Function generateKeyPair

Generates a new asymmetric key pair of the given type. RSA, RSA-PSS, DSA, EC, Ed25519, Ed448, X25519, X448, and DH are currently supported.

If a publicKeyEncoding or privateKeyEncoding was specified, this function behaves as if keyObject.export() had been called on its result. Otherwise, the respective part of the key is returned as a KeyObject.

It is recommended to encode public keys as 'spki' and private keys as 'pkcs8' with encryption for long-term storage:

const {
  generateKeyPair,
} = await import('node:crypto');

generateKeyPair('rsa', {
  modulusLength: 4096,
  publicKeyEncoding: {
    type: 'spki',
    format: 'pem',
  },
  privateKeyEncoding: {
    type: 'pkcs8',
    format: 'pem',
    cipher: 'aes-256-cbc',
    passphrase: 'top secret',
  },
}, (err, publicKey, privateKey) => {
  // Handle errors and use the generated key pair.
});
Copy

On completion, callback will be called with err set to undefined and publicKey / privateKey representing the generated key pair.

If this method is invoked as its util.promisify() ed version, it returns a Promise for an Object with publicKey and privateKey properties.