`jwt2`: JSON Web Tokens, done right.

jwt2 is a crate that aims to correctly deal with JSON Web Tokens.

It is intended as a replacement for the jsonwebtoken crate.

WARNING!

jwt2 is currently unstable and prone to changes. Whilst I am mostly happy with the code thus far, major changes to the API may occur at any time.

The algorithms this crate provides are all tested to some extent so it is "safe" to use in actual code. If you want a tried-and-tested* crate, try the aforementioned jsonwebtoken crate.

*May not be actually tried-and-tested. It's got over 24 million all-time downloads though, so there's that.

Goals and non-goals

jwt2 is (supposed to be):

A library that helps you construct, decode, sign, and verify JSON Web Tokens.
Compatible with as many platforms as reasonably possible.
Standards-compliant.
Correct.

jwt2 is not, and should never be:

A library to manage your application's sessions.
A wrapper around some authorization API that gets session tokens.

Whilst jwt2 may not necessarily fulfill all the goals specified above, at some point I hope it will.

Feature gates

All algorithms implemented by jwt2 are gated behind the following features. None of these are enabled by default.

hmac-sha2: Defines the HS256, HS384, and HS512 algorithms.
rsa-pkcs1: Defines the RS256, RS384, and RS512 algorithms.
ecdsa: Defines the ES256 and ES384 algorithms.
rand: Provides utility functions to generate keys.

This feature is still not complete, nor is it properly tested.

Libraries used

jwt2 is made using the wonderfully easy-to-use RustCrypto family of crates as the backing implementations of all the algorithms thus far.

HS256, HS384, and HS512 use the hmac and sha2 crates.
RS256, RS384, and RS512 use the rsa and sha2 crates.
ES256 and ES384 use the p256 and p384 crates.

p256 and p384 warn that the EC algorithm they contain have never been independently audited. For those that consider this a dealbreaker, don't use the ES256 or ES384 algorithms.
Base64 encoding and decoding is done using the base64ct crate.

JSON functionality is provided by the libraries Serde and Serde JSON.

Resources referenced

jwt2, in its pursuit to be standards-compliant, principally references and at times incorporates documentation from the standards in question.

The standards in question are the following RFCs:

To test the correctness of jwt2, beyond the tests included in the code, I've cross-referenced the example values from jwt.io, presuming their correctness.

Licence

jwt2 is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

Copyright 2024 tecc <tecc@tecc.me>

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.