5-minute quickstart

From zero to working post-quantum encryption.

1. Install

pnpm

pnpm add @pqc-sdk/core

npm

npm install @pqc-sdk/core

Or initialize a full project with the CLI (config + development keys + example):

npx @pqc-sdk/cli init

2. Generate keys

import { pqc } from '@pqc-sdk/core';

const pair = await pqc.keys.generate();

With no options it generates ML-KEM-768 (FIPS 203), the encryption algorithm. Hover over pair to see the type: the algorithm travels in the type system.

3. Encrypt

const ciphertext = await pqc.encrypt('my first post-quantum secret', pair.publicKey);

Accepts a string (encoded as UTF-8) or a Uint8Array. The result is a single self-contained Uint8Array: ML-KEM encapsulation + data encrypted with AES-256-GCM.

4. Decrypt

const plaintext = await pqc.decrypt(ciphertext, pair.secretKey);
console.log(new TextDecoder().decode(plaintext));
// "my first post-quantum secret"

If the ciphertext was tampered with, decrypt throws a PqcError with code DECRYPTION_FAILED — it never returns corrupted data.

Bonus: persisting keys

const token = pqc.keys.serialize(pair.publicKey);
// "pqcv1.ml-kem-768.public.h1q3…" — base64url with metadata

const restored = pqc.keys.deserialize(token);

Next steps

• Hybrid KEM+AES encryption, explained — what happens inside encrypt
• Encrypting files — the most common use case
• Signing JWTs with ML-DSA — post-quantum digital signatures