# pyca/pynacl

Python binding to the Networking and Cryptography (NaCl) library

Repository: https://github.com/pyca/pynacl
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pynacl
Homepage: https://pynacl.readthedocs.io/
Language: C
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: cryptography, libsodium, nacl, python
Last push: 2026-08-25T11:06:02+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4940, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1205, forks 263 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:59.258246+00:00)

## What it is
PyNaCl is a Python binding to libsodium, a fork of the Networking and Cryptography (NaCl) library. It provides high-level access to modern cryptographic primitives including encryption, signatures, hashing, and password hashing.

## Use cases
- encrypt and decrypt messages with secret-key or public-key cryptography in python
- sign and verify data with digital signatures
- hash passwords securely in python
- derive encryption keys from passwords
- compute message authentication codes (MACs)

## When to choose
- you need well-audited, easy-to-use cryptographic primitives in Python
- you want libsodium's high-level crypto API from Python
- you need authenticated encryption or Ed25519 signatures

## When to avoid
- you need low-level control over cipher primitives or custom protocols
- you need TLS/SSL or X.509 certificate handling
- you are working outside Python

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: cryptography
- domain: security, developer-tools
- platform: python, cross-platform
- tags: libsodium, nacl, encryption, digital-signatures, key-derivation

## Member repositories
- pyca/pynacl (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:59.258246+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 2026-08-30T06:19:36.657981+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pyca/pynacl (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:59.258246+00:00, sha abc72172e21d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.