Crypto

Hash, HMAC, sign, and generate random values

Overview

The Crypto tool provides four cryptographic actions: (1) hash — compute a hash of a string value using MD5, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, or SHA3 variants; (2) hmac — compute HMAC using a secret key; (3) sign — create a digital signature using a private key; (4) generate — create random values as UUID, hex, base64, or ASCII strings. No external dependencies and no network calls — everything is computed locally.

Category: Core Nodes
Tool Name: crypto
Version: 1

Appearance: Icon: lucide-Lock | Color: #5e548e

Node Type

Action — processes input items and produces output

Input / Output

Direction	Port(s)
Input	Input
Output	Output, Error

Credentials

This tool requires Crypto Credential credentials. See the Credentials Guide for setup instructions.

The credential carries the HMAC secret and the signing private key, so it is only read by the hmac and sign actions. The hash and generate actions do not use it.

Parameters

The action you pick decides which of the remaining parameters are shown.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Action	options	No	hash	The cryptographic operation to perform.
				Options: generate (random string — UUID, hex, base64, ASCII), hash (hash a string value), hmac (HMAC a string value with a secret), sign (sign a string with a private key)

Hash (hash) and Hmac (hmac)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Type	options	No	SHA256	The hash algorithm to use.
				Options: MD5, SHA256, SHA3-256, SHA3-384, SHA3-512, SHA384, SHA512
Value	string	Yes	—	The string value to hash/HMAC. Supports expressions like {{ $json.password }}.
Property Name	string	No	data	The property name to write the result to.
Encoding	options	No	hex	Output encoding.
				Options: base64, hex

Sign (sign)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Algorithm	options	No	SHA256	The signature algorithm.
				Options: MD5, SHA1, SHA224, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512
Value	string	Yes	—	The string value to sign. Supports expressions like {{ $json.document }}.
Property Name	string	No	data	The property name to write the signature to.
Encoding	options	No	hex	Encoding of the signature written to the output property.
				Options: base64, hex

Generate (generate)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Encoding Type	options	No	uuid	The type of random value to generate.
				Options: ascii (letters and digits), base64, hex, uuid (a random UUID — String Length does not apply)
String Length	number	No	32	The length of the random string to generate. (shown when Encoding Type is ascii, base64, hex)
Property Name	string	No	data	The property name to write the result to.

All Actions

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Max Concurrency	number	No	10	Maximum number of items to process concurrently.

Output Data

One output item per input item. The item JSON passes through unchanged and binary data is forwarded; the node adds a single property, named by Property Name (data by default), holding the result as a string.

Action	Value written to the property
hash	The digest of Value, in the chosen Encoding.
hmac	The HMAC of Value computed with the credential’s HMAC secret, in the chosen Encoding.
sign	The signature of Value produced with the credential’s private key, in the chosen Encoding.
generate	A random UUID, or a random ascii / base64 / hex string of String Length characters.

Reference the result downstream by expression, for example {{ $json.data }} — or by whatever name you set in Property Name:

{
  "email": "user@example.com",
  "passwordHash": "a591a6d40bf420404a011733cfb7b190d62c65bf0bcda32b57b277d9ad9f146e"
}

Because the property is written onto the existing item, setting Property Name to a field that is already present overwrites it.

Usage Examples

• Hash a password with SHA256
• Generate a UUID
• Create HMAC signature for API authentication
• Sign data with RSA private key

Example Configuration

Hash a fixed string with SHA256 and write it to hashedValue:

{
  "type": "crypto",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "hash",
    "type": "SHA256",
    "value": "Hello World",
    "dataPropertyName": "hashedValue",
    "encoding": "hex",
    "maxConcurrency": 10
  }
}

HMAC a value with the credential’s secret:

{
  "type": "crypto",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "hmac",
    "type": "SHA256",
    "value": "sensitive data",
    "dataPropertyName": "hmacSignature",
    "encoding": "base64",
    "maxConcurrency": 5
  }
}

Sign a document string with the credential’s private key:

{
  "type": "crypto",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "sign",
    "algorithm": "SHA256",
    "value": "document to sign",
    "dataPropertyName": "digitalSignature",
    "encoding": "base64",
    "maxConcurrency": 10
  }
}

Generate a UUID:

{
  "type": "crypto",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "generate",
    "encodingType": "uuid",
    "dataPropertyName": "generatedUuid",
    "maxConcurrency": 10
  }
}

Generate a 32-character random hex string:

{
  "type": "crypto",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "generate",
    "encodingType": "hex",
    "stringLength": 32,
    "dataPropertyName": "randomHex",
    "maxConcurrency": 10
  }
}

Generate a 16-character random ASCII string:

{
  "type": "crypto",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "generate",
    "encodingType": "ascii",
    "stringLength": 16,
    "dataPropertyName": "randomString",
    "maxConcurrency": 10
  }
}

Hash a value taken from the incoming item:

{
  "type": "crypto",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "hash",
    "type": "SHA256",
    "value": "{{ $json.password }}",
    "dataPropertyName": "passwordHash",
    "encoding": "hex"
  }
}

Produce an integrity check over item content:

{
  "type": "crypto",
  "parameters": {
    "action": "hmac",
    "type": "SHA512",
    "value": "{{ $json.fileContent }}",
    "dataPropertyName": "integrityHash",
    "encoding": "base64"
  }
}

Error Handling

Mode	Behavior
stop	Halts workflow on first error
continue	Skips failed items, passes successful ones through
errorPort	Routes failed items to Error output port

Tips

Hash, HMAC, sign, or generate random values using Node.js crypto — no external dependencies.

Parameter Relationships

1. Hash and Hmac use Type, Value, Property Name and Encoding.
2. Sign uses Algorithm, Value, Property Name and Encoding.
3. Generate uses Encoding Type, Property Name, and String Length for everything except UUID.

Common Patterns

• Password hashing — hash with SHA256 over {{ $json.password }}, written to a dedicated property.
• API key generation — generate with base64 and a longer String Length such as 48.
• Data integrity check — hmac with SHA512 over the content you want to protect.
• Session tokens — generate with uuid, which ignores String Length.

This node works on strings. To hash the contents of a file, use the Crypto (Binary Hash) node instead.