JWSETKit

A modern, type-safe Swift library for JSON Web Token (JWT), JSON Web Signature (JWS), and JSON Web Encryption (JWE) with first-class Apple CryptoKit support.

Overview

Building secure authentication in Swift? JWSETKit is your complete solution for working with JSON Web Tokens (JWT), JSON Web Signatures (JWS), and JSON Web Encryption (JWE) with native Apple CryptoKit integration.

This module makes it possible to serialize, deserialize, create, and verify JWS/JWT messages.

🚀 Features

Core Capabilities

✅ JWT (JSON Web Tokens)

Create, sign, verify, and decode JWT tokens
Support for standard and custom claims
Expiration and validation handling

✅ JWS (JSON Web Signature)

Digital signatures with multiple algorithms
Message authentication codes (MACs)
Detached signature support

✅ JWE (JSON Web Encryption)

Content encryption with various algorithms
Key wrapping and management
Compact and JSON serialization

✅ SD-JWT (Selective Disclosure)

RFC 9901 compliant selective disclosure
Privacy-preserving credential presentations
Key binding for holder authentication
SD-JWT VC support for Verifiable Credentials

✅ JWK (JSON Web Keys)

Key generation and management
Key conversion and serialization
Support for key sets (JWKS)

✅ Server-Side Swift (requires the HTTP trait)

Drop-in Vapor and Hummingbird integration via HTTPHeaders / HTTPFields extensions
Verify Authorization tokens directly from request headers
Remote JWKS fetching for Apple, Google, Firebase, Microsoft, and any OpenID Connect issuer
DPoP (RFC 9449) proof creation and verification

Extended Cryptographic Support

✅ CryptoKit Integration

JWK encoding/decoding for all CryptoKit key types (P256, P384, P521, Curve25519, RSA)
SPKI (SubjectPublicKeyInfo) and PKCS#8 import/export for CryptoKit keys
ML-DSA (Dilithium) post-quantum keys with SPKI/PKCS#8 support

✅ secp256k1 (P-256K) Support

ES256K signature algorithm for Bitcoin/Ethereum compatibility
ECDSA signing and verification
Schnorr signature support
ECDH key agreement

Getting Started

Swift Package Manager

Add JWSETKit to your Package.swift:

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/amosavian/JWSETKit", from: "2.0.0")
]

Then add to your target:

dependencies: [
    .product(name: "JWSETKit", package: "JWSETKit"),
]

With X509 Support

For X509 certificate support (Swift 6.1+):

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/amosavian/JWSETKit", from: "2.0.0", traits: ["X509"])
]

With P256K Support

For secp256k1 (ES256K) support (Swift 6.1+):

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/amosavian/JWSETKit", from: "2.0.0", traits: ["P256K"])
]

With HTTP Support (Server-Side)

The HTTP trait enables networking helpers used for server-side integration: remote JWKS fetching, AsyncHTTPClient / swift-http-types support, and the DPoP request extensions. Enable it when integrating with Vapor or Hummingbird:

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/amosavian/JWSETKit", from: "2.0.0", traits: ["HTTP"])
]

Xcode

File → Add Package Dependencies
Enter: https://github.com/amosavian/JWSETKit
Select version and add to your target

Usage

For detailed usage and API documentation, check the documentation.

Creating and Verifying JWT Signature

import JWSETKit
import CryptoKit

// Create a JWT with claims
let key = SymmetricKey(size: .bits256)
let payload = try JSONWebTokenClaims {
    $0.issuedAt = .init()
    $0.expiry = .init(timeIntervalSinceNow: 3600)
    $0.jwtUUID = .init()
    $0.subject = "user123"
}
let jwt = try JSONWebToken(payload: payload, algorithm: .hmacSHA256, using: key)

// Verify and decode
let decodedJWT = try JSONWebToken(from: jwtString)
try decodedJWT.verifySignature(using: key)
print(decodedJWT.payload.subject) // "user123"

Basic JWT Authentication

// Initialize key
let key = try P256.Signing.PublicKey(pemRepresentation: publicKeyPEM)

// Verify incoming JWT
    
let token = try JSONWebToken(from: request.headers["Authorization"])
try token.verify(using: key, for: "audience-name")

