Package Exports

keythereum

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Readme

keythereum

Generate, import and export Ethereum private keys. Uses PBKDF2 or scrypt key derivation functions.

Installation

$ npm install keythereum

Usage

var keythereum = require("keythereum");

Generate a new secp256k1 ECDSA private key (256 bit), as well as the salt (256 bit) used by the key derivation function, and the initialization vector (128 bit) used to AES-128-CTR encrypt the key:

var dk = keythereum.create();
// dk:
{
    privateKey: <Buffer ...>,
    iv: <Buffer ...>,
    salt: <Buffer ...>
}

Next, specify a password and (optionally) a key derivation function. If unspecified, PBKDF2-SHA256 will be used to derive the AES secret key.

var password = "wheethereum";
var kdf = "pbkdf2"; // or "scrypt" to use the scrypt kdf

Export key info to keystore "secret-storage" format:

var json = keythereum.dump(password, dk.privateKey, dk.salt, dk.iv, kdf);
// json:
{
    address: '008aeeda4d805471df9b2a5b0f38a0c3bcba786b',
    Crypto: {
        cipher: 'aes-128-ctr',
        ciphertext: '5318b4d5bcd28de64ee5559e671353e16f075ecae9f99c7a79a38af5f869aa46',
        cipherparams: {
            iv: '6087dab2f9fdbbfaddc31a909735c1e6'
        },
        mac: '517ead924a9d0dc3124507e3393d175ce3ff7c1e96529c6c555ce9e51205e9b2',
        kdf: 'pbkdf2',
        kdfparams: {
            c: 262144,
            dklen: 32,
            prf: 'hmac-sha256',
            salt: 'ae3cd4e7013836a3df6bd7241b12db061dbe2c6785853cce422d148a624ce0bd'
        }
    },
    id: 'e13b209c-3b2f-4327-bab0-3bef2e51630d',
    version: 3
}

In Node, the exportToFile method provides an easy way to export this formatted key object to file. It creates a JSON file in the keystore sub-directory, and uses geth's current file-naming convention (ISO timestamp concatenated with the key's derived Ethereum address).

keythereum.exportToFile(json);

After successful key export, you will see a message like:

Saved to file:
keystore/UTC--2015-08-11T06:13:53.359Z--008aeeda4d805471df9b2a5b0f38a0c3bcba786b

To use with geth, copy this file to your Ethereum keystore folder
(usually ~/.ethereum/keystore).

Tests

Unit tests are in the test directory, and are run with mocha.

$ npm test