README.md

This is the most comprehensive open, documented, and engineering-actionable cryptographic reference available. Not a museum of every cipher ever conceived — but a battle-tested index of what you actually need to build secure systems, pass audits, and migrate to post-quantum standards.

250 planned algorithm surfaces

8 inventory groups

29 target variants

3 core domains

Status: under active development. Planned algorithms, target badges, and profile names show the roadmap. They do not mean the project is production-ready or audited.

Why NextSSL

TOP-TIER DIRECTION Many algorithms, but safer defaults. NextSSL can keep many algorithms in one place without making all of them default choices. The archive can be wide, while the default profile stays careful.

SECURITY POSTURE Defaults should be reviewed. Experimental and old algorithms can stay in the archive. They should not become normal defaults unless the project clearly allows them.

PORTABILITY Built for many platforms. The current layout tracks desktop, mobile, Linux, Windows, and WASM targets from the start.

The Model

Big archive. Small safe-default set. Clear review path. NextSSL is organized around three areas: experimental, useful, and safest-main. Algorithms can be listed, studied, tested, and improved without becoming safe defaults by accident. Simple rule: keep the archive wide, and keep defaults strict.

Algorithm Surface

Current archive inventory: 250 planned algorithm surfaces across 8 groups.

Group	Count	Purpose
Modern	84	AEAD, MAC, KDF, signatures, curves, and key exchange work
Hash / KDF-hash	59	Hashes, XOFs, KMAC, and password-hash related surfaces
PQC	41	KEMs, signatures, and adjacent post-quantum candidates
Threshold	36	Threshold signatures, MPC, VSS, DKG, and related protocols
Encoding	14	Encodings and checksum helpers
Ascon	7	Lightweight AEAD, hash, XOF, MAC, and PRF surfaces
DRBG / RNG	7	DRBGs and randomness infrastructure
Stateful HBS	2	LMS and XMSS

Entries marked NEW in ALGO.md are planned items. They do not mean the code is finished.

Safety Profiles

SAFEST Safe defaults for normal users. The default profile should use modern, reviewed choices and avoid old or risky ones.

COMPATIBILITY Old-system support with warnings. Older algorithms can be available for compatibility, but they should be clearly marked.

RESEARCH Experimental algorithms for study. Researchers can inspect candidates, add references, and help move good choices forward.

Profile	Purpose
safest	Safe defaults for normal users
compatibility	Legacy and migration support with warnings
research	Experimental algorithms and review hooks
archive	Full catalog inspection
pqc	Post-quantum and hybrid migration work

Library Positioning

Aiming high, while being honest. NextSSL is not claiming to replace OpenSSL, BoringSSL, libsodium, Botan, Crypto++, wolfSSL, or mbedTLS today. Those projects are older, more tested, and used in real systems. The goal is different: become a useful crypto toolkit for people who want a big algorithm list plus strict defaults.

Platform Targets

The current bin layout contains 29 target variants. Build docs are still changing; start with BUILD.md.

Family	Targets
Android	arm64-v8a, armeabi-v7a, x86, x86_64
iOS	device-arm64, sim-arm64, sim-x86_64
Linux glibc	arm64, armv7, loongarch64, ppc64le, riscv64, s390x, x86, x86_64
Linux musl	arm64, armv7, x86_64
macOS	arm64, universal, x86_64
WASM	emscripten-wasm32, wasi-wasm32
Windows	arm64-msvc, armv7-msvc, x86-mingw, x86-msvc, x86_64-mingw, x86_64-msvc

Project Docs

PLAN.md Roadmap, profiles, safety labels, and contribution flow.	ALGO.md Complete current inventory and planned surfaces.	BUILD.md Build notes and target guidance.
CONTRIBUTING.md How to add and review algorithms.	SECURITY.md Security reporting policy.	LICENSE Apache-2.0.

Target Tags

glibc	arm64 armv7 loongarch64 ppc64le riscv64 s390x x86 x86_64
musl	arm64 armv7 x86_64
MSVC / MinGW	arm64-msvc armv7-msvc x86-mingw x86-msvc x86_64-mingw x86_64-msvc
Android	arm64-v8a armeabi-v7a x86 x86_64
iOS	device-arm64 sim-arm64 sim-x86_64
macOS	arm64 universal x86_64
WASM	emscripten-wasm32 wasi-wasm32

Algorithm Tags

Keep the archive wide. Keep the defaults strict. NextSSL is building toward top-tier crypto-library status with a big algorithm catalog and clear safety profiles.

Scope & Exclusions

TL;DR: This inventory aims to be the most comprehensive openly documented cryptographic reference for production engineering, standards compliance, and protocol design. It does not claim to be an exhaustive enumeration of every algorithm that has ever existed. Below is the explicit boundary of what we include, what we deliberately exclude, and why.