Working with JWS

// Sign arbitrary data with JWS
let payload = "Important message"
let jws = try JSONWebSignaturePlain(
    payload: payload.utf8,
    algorithm: .ecdsaSignatureP256SHA256,
    using: key
)
try print(String(jws))

// Verify JWS signature
let verified = try JSONWebSignaturePlain(from: String(jws))
try verified.verifySignature(using: key)
let message = String(decoding: verified.payload, as: UTF8.self)

Encrypting with JWE

// Encrypt sensitive data
let sensitiveData = Data("Secret information".utf8)
let encryptionKey = JSONWebRSAPrivateKey(keySize: .bits2048) 
let jwe = try JSONWebEncryption(
    content: sensitiveData,
    keyEncryptingAlgorithm: .rsaEncryptionOAEP,
    keyEncryptionKey: encryptionKey.publicKey,
    contentEncryptionAlgorithm: .aesEncryptionGCM128
)
try print(String(jwe))

// Decrypt JWE
let jwe = try JSONWebEncryption(from: jweString)
let decrypted = jwe.decrypt(using: encryptionKey)
let secret = String(decoding: decrypted, as: UTF8.self)

Managing Keys with JWK

// Create CryptoKit key
let privateKey = P256.Signing.PrivateKey()

// Import and Export as JWK data
let jwkJSON = try JSONEncoder().encode(privateKey)
let importedJWK = try JSONDecoder().decode(P256.Signing.PrivateKey.self, from: jwkJSON)

// Import PKCS#8
let importedKey = try P256.Signing.PrivateKey(importing: pkcs8Data, format: .pkcs8)

SD-JWT (Selective Disclosure)

// Issuer: Create SD-JWT with selective claims
let claims = try JSONWebTokenClaims {
    $0.issuer = "https://issuer.example.com"
    $0.subject = "user123"
    $0.giveName = "John"
    $0.familyName = "Doe"
    $0.email = "john@example.com"
}

let sdJWT = try JSONWebSelectiveDisclosureToken(
    claims: claims,
    policy: .standard,  // Standard claims visible, others disclosable
    using: issuerKey
)

// Holder: Create presentation with selected disclosures
let presentation = try sdJWT.presenting(paths: ["/email"])

// Verifier: Validate and access disclosed claims
try presentation.validate()
try presentation.verifySignature(using: issuerPublicKey)
let disclosed = try presentation.disclosedPayload()
print(disclosed.email)  // "john@example.com"

📊 Comparison with Alternatives

Features

	JWSETKit	jwt-kit	JOSESwift	Auth0's JWTDecode
JSON Web Signature (JWS)	✅	❌	✅	❌
JWS Multiple Signatures	✅	❌	❌	❌
JWS Unencoded/Detached Payload	✅	❌	❌	❌
JSON Web Token (JWT)	✅	✅	✅	✅
JWT Signature Verification	✅	✅	✅	❌
JWT Expire/NotBefore Validity	✅	✅	✅	❌
JSON Web Encryption (JWE)	✅	❌	✅	❌
SD-JWT (RFC 9901)	✅	❌	❌	❌
DPoP (RFC 9449)	✅	❌	❌	❌
Support CommonCrypto Keys	✅	❌	❌	❌
Support CryptoKit Keys	✅	❌	❌	❌

Supported Algorithms

Signature/HMAC

	JWSETKit	jwt-kit	JOSESwift	Auth0's JWTDecode
HS256	✅	✅	✅	❌
HS384	✅	✅	✅	❌
HS512	✅	✅	✅	❌
RS256	✅	✅	✅	❌
RS384	✅	✅	✅	❌
RS512	✅	✅	✅	❌
ES256	✅	✅	✅	❌
ES384	✅	✅	✅	❌
ES512	✅	✅	✅	❌
PS256	✅	✅	✅	❌
PS384	✅	✅	✅	❌
PS512	✅	✅	✅	❌
EdDSA	✅	✅	❌	❌
Ed25519	✅	✅	❌	❌
Ed448	❌	❌	❌	❌
ES256K	✅	❌	❌	❌
ML-DSA-44	❌	❌	❌	❌
ML-DSA-65	✅	✅	❌	❌
ML-DSA-87	✅	✅	❌	❌

