A JOSE implementation in Python

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The JavaScript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) technologies - JSON Web Signature (JWS), JSON Web Encryption (JWE), JSON Web Key (JWK), and JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) - collectively can be used to encrypt and/or sign content using a variety of algorithms. While the full set of permutations is extremely large, and might be daunting to some, it is expected that most applications will only use a small set of algorithms to meet their needs.

$ pip install python-jose[cryptography]

As of 3.1.0, python-jose implements four different cryptographic backends. The backend must be selected as an extra when installing python-jose. If you do not select a backend, the native-python backend will be installed.

Unless otherwise noted, all backends support all operations.

Due to complexities with setuptools, the native-python backend is always installed, even if you select a different backend on install. We recommend that you remove unnecessary dependencies in production.

1. cryptography
   • This backend uses pyca/cryptography for all cryptographic operations. This is the recommended backend and is selected over all other backends if any others are present.
   • Installation: pip install python-jose[cryptography]
   • Unused dependencies:
     • rsa
     • ecdsa
     • pyasn1
2. pycryptodome
   • This backend uses pycryptodome for all cryptographic operations.
   • Installation: pip install python-jose[pycryptodome]
   • Unused dependencies:
     • rsa

3. native-python

   • This backend uses python-rsa and python-ecdsa for all cryptographic operations. This backend is always installed but any other backend will take precedence if one is installed.
   • Installation: pip install python-jose

   Note

   The native-python backend cannot process certificates.

4. pycrypto

   • This backend uses pycrypto for all cryptographic operations.
   • Installation: pip install python-jose[pycrypto]
   • Unused dependencies:
     • rsa

   Warning

   The pycrypto project has not been maintained since 2013. This backend is maintained for legacy compatibility purposes only. Do not use this backend unless you cannot use any of the others.

>>> from jose import jwt
>>> token = jwt.encode({'key': 'value'}, 'secret', algorithm='HS256')
u'eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJrZXkiOiJ2YWx1ZSJ9.FG-8UppwHaFp1LgRYQQeS6EDQF7_6-bMFegNucHjmWg'

>>> jwt.decode(token, 'secret', algorithms=['HS256'])
{u'key': u'value'}

This library was originally based heavily on the work of the folks over at PyJWT.