pqc-sandbox

See exactly what happens to your latency, payload size, CPU, and compatibility when you switch to ML-KEM / ML-DSA / SLH-DSA — in 60 seconds, without changing a line of production code.

🔒 Zero cloud. Zero telemetry. Runs entirely on your machine.

---

The 60-second demo

pip install pqc-sandbox
pqc-sandbox demo

No NIST keys. No API calls. No account required. All analysis is local. All benchmarks run on your hardware.

The demo simulates migrating a web API server from ECDSA-P256 → ML-DSA-44 (NIST FIPS 204) and ECDH-P256 → ML-KEM-768 (NIST FIPS 203), showing you the real cost before you touch a single config file.

---

What it does

pqc-sandbox is the missing second half of the PQC migration toolchain. Crypto discovery tools (Semgrep, CodeQL, Cryptosense) tell you what to change. pqc-sandbox tells you what happens when you do.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Discovery tools (CBOM/SARIF)        pqc-sandbox                    │
│  ─────────────────────────  ──────────────────────────────────────  │
│  "You use ECDSA-P256 here"  → "Here's what ML-DSA-44 costs you:   │
│                                  +33× signature size                │
│                                  +1.8× signing time                 │
│                                  CAUTION: cert spans 2 MTU packets  │
│                                  Score: MODERATE (38/100)"          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Core output per migration

Output	Description
Benchmark table	Side-by-side latency, key sizes, artifact sizes: classical vs. PQC
Hybrid simulation	Classical + PQC in tandem — the recommended transitional approach
Compatibility oracle	Flags what will break: MTU limits, TLS version, RAM, DNSSEC, JWTs, HSMs
Migration Difficulty Score	0–100, badge-ready: EASY / MODERATE / HARD / CRITICAL
Config diff	Copy-paste ready: OpenSSL, nginx, sshd, Go TLS, Python
HTML report	Self-contained, screenshot-friendly, shareable
JSON output	CI/CD pipeline integration with exit codes

---

Installation

# Basic (simulation mode — no native deps)
pip install pqc-sandbox

# With real benchmarks via liboqs
pip install pqc-sandbox[oqs]
# Requires liboqs to be installed: https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs

liboqs (optional but recommended)

When liboqs-python is installed, pqc-sandbox runs real NIST reference implementations instead of simulated timings. In simulation mode, timings are derived from published NIST benchmarks with ±5% jitter — accurate for planning, but not a substitute for hardware measurement.

# macOS
brew install liboqs
pip install liboqs-python

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install liboqs-dev
pip install liboqs-python

---

Usage

pqc-sandbox demo — Start here

# Default: web API server scenario (ECDH-P256 → ML-KEM-768, ECDSA-P256 → ML-DSA-44)
pqc-sandbox demo

# IoT device with 256 KB RAM
pqc-sandbox demo --scenario 1

# Legacy TLS 1.2 endpoint
pqc-sandbox demo --scenario 2

# Save reports
pqc-sandbox demo --html report.html --json report.json

pqc-sandbox compare — Compare any two algorithms

# Auto-select PQC replacement
pqc-sandbox compare --classical "ECDH-P256"

# Explicit pairing
pqc-sandbox compare --classical "ECDSA-P256" --pqc "ML-DSA-65"

# With system constraints
pqc-sandbox compare \
  --classical "ECDSA-P256" --pqc "ML-DSA-44" \
  --mtu 1500 \
  --tls-version 1.3 \
  --protocol tls \
  --ram-kb 256 \
  --tag embedded --tag iot

# Generate all outputs
pqc-sandbox compare \
  --classical "ECDH-P256" --pqc "ML-KEM-768" \
  --html report.html \
  --json report.json \
  --diff openssl.conf.patch \
  --diff-format openssl

# CI/CD mode (exit code: 0=GO, 1=CAUTION, 2=BLOCKED)
pqc-sandbox compare --classical "ECDH-P256" --ci

pqc-sandbox scan tls — Probe a live endpoint

# Detect current algorithms and simulate migration
pqc-sandbox scan tls example.com
pqc-sandbox scan tls api.mycompany.com --port 8443 --html tls_report.html

pqc-sandbox scan cbom — Integrate with CBOM scanners

# Accept CycloneDX CBOM JSON (from Dependency-Track, Cryptosense, etc.)
pqc-sandbox scan cbom cryptographic-bill-of-materials.json

