nx.v2-native 2.0.1

Native cryptographic library for authenticated encryption and token management

nx.v2-native

A high-performance native Python library for authenticated encryption, key management, and token-based secret handling. All cryptographic operations run in C++ via OpenSSL.

Features

• ChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption with AAD
• Deterministic encryption (SIV-style) for indexable ciphertext
• Key derivation via scrypt (password) and HKDF-SHA256 (subkeys)
• Token format -- self-contained, versioned, base64url-encoded binary tokens
• Key rotation -- KeyRing with multiple keys + seamless migration
• Replay protection -- built-in TTL-based replay guard
• Cross-compatible -- tokens produced here can be decrypted by the Node.js nx.v2-native package and vice versa

Install

pip install nx.v2-native

Quick Start

from nx import generate_key, encrypt, decrypt, KeyRing

# Create a key ring and add a key
ring = KeyRing()
ring.add("key-2026", generate_key())

# Encrypt
token = encrypt("sensitive data", key_ring=ring)
# -> "nx.v2.AgAHa2V5LTIwMjY..."

# Decrypt
result = decrypt(token, key_ring=ring)
print(result["data"])  # "sensitive data"

API

Encryption & Decryption

encrypt(plaintext, *, key_ring, aad=None, metadata=None)

Encrypts a value and returns an nx.v2. token string.

• plaintext -- str
• key_ring -- KeyRing instance (required)
• aad -- additional authenticated data (str, dict, or None)
• metadata -- dict of string key-value pairs embedded in the token

token = encrypt("hello", key_ring=ring, aad="user:123", metadata={"purpose": "greeting"})

encrypt_deterministic(plaintext, *, key_ring, aad=None, metadata=None)

Same as encrypt, but produces identical tokens for identical inputs. Useful for indexing or deduplication.

a = encrypt_deterministic("hello", key_ring=ring)
b = encrypt_deterministic("hello", key_ring=ring)
assert a == b

decrypt(token, *, key_ring=None, global_decryptor=None, aad=None)

Decrypts a token. Raises RuntimeError on failure.

Returns:

{
    "data": "hello",
    "metadata": {},
    "key_id": "key-2026",
    "deterministic": False,
}

Key Management

generate_key()

Returns a cryptographically random 32-byte bytes object.

key = generate_key()

derive_key_from_password(password, salt_hex="", N=131072, r=8, p=1)

Derives a key from a password using scrypt.

result = derive_key_from_password("my-password")
key = result["key"]
salt = result["salt_hex"]

# Deterministic re-derivation
same = derive_key_from_password("my-password", salt_hex=salt)
assert result["key"] == same["key"]

derive_subkey(master_key, context, salt=None)

Derives a subkey using HKDF-SHA256.

master = generate_key()
db_key = derive_subkey(master, "database")
api_key = derive_subkey(master, "api-tokens")

KeyRing

Manages multiple encryption keys with a designated current key.

from nx import KeyRing, generate_key

ring = KeyRing()
ring.add("v1", generate_key())
ring.add("v2", generate_key())
ring.set_current("v2")

ring.current_id          # "v2"
ring.size                # 2
ring.has("v1")           # True
ring.resolve("v1")       # bytes
ring.key_ids             # ["v2", "v1"] -- current first
ring.remove("v1")        # removes key
ring.wipe_all()          # clears all keys

GlobalDecryptor

Resolves keys across multiple KeyRings. Useful for multi-tenant or multi-service decryption.

from nx import GlobalDecryptor

service_a = KeyRing()
service_a.add("a-key", generate_key())

service_b = KeyRing()
service_b.add("b-key", generate_key())

gd = GlobalDecryptor()
gd.add_ring(service_a)
gd.add_ring(service_b)

# Decrypts tokens from either service
result = decrypt(token, global_decryptor=gd)

ReplayGuard

Prevents token reuse with an in-memory TTL store.

from nx import ReplayGuard

guard = ReplayGuard(ttl_seconds=300)  # 5 minutes

# First use -- succeeds
result = guard.decrypt(token, key_ring=ring)

# Second use -- raises "nx: token has already been used."
guard.decrypt(token, key_ring=ring)

Custom store (e.g. Redis):

class RedisStore:
    def __init__(self, client):
        self.r = client

    def has(self, key):
        return self.r.exists(key)

    def add(self, key, ttl_seconds):
        self.r.set(key, "1", ex=int(ttl_seconds))

guard = ReplayGuard(store=RedisStore(redis_client))

Key Rotation

migrate(token, *, key_ring, aad=None, metadata=None)

Re-encrypts a token under the current key if it was encrypted with an older key. Returns the original token unchanged if already current.

ring = KeyRing()
ring.add("v1", old_key)
ring.add("v2", new_key)
ring.set_current("v2")

migrated = migrate(old_token, key_ring=ring)
# migrated is now encrypted under "v2"

Utilities

peek_key_id(token)

Extract the key ID from a token without decrypting. Returns None on invalid tokens.

key_id = peek_key_id(token)  # "my-key"

decode_token(token)

Decode a token into its raw components. Returns None on invalid tokens.

parsed = decode_token(token)
# {
#     "version": 2,
#     "flags": 0,
#     "deterministic": False,
#     "key_id": "my-key",
#     "nonce": b"...",
#     "tag": b"...",
#     "ciphertext": b"...",
#     "metadata": {},
# }

token_fingerprint(token)

Get the fingerprint (keyId:nonceHex) of a token. Returns None on invalid tokens.

wipe_buffer(buf)

Securely zero a writable buffer using OpenSSL's OPENSSL_cleanse.

key = bytearray(generate_key())
wipe_buffer(key)  # all bytes are now 0x00

Token Format

Tokens are prefixed with nx.v2. followed by a base64url-encoded binary payload:

Field	Size	Description
version	1 byte	0x02
flags	1 byte	0x01 = deterministic
keyId length	1 byte	1--255
keyId	variable	UTF-8 encoded
nonce	12 bytes	Random or SIV-derived
auth tag	16 bytes	Poly1305 tag
metadata length	2 bytes	Big-endian uint16
metadata	variable	Canonical JSON (sorted keys)
ciphertext	remaining	Encrypted payload

Cross-Compatibility

Tokens produced by this Python library are fully compatible with the Node.js nx.v2-native package. You can encrypt in Python and decrypt in Node.js, or vice versa.

# Python
token = encrypt("hello from python", key_ring=ring)

// Node.js
const result = decrypt(token, { keyRing: ring });
console.log(result.data); // "hello from python"

Security

• ChaCha20-Poly1305 AEAD with 12-byte nonce and 16-byte authentication tag
• HMAC-SHA256 for deterministic (SIV) nonce derivation
• scrypt for password-based key derivation with configurable cost
• HKDF-SHA256 for domain-separated subkey derivation
• OPENSSL_cleanse for secure memory wiping
• AAD is cryptographically bound -- tampering with keyId, metadata, or context is detected
• All crypto runs in compiled C++ via OpenSSL -- no Python crypto code

Platform Support

Platform	Architecture	Status
Windows	x64	Prebuilt
macOS	arm64	Coming soon
macOS	x64	Coming soon
Linux	x64	Coming soon

Requirements

• Python >= 3.10

License

MIT