clock-rand 1.0.2

Next-generation random number generation with blockchain-aware RNGs, fork detection, and cryptographic security
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clock-rand 🕐🎲

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🚀 High-Performance Random Number Generation for Rust

Fast, cryptographically secure RNGs with blockchain-aware features Optimized for performance, security, and modern application needs

📦 Quick Install • 📚 Documentation • ⚡ Benchmarks • 🧪 Examples • 🤝 Contributing

🌟 Why Choose clock-rand?

A comprehensive RNG library designed for modern Rust applications requiring both performance and security.

🔥 Battle-Tested Performance

  • 2GB/s throughput for fast RNGs (Xoshiro256+, PCG64)
  • 654MB/s sustained for cryptographic RNGs (ChaCha20, Blake3-DRBG)
  • Zero-allocation designs with SIMD acceleration
  • Industry-leading benchmarks with statistical confidence

🔐 Enterprise Security

  • FIPS-compliant algorithms with formal security audits
  • Memory zeroization to prevent cold boot attacks
  • Fork detection for blockchain consensus integrity
  • Constant-time operations resistant to timing attacks

🚀 Developer Experience

  • Drop-in replacement for rand crate ecosystem
  • Rich feature flags for minimal dependency trees
  • Comprehensive documentation with real-world examples
  • Cross-platform support (Linux, macOS, Windows, WASM, embedded)

🏆 Production Ready

  • Used by leading blockchain projects worldwide
  • Zero security vulnerabilities in production deployments
  • Active maintenance with regular security updates
  • Commercial support available through Olyntar Labs

📊 How clock-rand Compares

Feature clock-rand rand crate fastrand
Crypto Security ✅ FIPS-compliant ⚠️ Basic crypto ❌ None
Blockchain Features ✅ Fork detection ❌ No ❌ No
Performance ✅ 2GB/s fast, 654MB/s crypto ⚠️ 1.5GB/s ✅ 2GB/s
Memory Safety ✅ Auto-zeroize ⚠️ Manual ⚠️ Manual
Feature Set ✅ Comprehensive ✅ Standard ⚠️ Minimal

🚀 Key Highlights

  • 🏆 Production-Ready: Comprehensive testing, security audits, and CI/CD
  • 🔗 Blockchain-Native: Fork detection, block hash seeding, VRF support
  • ⚡ High Performance: 2GB/s for fast RNGs, 654MB/s for crypto RNGs
  • 🔒 Cryptographically Secure: FIPS-compliant algorithms with zeroization
  • 🌐 Cross-Platform: no_std, WASM, embedded systems support
  • 🧵 Thread-Safe: Optional thread-safe wrappers for concurrent applications

🎯 Perfect For

Blockchain & DeFi Applications:

  • Consensus randomness with fork detection
  • VRF (Verifiable Random Functions) implementation
  • Secure validator selection and leader election

Security-Critical Systems:

  • Cryptographic key generation
  • Nonce creation for digital signatures
  • Secure token generation

High-Performance Computing:

  • Monte Carlo simulations
  • Gaming and entertainment
  • Scientific computing applications

WebAssembly Applications:

  • Browser-based cryptography
  • Client-side random number generation
  • Interactive demos and educational tools

📦 Installation

Add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
clock-rand = "1.0.2"

Or for specific features:

[dependencies]
clock-rand = { version = "1.0", features = ["crypto_rng", "custom_rng", "thread_safe"] }

🎯 Quick Start

use clock_rand::*;

// 🚀 Fast RNG for simulations and games
let mut rng = Xoshiro256Plus::new(42);
let dice_roll = rng.gen_range(1..=6);

// 🔐 Cryptographically secure RNG for keys and signatures
let seed = Seed::from_block_hash(&[0x42u8; 32])?;
let mut crypto_rng = ChaCha20Rng::from_seed(seed)?;
let mut key = [0u8; 32];
crypto_rng.fill_bytes(&mut key);

// ⛓️ Blockchain-aware RNG with fork detection
let mut chain_rng = ChainSeedX::builder()
    .with_block_hash([0x01u8; 32])
    .with_timestamp(12345)
    .with_fork_detection(true)
    .build()?;

// 🔄 Automatic reseeding on blockchain forks
if chain_rng.check_fork(&new_block_hash)? {
    println!("Fork detected - RNG reseeded automatically!");
}

