NexHash¶
NexHash is a multi-engine password, file, and message hashing command-line tool. It bundles eight hashing engines — two industry standards (Argon2id, bcrypt) and six custom engines — with three security levels each, into a single statically-linked binary.
What it does¶
- Password hashing — generate PHC-format password hashes suitable for storage.
- File hashing — stream large files through a keyed digest without loading them entirely into memory.
- Keyed-message hashing — combine a secret (password) with arbitrary text and produce a collision-resistant authenticated digest.
- Password strength estimation — analyze a password and estimate crack time against each engine.
- Benchmarking — measure per-engine hashing time on the current machine.
Engines at a glance¶
| Engine | Output (hex) | Type | Memory-hard | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
argon2 |
43 chars | passwd | yes | Password storage (recommended) |
bcrypt |
53 chars | passwd | partial | Password storage (legacy compat) |
nex3ph1 |
432 chars | passwd | no | Long password hashes |
nex4px1 |
1240 chars | passwd | no | Very long password hashes |
nex3fh1 |
256 chars | file | no | File integrity / keyed file hash |
nex4px2 |
8743 chars | passwd | no | Experimental very long key deriv. |
nex4mx1 |
2048 chars | message | no | Keyed-message authentication |
nex5mx1 |
16384 chars | message | yes | Keyed-message authentication (hardened) |
See Engines for parameter tables and design notes, or Naming scheme for how engine names are decoded.
Why use it¶
- Single binary, no runtime dependencies. Argon2 and bcrypt are vendored and statically linked.
- Cross-platform. Builds on Linux, macOS, and Windows (MinGW-w64).
- Self-describing hashes. Every hash encodes its engine, level, and parameters, so old hashes keep verifying even after parameter upgrades.
- Optional server-side pepper. Pepper is read from an environment variable, never compiled into the binary.
- Constant-time verification. All comparisons use XOR accumulators to avoid timing leaks.
Where to go next¶
- Installation — how to build NexHash from source.
- Usage — complete CLI flag reference.
- CLI overview — screenshots and example invocations.
- Engines — full engine specifications.
- Security — threat model, recommendations, and known limitations.
- Architecture — source tree layout and design notes.