# Sample CBOM included
pqc-sandbox scan cbom assets/sample.cbom.json

pqc-sandbox scan sarif — Integrate with SARIF crypto scanners

# Accept SARIF 2.1.0 output (from Semgrep, CodeQL, etc.)
pqc-sandbox scan sarif crypto-findings.sarif

# Sample SARIF included
pqc-sandbox scan sarif assets/sample.sarif.json

pqc-sandbox diff — Config diff only

pqc-sandbox diff --classical "ECDH-P256" --format nginx
pqc-sandbox diff --classical "ECDSA-P256" --pqc "ML-DSA-65" --format go-tls
pqc-sandbox diff --classical "ECDH-P256" --format sshd --output sshd_config.patch

Supported formats: openssl, nginx, sshd, go-tls, python

pqc-sandbox badge — Generate README badge

pqc-sandbox badge --classical "ECDSA-P256"
# Output:
#   Score: 38/100 — MODERATE
#   ![PQC Migration: MODERATE](https://img.shields.io/...)

pqc-sandbox list — Show all algorithms

pqc-sandbox list
pqc-sandbox list --pqc-only
pqc-sandbox list --classical-only --category kem

---

Supported algorithms

PQC (NIST standards)

Algorithm	Standard	Category	Security Level
ML-KEM-512	NIST FIPS 203	KEM	1
ML-KEM-768 ⭐	NIST FIPS 203	KEM	3
ML-KEM-1024	NIST FIPS 203	KEM	5
ML-DSA-44	NIST FIPS 204	Signature	2
ML-DSA-65 ⭐	NIST FIPS 204	Signature	3
ML-DSA-87	NIST FIPS 204	Signature	5
SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s	NIST FIPS 205	Signature	1
SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f	NIST FIPS 205	Signature	1
SLH-DSA-SHA2-256s	NIST FIPS 205	Signature	5

⭐ = recommended for most deployments

Classical (for comparison)

ECDH-P256, ECDH-P384, RSA-2048, ECDSA-P256, ECDSA-P384, RSA-2048 PKCS#1 v1.5, RSA-4096 PKCS#1 v1.5, Ed25519

---

The size problem (why this tool exists)

The PQC migration is not like past algorithm transitions. The size increases are structural:

                  Public key    Signature/Ciphertext
ECDSA-P256        65 B          72 B
ML-DSA-44         1,312 B       2,420 B       ← 33× larger
ML-DSA-65         1,952 B       3,293 B       ← 45× larger
SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s 32 B          7,856 B       ← 109× larger
SLH-DSA-SHA2-256s 64 B          29,792 B      ← 413× larger

ECDH-P256 ciphertext:  65 B
ML-KEM-768 ciphertext: 1,088 B                ← 17× larger

A TLS handshake that fit in a single 1500-byte MTU packet will fragment. DNSSEC records that fit in a single UDP packet will require TCP fallback. JWT tokens will overflow HTTP header limits. pqc-sandbox finds these issues before they find you in production.

---

Compatibility oracle checks

Category	What's checked
MTU / fragmentation	Does the ML-KEM ClientHello + TLS overhead exceed your MTU?
TLS version	TLS 1.0/1.1 cannot support hybrid PQC key exchange
Memory (embedded)	Does your RAM support SLH-DSA's ~256 KB stack requirement?
DNSSEC	ML-DSA signatures exceed DNS UDP limits — TCP fallback required
JWT / HTTP	Large PQC signatures overflow default header size limits
CMS / S/MIME	Parser buffer limits for large PQC-signed content
HSM support	HSMs typically lag 12-24 months — flags if vendor support is unclear
Legacy TLS stacks	OpenSSL < 3.x has no PQC support

---

CI/CD integration

# GitHub Actions example
- name: PQC Migration Check
  run: |
    pip install pqc-sandbox
    pqc-sandbox compare \
      --classical "ECDH-P256" \
      --pqc "ML-KEM-768" \
      --json pqc-report.json \
      --ci   # exit 1 on CAUTION, exit 2 on BLOCKED

- name: Upload PQC Report
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
  with:
    name: pqc-migration-report
    path: pqc-report.json

The JSON output includes a ci.exit_code field:

• 0 = GO (migration looks clean)
• 1 = CAUTION (issues to review, but not blocking)
• 2 = BLOCKED (hard blockers detected)

---

Using as a library

from pqc_sandbox.benchmarks import run_comparison
from pqc_sandbox.compat import run_compat_check, SystemConstraints
from pqc_sandbox.hybrid import simulate_hybrid
from pqc_sandbox.scoring import compute_score
from pqc_sandbox.algorithms import ALL_ALGORITHMS
from pqc_sandbox.report import print_report, generate_html, generate_json