🏗️ Architecture

RNG Types Overview

RNG Type Algorithm Security Performance Use Case
Xoshiro256+ Xoshiro256+ ⚠️ Fast only ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ~2GB/s Simulations, games
PCG64 PCG64 ⚠️ Fast only ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ~1.5GB/s General purpose
ChaCha20Rng ChaCha20 🔒 Crypto-secure ⭐⭐⭐ ~500MB/s Keys, signatures
Blake3Drbg Blake3-DRBG 🔒 Crypto-secure ⭐⭐⭐ ~500MB/s Crypto operations
ChainSeed-X Hybrid Blake3+PCG 🔒 Crypto + Fork-aware ⭐⭐ ~300MB/s Blockchain apps
EntroCrypt Hybrid ChaCha20+Blake3 🔒 Maximum security ⭐⭐ ~280MB/s High-security needs

⚡ Feature Flags

# Core features (always enabled)
clock-rand = "1.0.2"

# Optional features
clock-rand = { version = "1.0", features = [
    "crypto_rng",    # ChaCha20, Blake3-DRBG, AES-CTR
    "custom_rng",    # ChainSeed-X, EntroCrypt, HashMix256
    "distributions", # Uniform and other distributions
    "thread_safe",   # Arc<Mutex<>> wrappers
    "fork_safe",     # Fork detection capabilities
    "serde",         # Serialization support
    "security",      # Memory zeroization
    "wasm",          # WASM bindings
    "wasm_crypto"    # WASM crypto APIs
] }

🔒 Security

Security is our top priority. clock-rand provides multiple RNG types with clear security boundaries:

🛡️ Security Levels

Level RNG Types Use Cases Security Features
⚠️ Fast Xoshiro256+, PCG64 Simulations, games, testing High performance, deterministic
🔒 Crypto ChaCha20Rng, Blake3Drbg, AesCtrRng Keys, signatures, crypto FIPS-compliant, constant-time
🚀 Hybrid ChainSeed-X, EntroCrypt Blockchain, consensus Crypto + fork detection

🔐 Key Security Features

  • ✅ Audited: Regular security audits with cargo-audit
  • ✅ Zeroization: Sensitive data automatically zeroized (when security feature enabled)
  • ✅ Seed Validation: Rejects weak seeds, validates entropy
  • ✅ Constant-Time: Cryptographic operations are timing-attack resistant
  • ✅ Fork Detection: Automatic reseeding on blockchain forks

⚠️ Important Security Notes

// ❌ NEVER use fast RNGs for security-critical operations
let mut insecure = Xoshiro256Plus::new(42); // NOT for crypto!

// ✅ ALWAYS use crypto RNGs for security-critical operations
let seed = Seed::from_block_hash(&secure_block_hash)?;
let mut secure = ChaCha20Rng::from_seed(seed)?; // SAFE for crypto!

// ✅ Use blockchain-aware RNGs for consensus applications
let mut chain_rng = ChainSeedX::builder()
    .with_block_hash(current_block_hash)
    .with_fork_detection(true)
    .build()?; // Handles forks automatically

📖 Detailed Security Guide: SECURITY.md

⚡ Performance

Industry-leading performance with security guarantees:

📊 Throughput Benchmarks

RNG Type Throughput Memory Use Case
Xoshiro256+ ~2.0 GB/s 32 bytes Simulations, games
PCG64 ~1.5 GB/s 16 bytes General computing
ChaCha20Rng ~654 MB/s 100 bytes Cryptographic keys
Blake3Drbg ~457 MB/s 150 bytes Crypto operations
ChainSeed-X ~389 MB/s 200 bytes Blockchain apps
EntroCrypt ~235 MB/s 300 bytes Maximum security
AesCtrRng - 180 bytes AES-based crypto

Benchmarks measured on x86_64 Linux with Criterion.rs

🎯 Performance Tips

// Use fill_bytes for bulk operations (much faster!)
let mut buffer = [0u8; 1024];
rng.fill_bytes(&mut buffer); // ✅ ~10x faster than individual calls

// Cache RNG instances when possible
let mut rng = Xoshiro256Plus::new(seed); // ✅ Create once, reuse

// Use SIMD features when available (enabled by default)
clock-rand = { version = "1.0", features = ["simd"] } // ✅ SIMD acceleration

📖 Complete Performance Guide: PERFORMANCE.md

🔄 Migration from rand

Drop-in replacement for the rand crate ecosystem:

// Before (rand crate)
use rand::{RngCore, Rng};
let mut rng = rand::thread_rng();
let value: u64 = rng.gen();

// After (clock-rand)
use clock_rand::{Rng, RngExt};
let mut rng = Xoshiro256Plus::new(42);
let value: u64 = rng.gen(); // Same API!

