its shortcomings
in terms of performance and API (not having well defined errors).
+ this was an amazing opportunity to learn JOSE as a whole