any plan to use webcrypto internally?

[fyears]

I love noble packages' api for their simplicity. But while I am using sha256 and pbkdf2, I notice that the source is self-implemented, not using webcrypto primitives.

Right now (May 2024), webcrypto api is adopted everywhere, especially both in browser and nodejs. Would you like to build the api based on webcrypto primitives? I am concerning the speed, and obviously using native webcrypto should be much faster than a pure js implementation.

Thanks!

[paulmillr]

If you want to use webcrypto, why are you using noble?

webcrypto api is adopted everywhere

This is not true. Many environments don’t have webcrypto. For example, React Native.

[fyears]

because noble has consistent and simple api while webcrypto is kind of a little complex

[paulmillr]

Good point. It may be considered in the future, once webcrypto gains more features and adoption.

As for pbkdf2: noble is slower, but not 10x slower - still usable.

[imcotton]

Many environments don’t have webcrypto. For example, React Native.

Another aspect: WebCrypto is restricted to secure contexts (HTTPS), which might not always be practical in home-lab, IoT, and local-first setups.

[fyears]

but i notice noble cipers has separate webcrypto aes part. maybe we can consider the same thing on noble hash.

[paulmillr]

From performance standpoint, it only makes sense to have it for PBKDF2:

• sha256 noble vs sha256 native has small perf difference
• sha256 native is async, a huge pain
• pbkdf2 can be 2x faster when native

Keep in mind that pbkdf2 is not recommended (use argon2id instead).