@naskot/node-hmac-auth-core

Pure HMAC auth primitives for Node.js APIs and microservices: sign outbound requests, verify inbound requests, manage credentials (HTTP + message tracks) against a Redis store. Framework-agnostic. Zero runtime dependencies.

Install

npm install @naskot/node-hmac-auth-core redis

redis is a peer dep at runtime. Any Redis client matching the small RedisLikeClient interface works (node-redis, ioredis via shim, fakeredis, etc.).

Usage in 30 seconds

import { createClient } from "redis";
import { initializeHmacHttpAuth } from "@naskot/node-hmac-auth-core";

const redis = createClient({ url: process.env.REDIS_URL });
await redis.connect();

const auth = initializeHmacHttpAuth({
  redis: redis as unknown as Parameters<typeof initializeHmacHttpAuth>[0]["redis"],
  namespace: "hmac", // optional
  secretToken: process.env.HMAC_SECRET_TOKEN,
});

// Provision a credential
const created = await auth.clients.create({ clientId: "client_demo" });
console.log("secret to share with the caller:", created.secret);

// Protect routes
app.use(auth.createExpressHttpMiddleware());
app.post("/api/echo", (req, res) => {
  res.json({ ok: true, clientId: (req as any).hmacAuth.clientId });
});

// Sign an outbound call
const fetchSigned = auth.createHttpSignedFetchClient({
  clientId: "client_demo",
  secret: created.secret,
});
await fetchSigned("http://peer.local/api/whoami", { method: "GET" });

Full per-framework guides:

• docs/express/README.md
• docs/nestjs/README.md

What this lib gives you

Surface	What
HTTP track	initializeHmacHttpAuth(...) instance with clients CRUD, verifyHttpRequest, verifyHttpSignature, createHttpSignedFetchClient, createHttpMiddleware / createExpressHttpMiddleware.
Message track	initializeHmacMessageAuth(...) instance with clients CRUD on a disjoint Redis namespace, signMessage, verifyMessage for non-HTTP transports.
Aggregate runtime	createHmacRuntime(auth) returns createSignedFetchFromClientId, signedFetchWithClientId, hmacHttpMiddleware(...clientIds).
Express adapter	createExpressHttpHmacMiddleware(...), createHttpHmacMiddleware(...), captureRawBody.
Stores	RedisCredentialStore, RedisNonceStore, buildRedisNamespaceKeys, resolveNamespace.
Pure crypto	hashClientSecret, hashBody, safeEqualHex, signRequest, buildSigningPayload, buildHttpSignedHeaders, buildMessageSigningPayload, signedHttpFetch.
Error class	HmacAuthError with 14 typed codes (MISSING_*, BAD_SIGNATURE, UNKNOWN_CLIENT, CLIENT_IP_NOT_ALLOWED, REPLAYED_NONCE, ...).

Rotation + revert

Every setSecret / setSecretHash / regenerateSecret that actually changes the stored hash writes a TTL backup of the previous hash. clients.revert(clientId) restores it within dbSeedBackupTtlSeconds (default 10 min). Outside that window, revert is a no-op.

Wire specification

docs/wire-contract.md is the normative spec for cross-language ports (Python, Go, Rust, ...). The HMAC wire is byte-identical to the auth surface of @naskot/node-hmac-auth 1.0.x through 1.4.0: same signing payload, same headers, same Redis record JSON, same constant-time comparison.

Test vectors live in test/vectors/.

POC

End-to-end demonstration of the lib alone (no propagation) in poc/:

cd poc && docker compose up --build

Source creates client_demo, pushes its secretHash to the target via a signed admin call, runs business calls, rotates, verifies rejection of the old secret, reverts, verifies acceptance of the original secret again. Exit code 0 when the five steps succeed.

Compatibility

@naskot/node-hmac-auth-core	@naskot/node-hmac-auth-core-propagation
1.0.0	1.0.0

Background

This package is the epured fork of @naskot/node-hmac-auth 1.4.0.

Upstream had grown a credential-propagation layer on top of the auth primitives (internal management HTTP route, bootstrap-window lock, federation defaults, propagation-only purpose cantonment, propagate-to-targets orchestration). That layer was helpful in a homogeneous federation but it conflated two distinct responsibilities and made the auth lib opinionated about how credentials flow between peers.

This fork strips the lib back to the auth primitives. Same wire, same Redis layout, same test vectors. The propagation layer is now an independent companion package, @naskot/node-hmac-auth-core-propagation, that consumes this lib as a peer dep and adds RabbitMQ-backed orchestration on top.

If you used @naskot/node-hmac-auth 1.x without the propagation features, the migration is renaming the import. See docs/release-notes/1.0.0.md for the full mapping of removed options / methods / types.

Upstream @naskot/node-hmac-auth is now deprecated.

License

MIT, see LICENSE.