Key Encryption

	JWSETKit	JOSESwift
RSA1_5	✅	✅
RSA-OAEP	✅	✅
RSA-OAEP-256	✅	✅
A128KW	✅	✅
A192KW	✅	✅
A256KW	✅	✅
dir	✅	✅
ECDH-ES	✅	✅
ECDH-ES+A128KW	✅	✅
ECDH-ES+A192KW	✅	✅
ECDH-ES+A256KW	✅	✅
A128GCMKW	✅	❌
A192GCMKW	✅	❌
A256GCMKW	✅	❌
PBES2-HS256+A128KW	✅	❌
PBES2-HS384+A192KW	✅	❌
PBES2-HS512+A256KW	✅	❌
HPKE-0 (P256/AES128)	✅	❌
HPKE-1 (P384/AES256)	✅	❌
HPKE-2 (P521/AES256)	✅	❌
HPKE-3 (X25519/AES256)	✅	❌
HPKE-4 (X25519/ChaCha)	✅	❌
HPKE-5 (X448/AES256)	❌	❌
HPKE-6 (X448/ChaCha)	❌	❌
HPKE-7 (P256/AES256)	✅	❌

Content Encryption

	JWSETKit	JOSESwift
A128CBC-HS256	✅	✅
A192CBC-HS384	✅	✅
A256CBC-HS512	✅	✅
A128GCM	✅	✅
A192GCM	✅	✅
A256GCM	✅	✅

🏗️ Use Cases

JWSETKit is perfect for:

🔑 API Authentication - Secure REST API authentication with JWT tokens
🌐 OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect - Implement modern authentication flows
📱 Mobile App Security - Token-based auth for iOS/macOS apps
🖥️ Server-Side Swift - Drop-in Vapor and Hummingbird request authentication
🔄 Microservices - Service-to-service authentication
🎫 Session Management - Stateless session tokens
🔐 Data Encryption - Protect sensitive data with JWE
🪪 Verifiable Credentials - Privacy-preserving identity with SD-JWT

📚 Documentation

📖 Full Documentation

Browse our comprehensive guides:

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions!

How to Contribute

Fork the repository
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/amosavian/JWSETKit.git

# Run tests
swift test

# Build the project
swift build

Benchmarks

JWSETKit ships a performance benchmark suite built on package-benchmark, plus an opt-in head-to-head comparison against other Swift JOSE libraries:

swift package --package-path Benchmarks/Regression benchmark

🌟 Support

📄 License

JWSETKit is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

This library implements the following JOSE standards:

RFC 7515 - JSON Web Signature (JWS)
RFC 7516 - JSON Web Encryption (JWE)
RFC 7517 - JSON Web Key (JWK)
RFC 7518 - JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)
RFC 7519 - JSON Web Token (JWT)
RFC 7520 - Examples of Protecting Content Using JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE)
RFC 7797 - JSON Web Signature (JWS) Unencoded Payload Option
RFC 7800 - Proof-of-Possession Key Semantics for JSON Web Tokens (JWTs)
RFC 9864 - Fully-Specified Algorithms for JOSE and COSE
RFC 9901 - SD-JWT: Selective Disclosure for JWTs
draft-ietf-jose-hpke-encrypt - Use of Hybrid Public Key Encryption (HPKE) with JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE)
draft-ietf-cose-dilithium - ML-DSA for JOSE and COSE
OIDC Core - OpenID Connect Core 1.0 incorporating errata set 2

Built with ❤️ using Swift

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 222 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
Benchmarks		Benchmarks
Sources		Sources
Tests/JWSETKitTests		Tests/JWSETKitTests
.gitignore		.gitignore
.spi.yml		.spi.yml
.swiftformat		.swiftformat
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
Dockerfile		Dockerfile
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
Package.swift		Package.swift
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md

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JWSETKit

Overview

📖 Table of Contents

🚀 Features

Core Capabilities

Extended Cryptographic Support

Getting Started

Swift Package Manager

With X509 Support

With P256K Support

With HTTP Support (Server-Side)

Xcode

Usage

Creating and Verifying JWT Signature

Basic JWT Authentication

Working with JWS

Encrypting with JWE

Managing Keys with JWK

SD-JWT (Selective Disclosure)

📊 Comparison with Alternatives

Features

Supported Algorithms

Signature/HMAC

Key Encryption

Content Encryption

🏗️ Use Cases

📚 Documentation

📖 Full Documentation

🤝 Contributing

How to Contribute

Development

Benchmarks

🌟 Support

📄 License

🙏 Acknowledgments

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