perf: Allow secret and publicKey options to be crypto.KeyObject (2x to 50x faster calls)
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When JwtService is initialized with `publicKey` as a string or Buffer, `verify()` and `verifyAsync()` pass it to "jsonwebtoken.verify()", which creates an instance of `crypto.KeyObject` from it via `crypto.createPublicKey()`. This is not free. Initializing `publicKey` with a `KeyObject` avoids this transformation in "jsonwebtoken". On my laptop, it makes `verify` twice faster. The same goes for `secret`, used in `sign()`, `verify()` and their asynchronous variants. Initializing with a `KeyObject` (built via `crypto.createSecretKey`) makes these functions ~50 times faster. See also auth0/node-jsonwebtoken@966.
micalevisk
reviewed
Jun 25, 2025
| signOptions?: jwt.SignOptions; | ||
| secret?: string | Buffer; | ||
| publicKey?: string | Buffer; | ||
| secret?: jwt.Secret; |
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are you sure that we can still assign string or Buffer to these jwt.Secret fields? I didn't check the types nor the test suite
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Yes, we can use string or Buffer. See README of jsonwebtoken and code (here for example).
Tests in @nestjs/jwt already made sure that we can use a Buffer. No (non-mocked) tests used strings. I did not change that part.
micalevisk
approved these changes
Jun 29, 2025
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Nice catch! |
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PR Checklist
Please check if your PR fulfills the following requirements:
PR Type
What kind of change does this PR introduce?
Current and new behaviors
When JwtService is initialized with
publicKeyas a string or Buffer,verify()andverifyAsync()pass it to "jsonwebtoken.verify()", which creates an instance ofcrypto.KeyObjectfrom it viacrypto.createPublicKey(). This is not free. InitializingpublicKeywith aKeyObjectavoids this transformation in "jsonwebtoken". On my laptop, it makesverifytwice faster.The same goes for
secret, used insign(),verify()and their asynchronous variants. Initializing with aKeyObject(built viacrypto.createSecretKey) makes these functions ~50 times faster.See also auth0/node-jsonwebtoken#966, which reports similar gains.
Does this PR introduce a breaking change?
Other information
I tentatively updated the README. Suggestions are most welcome! :) (Note that this README links to
jsonwebtokenown README, which has yet to be updated (see aforementioned issue).).