# Benchmark comparison
cmp = run_comparison("ECDH-P256", "ML-KEM-768", iterations=100)
print(f"Ciphertext size ratio: {cmp.artifact_ratio:.1f}×")
print(f"KeyGen slowdown: {cmp.keygen_slowdown:.1f}×")

# Compatibility check
constraints = SystemConstraints(
    mtu_bytes=1500,
    tls_version="1.3",
    ram_kb=None,         # unconstrained
    protocol="tls",
    tags=["hsm"],
)
compat = run_compat_check(ALL_ALGORITHMS["ML-KEM-768"], constraints)
print(f"Verdict: {compat.verdict}")
for issue in compat.issues:
    print(f"  {issue.severity.value}: {issue.title}")

# Hybrid simulation
hybrid = simulate_hybrid("ECDH-P256", "ML-KEM-768")
print(f"Hybrid wire overhead: +{hybrid.wire_overhead_bytes:,} bytes")

# Migration difficulty score
score = compute_score(comparison=cmp, compat=compat, hybrid=hybrid)
print(f"Migration difficulty: {score.score}/100 ({score.label})")
print(f"Badge: {score.badge_markdown}")

# Generate reports
generate_html(cmp, compat, hybrid, score, output_path="report.html")
generate_json(cmp, compat, hybrid, score, output_path="report.json")

---

Architecture

pqc_sandbox/
├── algorithms.py          # Algorithm catalogue: sizes, perf baselines, migration map
├── cli.py                 # Click CLI (demo, compare, scan, list, diff, badge)
├── scoring.py             # Migration Difficulty Score (0-100) + badge generator
├── benchmarks/
│   └── runner.py          # liboqs runner + NIST-baseline simulation fallback
├── compat/
│   └── oracle.py          # Compatibility checks: MTU, TLS version, RAM, protocol
├── hybrid/
│   └── simulator.py       # Hybrid (classical+PQC) key exchange simulation
├── inputs/
│   ├── tls_probe.py       # Live TLS endpoint probing via stdlib ssl
│   ├── cbom.py            # CycloneDX CBOM parser
│   └── sarif.py           # SARIF 2.1.0 parser
├── report/
│   ├── terminal.py        # Rich terminal renderer
│   ├── html_gen.py        # Self-contained HTML report (no CDN)
│   ├── json_out.py        # JSON output for CI/CD
│   └── config_diff.py     # Copy-paste config diffs (OpenSSL, nginx, sshd, Go, Python)
└── demo/
    └── runner.py          # 60-second bundled demo scenarios

Dependencies: click, rich, psutil, cryptography, jinja2, requests Optional: liboqs-python (for real NIST reference implementation benchmarks)

---

Out of scope (by design)

pqc-sandbox does not scan your codebase for crypto usage — excellent tools already do that:

• Semgrep crypto rules
• CodeQL crypto queries
• Cryptosense Analyzer
• IBM CBOM tools

Feed their CBOM or SARIF output directly to pqc-sandbox scan cbom / pqc-sandbox scan sarif.

---

Privacy & trust

🔒 ZERO CLOUD  —  All benchmarks run on your hardware.
🔒 ZERO TELEMETRY  —  No data leaves your machine. Ever.
🔒 ZERO ACCOUNTS  —  No sign-up, no API keys.
🔒 OPEN SOURCE  —  Apache 2.0. Audit everything.

Enterprise security teams: every byte this tool processes stays on your machine. The HTML report is generated locally from an embedded template — no external stylesheets, no CDN, no fonts loaded from the internet.

---

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/Deaksh/pqc-sandbox
cd pqc-sandbox
pip install -e ".[dev]"
python -m pytest tests/ -v

Pull requests welcome. Priority areas:

• Real liboqs integration tests (need liboqs installed in CI)
• Additional protocol compat checks (WireGuard, Signal Protocol, S/MIME)
• More config diff formats (HAProxy, Apache, Kubernetes TLS secrets)
• Hardware benchmark profiles (ARM Cortex-M, RISC-V, Apple Silicon)

---

References

• NIST FIPS 203 — ML-KEM
• NIST FIPS 204 — ML-DSA
• NIST FIPS 205 — SLH-DSA
• Open Quantum Safe (liboqs)
• IETF TLS Hybrid Key Exchange (draft-ietf-tls-hybrid-design)
• CNSA 2.0 — NSA Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0
• CycloneDX CBOM specification

---

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.