# libsodium

A modern, portable, easy to use crypto library.

Repository: https://github.com/jedisct1/libsodium
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/libsodium
Homepage: https://libsodium.org
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: crypto, cryptography, c, zig-package
Last push: 2026-08-26T21:55:57+00:00
Link (homepage): https://libsodium.org

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 83/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 54, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4974, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 146, "gap_med": 93, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 13916, forks 1886 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:05.050960+00:00)

## What it is
libsodium is a modern, portable, easy-to-use C library for cryptographic operations, forked from NaCl with a compatible but extended API. It provides encryption, decryption, digital signatures, password hashing, key exchange, and more, with bindings for many languages and a JavaScript/WebAssembly version.

## Use cases
- encrypt and decrypt data in an application
- sign and verify messages with digital signatures
- hash passwords securely
- derive keys and perform key exchange
- generate cryptographically secure random data
- build higher-level cryptographic tools on a vetted primitive set

## When to choose
- you need a well-audited, high-level crypto library with a misuse-resistant API
- you need cross-platform support including mobile and WebAssembly
- you want fast implementations of modern primitives like XChaCha20 and Ed25519

## When to avoid
- you need low-level control over specific primitives or custom constructions
- you require FIPS-validated cryptography
- you need a pure high-level language implementation without C dependencies

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: cryptography, security, auth
- domain: security, developer-tools, privacy
- platform: cross-platform, windows, wasm, c
- tags: nacl, encryption, signatures, password-hashing, key-exchange, crypto-library, linux, macos, ios, android

## Member repositories
- jedisct1/libsodium (main) score 83
- jedisct1/libsodium.js (sdk) score 89

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:05.050960+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:12:57.162128+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jedisct1/libsodium (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:05.050960+00:00, sha ba2df7366fd8)
  - homepage: https://libsodium.org (fetched 2026-08-29T08:07:22.548575+00:00, sha 74aa87b359c2)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.