Crypto

Hash or sign text, or generate random values and UUIDs, right in the browser.

Can use a Crypto connection — 

Optional: pick a saved connection in the HMAC Key field when the service needs one.

Create a connection →

What it does

Crypto runs once per incoming item and puts its result in Put Result In Field (result by default). It has four operations:

• Hash turns text into a fingerprint with SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512 or MD5. The same text always gives the same hash.
• HMAC signs text with a secret key taken from a saved credential, using SHA-1, SHA-256 or SHA-512.
• Random bytes generates random bytes, 32 by default and at most 1024.
• UUID v4 generates a random unique id such as 3f2b8c1e-….

Hashes, signatures and random bytes come out as lowercase hex or base64 text, depending on Encoding.

When to use it

• Fingerprint scraped content so you can tell later whether it changed.
• Sign a payload with HMAC before you send it to an API or webhook that checks signatures.
• Create an idempotency key or a random id for each outgoing item.
• Use MD5 only when another system expects an MD5 checksum. It is not safe for security purposes.

Inputs and settings

Setting	Type	What it does
Operation	Choice	What to do. Options: Hash, HMAC, Random bytes, UUID v4. Default: Hash
Algorithm	Choice	The digest algorithm, for Hash and HMAC. Options: SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512, MD5. Default: SHA-256
HMAC Key	Credential	Credential holding the secret key, for HMAC.
Text	Value	The text to hash or HMAC.
Source Field	Text	Field holding the text, when the field above is left empty.
Byte Length	Number	How many random bytes to generate. Default: 32
Encoding	Choice	How the result bytes are presented as text. Options: Hex, Base64. Default: Hex
Include Input Fields	Toggle	Keep the incoming item’s fields alongside the result. Default: On
Put Result In Field	Text	Field holding the hash, HMAC, random bytes or UUID. Default: result

• For Hash and HMAC, the node reads the text from Text first, for example {{ $input.body }}. If Text is empty, it reads the field named in Source Field (dots work for nested fields).
• Byte Length only matters for Random bytes. Values above 1024 are reduced to 1024.

Outputs

• Output

Each item comes out with the result as text in Put Result In Field, next to its original fields. Turn off Include Input Fields to output only the result. Use it downstream with {{ $input.result }}.

Dependencies and credentials

• HMAC Key (connection): optional. See Create a connection.

Only HMAC needs a credential. Save the shared secret as a token credential (API Token / Bearer) and pick it in HMAC Key; see Create a credential. The secret stays in your credential store, so it is not included when you export or share the workflow.

Example workflow

1. Edit Fields builds the payload text in a field named body.
2. Crypto with Operation HMAC, Algorithm SHA-256, HMAC Key set to your saved secret, Text {{ $input.body }} and Encoding Hex.
3. Http Request sends body and adds a signature header with the value {{ $input.result }}.

Common issues

• “HMAC requires a credential holding the secret key. Select one in the HMAC Key field.” Pick or create a credential in HMAC Key.
• “MD5 is not a valid HMAC algorithm. Choose SHA-1, SHA-256, or SHA-512.” MD5 works for Hash only. Change Algorithm.
• “No text to hash. Fill in the Text field, or name the field holding it.” Both Text and Source Field are empty.
• “Field “…” does not exist on the incoming item.“ The name in Source Field is wrong or the field is empty. Check its spelling against the previous node’s output.
• The signature does not match what the other service expects. Check that both sides use the same algorithm and encoding (hex vs base64), and that you sign exactly the same text, including spaces and line breaks.

Related nodes

• Edit Fields: prepare the text before hashing it.
• Remove Duplicates: drop items you have already seen.
• Code: for cryptography this node does not cover.