Encryption

Using the encryption service, you may encrypt and decrypt values in your application. The encryption is based on the aes-256-cbc algorithm, and we append an integrity hash (HMAC) to the final output to prevent value tampering.

The encryption service uses the appKey stored inside the config/app.ts file as the secret to encrypt the values.

It is recommended to keep the appKey secure and inject it into your application using environment variables. Anyone with access to this key can decrypt values.
The key should be at least 16 characters long and have a cryptographically secure random value. You may generate the key using the node ace generate:key command.
If you decide to change the key later, you will not be able to decrypt existing values. This will result in invalidating existing cookies and user sessions.

Encrypting values

You may encrypt values using the encryption.encrypt method. The method accepts the value to encrypt and an optional time duration after which to consider the value expired.

import encryption from '@adonisjs/core/services/encryption'

const encrypted = encryption.encrypt('hello world')

Define a time duration after which the value will be considered expired and cannot be decrypted.

const encrypted = encryption.encrypt('hello world', '2 hours')

Decrypting values

Encrypted values can be decrypted using the encryption.decrypt method. The method accepts the encrypted value as the first argument.

import encryption from '@adonisjs/core/services/encryption'

encryption.decrypt(encryptedValue)

Supported data types

The value given to the encrypt method is serialized to a string using JSON.stringify. Therefore, you can use the following JavaScript data types.

string
number
bigInt
boolean
null
object
array

import encryption from '@adonisjs/core/services/encryption'

// Object
encryption.encrypt({
  id: 1,
  fullName: 'virk',
})

// Array
encryption.encrypt([1, 2, 3, 4])

// Boolean
encryption.encrypt(true)

// Number
encryption.encrypt(10)

// BigInt
encryption.encrypt(BigInt(10))

// Data objects are converted to ISO string
encryption.encrypt(new Date())

Using custom secret keys

You can create an instance of the Encryption class directly to use custom secret keys.

import { Encryption } from '@adonisjs/core/encryption'

const encryption = new Encryption({
  secret: 'alongrandomsecretkey',
})

Security

Authorization