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What is AESus?

AESus is a lean AES-256 encryption tool written in Rust with just a hint of divine mischief.

It converts memorable Diceware passphrases into hardened cryptographic keys and allows you to encrypt files or messages without juggling random keyfiles or 32-character gibberish.

AESus is both:

• 🔐 a command-line encryption tool
• 🦀 a reusable Rust encryption library

Built for:

• privacy nerds
• terminal romantics
• developers who prefer encryption tools with personality

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Cryptography

AESus uses modern authenticated encryption.

Passphrase
↓
Argon2id (salted, memory-hard)
↓
AES-256-GCM

Every encrypted output contains:

[version][salt][nonce][ciphertext]

Security properties:

• AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption
• Argon2id memory-hard key derivation
• Random salt per encryption
• Random nonce per encryption
• Versioned format for forward compatibility
• Diceware passphrases (~77 bits entropy by default)

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Using AESus as a Rust Library

AESus can also be used directly from Rust.

Add to Cargo.toml:

aesus = "0.3"

Example:

use aesus::{encrypt, decrypt, CipherBlob};

let plaintext = b"hello world";
let passphrase = "raven-lamp-oxide-lotus";

let blob = encrypt(plaintext, passphrase)?;

let bytes = blob.to_bytes();

/* store bytes somewhere */

let parsed = CipherBlob::from_bytes(&bytes)?;

let decrypted = decrypt(&parsed, passphrase)?;

This allows other tools to use AESus as a cryptographic engine without calling the CLI.

Example ecosystem project:

• FUR — encrypted conversation manager (planned integration)
https://crates.io/crates/fur-cli

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AESus Web App (Lite Version)

Want to encrypt messages directly in your browser?

👉 https://aesus.vercel.app

⚠️ Note

The web version uses simplified encryption:

AES-256-CBC + SHA-256 key derivation

For strong authenticated encryption (Argon2id + AES-GCM), use the Rust CLI.

Perfect for casual message locking or secret note passing. Not recommended for storing the nuclear codes.

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Features

• 🔑 Memorable passphrases (Diceware)
• 🔐 AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption
• 🧠 Argon2id key derivation
• 📁 File encryption / decryption
• 🧪 Message encryption (hex output)
• 🎲 Diceware passphrase generator
• 🔍 inspect command for ciphertext metadata
• 🦀 Usable as both CLI and Rust library
• ⚙️ Clean CLI powered by clap

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📦 Installation

Install locally

cargo install --path .

Install from crates.io

cargo install aesus

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Examples

Encrypt a message

aesus encrypt "Confess nothing" --key scythe-raven-lemon-halo

Returns a hex blob containing:

version + salt + nonce + ciphertext

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Decrypt a message

aesus decrypt --hex 02abcd... --key scythe-raven-lemon-halo

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Encrypt a file

aesus encrypt --file secret.txt --key pancake-prophet-echo-oxide

Creates:

secret.txt.aesus

Custom output:

aesus encrypt --file secret.txt --key ... --out recipe.sealed

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Decrypt a file

aesus decrypt --file secret.txt.aesus --key pancake-prophet-echo-oxide

Or:

aesus decrypt --file recipe.sealed --key ... --out final-form.txt

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Inspect encrypted file

aesus inspect secret.txt.aesus

Example output:

AESus file info

version: 2
kdf: Argon2id
memory: 128 MB
iterations: 3
cipher: AES-256-GCM
salt length: 16
nonce length: 12

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Generate passphrase

aesus generate --words 6

Example:

quest-ember-black-icicle-neon-crane
Entropy ≈ 77 bits

Memorable, weird, and significantly better than hunter2.

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🛠 Roadmap

• AES-256-GCM encryption
• Argon2id key derivation
• Diceware passphrase generator
• Versioned ciphertext format
• Inspect command
• Rust library API
• Vault-like secret storage
• Cross-platform builds
• Optional GUI
• Clipboard passphrase generator
• Whispered Latin chants on success

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📜 Disclaimer

AESus is not divine.

It cannot:

• recover your passphrase
• fix bad backups
• save you from encrypting your taxes as pancake.jeff

Backup your data. Test encryption tools before trusting them.

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🩸 License

MIT.

Free as in freedom — and free to use in your cursed backup rituals.

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🕳️ Contact

Made by Andrew Garcia

GitHub https://github.com/andrewrgarcia

PRs, bug reports, and cryptic fanmail welcome.