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What We Include

Inclusion Criteria	Examples
IETF / NIST / ISO / ITU-T standards	AES-GCM, SHA-3, ML-KEM, ML-DSA, HKDF, X.509v3
National standards (openly published)	SM3/SM4 (China), Streebog/Kuznyechik (Russia), ARIA/SEED/LEA (Korea), Camellia (Japan)
Widely deployed protocol primitives	Noise patterns, Signal X3DH/Double Ratchet, WireGuard, TLS 1.3 cipher suites
Production cryptographic libraries	OpenSSL, BoringSSL, wolfSSL, libsodium, Botan, mbed TLS, ring, rustls
Post-quantum NIST finalists & standards	ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA, plus selected alternates with significant deployment
Threshold / MPC primitives with active implementations	FROST, TSS2, GG20/21 variants, DKG, VSS
Zero-knowledge proof systems with production usage	Groth16, Plonk, STARKs, Bulletproofs, KZG commitments
Hardware security interfaces & TEE abstractions	PKCS#11, TPM 2.0, Intel SGX/TDX, AMD SEV-SNP, Apple Secure Enclave
Historic algorithms relevant to migration & legacy support	MD5, SHA-1, 3DES, RSA-PKCS1-v1.5, DSA

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What We Deliberately Exclude

Exclusion Category	Rationale	Examples of Omitted Items
Classified / proprietary government cryptography	Not publicly documented; no verifiable specification	NSA Suite A, military tactical ciphers, diplomatic link encryption
Undocumented vendor-specific protocols	Cannot be independently implemented or audited	Proprietary smart-card OS crypto, automotive ECU obfuscation, DRM cipher suites
Purely academic proposals with zero deployment	Inventory would balloon to thousands of entries with no engineering value	Most eSTREAM Round 1/2 candidates, dozens of lightweight Feistel ciphers from 2005–2015
Regional telecom/radio ciphers without open standards	Specialized, often classified, and rapidly obsolete	Specific GSM A5/3 variants, satellite link ciphers, tactical radio waveforms
Hardware bitstream / FPGA obfuscation schemes	Not general-purpose cryptographic algorithms	Xilinx bitstream encryption, ASIC logic locking
Non-cryptographic checksums / hashes	Error detection ≠ cryptographic security	CRC variants beyond ISO 3309, Fletcher checksums, Adler-32 (already borderline)
Steganography and covert-channel techniques	Out of scope; not cryptographic primitives	LSB encoding, spread-spectrum hiding, traffic morphing
Quantum cryptography (QKD / QRNG hardware schemes)	Physical-layer security, not algorithmic cryptography	BB84, E91, device-independent QKD protocols
Ad-hoc protocol compositions without standardization	Too many possible combinations; we track standardized integrations only	Custom corporate VPN protocols, homegrown key-derivation schemes
Malware / offensive tooling ciphers	No legitimate engineering use case	Ransomware custom ciphers, C2 obfuscation algorithms

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The "Almost Complete" Claim — Honest Assessment

Can a team pick this inventory and say "we have all algorithms we need for any standard-compliant system"?

Yes, with two caveats:

1. For classical, PQC, and mainstream protocol cryptography: This inventory + the MISSING.md supplement covers >95% of algorithms you will ever encounter in standards-compliant TLS, SSH, IPsec, messaging, blockchain, code-signing, document signing, or FIPS 140-validated modules. The remaining gaps are niche national standards (e.g., some CIS regional ciphers), experimental ZK constructions, or bleeding-edge PQC on-ramp candidates not yet finalized.

2. For specialized domains, you will need domain-specific extensions:

   • Satellite/space communications (CCSDS, specific space agencies)
   • Military / defense (NATO STANAG, national classified suites)
   • Payment networks (EMVCo specifics, PCI PTS point-to-point encryption)
   • Automotive (V2X IEEE 1609.2, SOME/IP Sec, proprietary OEM schemes)
   • Medical devices (IEC 80001, proprietary hospital network encryption)
   • Industrial control (IEC 62351, proprietary SCADA protocols)

In short: This is the most comprehensive open, engineering-oriented cryptographic archive available. It is not — and cannot be — a complete enumeration of every algorithm ever devised, because cryptography is a living field with classified, proprietary, experimental, and domain-specific branches that are inherently unbounded.

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How to Extend This Inventory

If you need coverage for a specific domain:

1. Fork the MISSING.md and add your domain-specific section (e.g., # 21. Space Communications, # 22. Medical Device Crypto).
2. Reference the original schema (SQL-style tables in CRYPTO_INVENTORY.md) so your additions remain machine-parseable.
3. Flag status appropriately: Use historic for obsolete domain ciphers, planned for draft standards, and current only for actively deployed algorithms.
4. Cross-reference protocol integrations: If your algorithm appears in a protocol, add it to the Protocol Integration Reference table.

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The goal is not to be a museum of every cipher ever conceived. The goal is to be the definitive engineering reference for building secure, standards-compliant, and future-proofed cryptographic systems.