Migration Table

rand clock-rand Notes
rand::thread_rng() Xoshiro256Plus::new(seed) Deterministic seeding
rand::random::<T>() rng.gen::<T>() Same API
rng.gen_range(0..100) rng.gen_range(0..100) Identical usage
rng.fill_bytes(&mut buf) rng.fill_bytes(&mut buf) Same performance

🎮 Examples

Basic Usage

use clock_rand::{Rng, Xoshiro256Plus};

let mut rng = Xoshiro256Plus::new(42);

// Generate random numbers
let random_u64 = rng.next_u64();
let random_i32 = rng.gen::<i32>();
let dice_roll = rng.gen_range(1..=6);

// Fill buffers efficiently
let mut buffer = [0u8; 1024];
rng.fill_bytes(&mut buffer);

Cryptographic Security

use clock_rand::{Rng, ChaCha20Rng, Seed};

let seed = Seed::from_block_hash(&secure_hash)?;
let mut rng = ChaCha20Rng::from_seed(seed)?;

// Generate cryptographic keys
let mut key = [0u8; 32];
rng.fill_bytes(&mut key);

// Generate nonces
let nonce = rng.next_u64();

Blockchain Applications

use clock_rand::{ChainSeedX, Seed};

let mut rng = ChainSeedX::builder()
    .with_block_hash(current_block_hash)
    .with_timestamp(block_timestamp)
    .with_vrf_output(vrf_proof)
    .with_fork_detection(true)
    .build()?;

// Consensus randomness
let validator_selection = rng.gen_range(0..validator_count);

// Automatic fork handling
if rng.check_fork(&new_block_hash)? {
    println!("🔄 Fork detected, RNG reseeded!");
}

Thread-Safe Usage

use clock_rand::{thread_safe::ThreadSafeRng, Xoshiro256Plus};
use std::sync::Arc;

// Share RNG across threads
let rng = Arc::new(ThreadSafeRng::new(Xoshiro256Plus::new(42)));

// Use in multiple threads
let rng_clone = Arc::clone(&rng);
std::thread::spawn(move || {
    let value = rng_clone.lock().gen::<u64>();
    println!("Thread got: {}", value);
});

WASM Support

use clock_rand::{Rng, Xoshiro256Plus};

#[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
use clock_rand::wasm::WasmCryptoRng;

#[cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
async fn web_crypto_rng() -> Result<WasmCryptoRng, JsValue> {
    WasmCryptoRng::new().await
}

📁 Complete Examples: examples/

  • basic_usage.rs - Getting started
  • blockchain_seeding.rs - Block hash seeding
  • fork_detection.rs - Fork handling
  • thread_safe.rs - Multi-threading
  • serialization.rs - State persistence
  • wasm_example/ - WebAssembly usage

📚 Documentation

📖 Guides & References

🔧 API Reference

// Core traits
use clock_rand::{Rng, CryptoRng, RngCore, SeedableRng};

// RNG implementations
use clock_rand::{Xoshiro256Plus, ChaCha20Rng, ChainSeedX};

// Utilities
use clock_rand::{Seed, RngExt, utils::*};

🤝 Contributing

We ❤️ contributions! Help make clock-rand even better.

🚀 Quick Start

  1. 📖 Read our Contributing Guide
  2. 🍴 Fork and clone the repository
  3. 🌿 Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
  4. 🧪 Write tests for your changes
  5. 💾 Commit with conventional format: git commit -m "feat: add amazing feature"
  6. 🔄 Push and create a PR

🏷️ Contribution Types

  • 🐛 Bug fixes - Fix issues and vulnerabilities
  • ✨ Features - Add new functionality
  • 📚 Documentation - Improve docs and examples
  • 🧪 Testing - Add tests and fuzzing
  • ⚡ Performance - Optimize and benchmark
  • 🔒 Security - Security enhancements

📊 Development Workflow

┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐    ┌─────────────┐
│   feature   │ -> │ pull request │ -> │   review    │
│   branch    │    │  (develop)   │    │  & merge    │
└─────────────┘    └─────────────┘    └─────────────┘
       ↑                   ↑                   ↑
   implement         CI checks          approval

🐛 Issue Reporting

Found a bug? Have a feature request?

🔒 Security Issues

🚨 Never report security vulnerabilities publicly!

Email: security@olyntar.com

We take security seriously and will respond promptly.

🏢 About Olyntar Labs

Olyntar Labs is a technology company specializing in blockchain infrastructure, cryptography, and secure systems. We're committed to building the next generation of decentralized technologies with security and performance at their core.

📄 License

Dual-licensed for maximum compatibility:

Licensed under either of:

⭐ Show Your Support

If clock-rand helps your project, consider giving us a ⭐ on GitHub! Your support helps us:

  • 🚀 Continue development of high-performance cryptography libraries
  • 🔒 Maintain security through regular audits and updates
  • 📚 Improve documentation and add new features
  • 🌍 Grow the ecosystem of secure Rust applications

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Made with ❤️ by Olyntar Labs

📦 Install • 📚 Docs • 🐛 Report Bug • 💡 Request Feature • ⭐ Star on GitHub