pact-python

pact-python is a Python implementation of PACT: Portable Application-layer Cryptography Template.

PACT is an experimental standard I am developing for sharing encryption profiles and metadata easily between applications, for use in custom encryption layers on top of existing apps. It is a work in progress.

This library provides:

• PACT config-string parsing and serialization
• protocol normalization into executable runtime config
• secret validation
• a bound encryption/decryption engine
• interoperability-oriented tests

Status

PACT is a work in progress, and this repository is the Python implementation track for that evolving standard.

Install

pip install pact-python

For local development:

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

Main Types

• PactConfigString
• PactProtocolConfig
• PactRuntimeConfig
• PactEngineFactory
• PactEngine
• PactSecretValidator

Typical Usage

Applications can use pact-python to:

• parse or generate a PACT config string
• validate and normalize protocol settings
• create an encryption/decryption engine from a shared secret
• encrypt outbound payloads and decrypt inbound payloads

Example

from pact import (
    PactConfigString,
    PactEngineFactory,
    PactRuntimeConfig,
)

config = PactRuntimeConfig().to_protocol_config()
config_string = PactConfigString.serialize(config)
parsed = PactConfigString.parse(config_string)

engine = PactEngineFactory.create(parsed, "shared secret")
payload = engine.encrypt("hello world")
plaintext = engine.decrypt(payload)