# jsha/minica

minica is a small, simple CA intended for use in situations where the CA operator also operates each host where a certificate will be used.

Repository: https://github.com/jsha/minica
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/minica
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2025-09-03T23:39:33+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 41/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 40, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3626, "days_push": 364, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3284, forks 255 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:53.696172+00:00)

## What it is
minica is a small Go CLI tool that acts as a minimal certificate authority for generating root and leaf TLS certificates with keys. It is designed for operators who control every host using the certificates, such as internal RPC systems or microservices.

## Use cases
- generate self-signed certificates for local development
- create internal CA for microservices TLS
- issue certificates with SANs for DNS names and IPs
- generate wildcard certificates for internal domains
- set up mutual TLS between internal services
- quickly create key and cert pairs for RPC systems

## When to choose
- you operate every host that will use the certificates
- you need quick key and certificate generation for internal services
- you don't need OCSP or CRL services
- you want a simple, scriptable alternative to openssl for cert issuance

## When to avoid
- you need a public-facing CA trusted by browsers
- you require OCSP, CRL, or certificate revocation infrastructure
- you need multi-operator CA with approval workflows
- you need certificates valid longer than ~2 years

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: cryptography, security, cli
- domain: security, developer-tools, microservices
- platform: windows, go, cli, cross-platform
- tags: certificate-authority, tls-certificates, x509, self-signed, internal-pki, microservices, devops, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- jsha/minica (main) score 41

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:53.696172+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 2026-08-29T18:43:13.729975+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jsha/minica (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:53.696172+00:00, sha e1d43576981c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.