keymaker

This project uses the Web Crypto API built into JavaScript to generate cryptographic keys, convert the keys to Base-64 encoded strings, and store them as a .env file on the user's system. All at the click of a button. Currently the focus is on public / private key pairs, rather than symmetric keys.

You can access the site here, or clone the repository and run it via your own local server

Warning

The generation of the keys should be secure but make sure that you are careful with the contents of the .env file, never expose the contents publicly under any circumstances

Web Crypto API

The Web Crypto API uses crypto.subtle.generateKey(), with a set of options, to create keys. Or to create a public / private key-pair. It requires that the browser is in a secure environment eg. HTTPS

Asymmetric Keys

I am not going to go too deeply into the concept of asymmetric keys as I can't pretend to understand it too deeply, it is detailed quite heavily across the internet and can be found on the Wikipedia page for public-key cryptography.

In essence you are attempting to create two mathematically linked keys, a public key (which will be shared openly), and a private key (which will be kept safe). The most common uses of a private key would be for decrypting and signing, whereas a public key is usually used for encrypting or verifying. For example the public key could be used to encrypt text which can be sent securely to the owner of the private key who is able to decrypt it. There are different methods / algorithms for generating these key-pairs, and the purposes of these key-pairs may differ.

In simple terms, a system of asymmetric keys and one with symmetric keys differ in the sense that a symmetric system uses the same secret key for both decryption / signing as well as encrypting / verifying. Additionally, in a symmetric system both parties must have the same key. Historically it was difficult to ensure that a symmetric key was kept secret and asymmetric systems were developed to use separate public and private keys. This allowed for an increase level of security as it elminated the need to share a secret key beforehand.

Note

Whilst symmetric keys might sound like a relic of the past, they still find many uses today. In fact one example use of asymmetric keys is "key-exchange" (eg. Diffie-Hellman (DH)) which allows two parties to establish a shared symmetric key

Current Algorithms

The current algorithms used by crypto.subtle.generateKey() for this project are in the list below

• RSA-OAEP
• X25519
• Ed25519

Note

The algorithms above are not an exhaustive list of the possible algorithms that can be used for key generation by crypto.subtle.generateKey(). Additionally, no function has currently been added to the project for symmetric key generation.

Project Metadata

---
title: "keymaker"
date: "2025-07-21"
# last_modified_at: ""
# description: ""
categories: [
  miscellaneous
]
tags: [
  coding, dev, webdev, javascript, html, encryption, signing, decryption, cipher, cryptography, private key, public key, key pairs, key-pairs, symmetric keys, asymmetric keys, cryptographic algorithms, web crypto api, base64, .env, environment variables
]
---