CyChef for VS Code

The Swiss Army Knife for Ciphers, Encodings, Hashes, and Token Inspections right inside VS Code.

📖 Overview

Why leave your editor and switch to a browser tab just to decode a JWT, inspect a base64 payload, or format hex bytes?

CyChef brings the power, speed, and privacy of CyberChef directly into your VS Code environment. Whether you are debugging API tokens, analyzing binary dumps, reversing malware artifacts, or encoding configuration keys, CyChef gives you an instant interactive workbench in the primary sidebar and seamless in-place text replacement in your editor.

✨ Key Features

🧑‍🍳 Integrated Sidebar Workbench: Access the full conversion workbench from your VS Code Activity Bar without context switching.
✏️ One-Click In-Place Editor Replacement: Highlight any text in your editor, execute an operation or recipe, and replace it in-place with complete undo/redo stack (Ctrl+Z) support.
⚡ Dual Execution Modes:
- Quick Mode: Instant single-operation conversion with real-time parameter tuning (keys, formats, delimiters).
- Recipe Mode: Chain multiple sequential steps (From Hex ➔ XOR ➔ To Base64) with reordering, step enabling/disabling, and pipeline baking.
🔄 Real-Time Editor Sync & Auto-Bake:
- Automatically loads your active text editor selection into the Input panel upon sidebar focus.
- Live preview recalculates output instantaneously as you type or adjust parameters.
🔒 100% Offline, Secure & Private:
- All operations execute locally inside the VS Code runtime.
- Zero network calls. Your keys, tokens, and payloads never leave your computer.
🪶 Zero External Runtime Dependencies:
- Built with pure TypeScript algorithms and native Node.js V8 C++ primitives (Buffer, node:crypto, BigInt).
- Total extension bundle is ~60 KB — lightweight, instant startup, and zero bloat.

🛠️ Supported Operations Catalogue

1. 🔤 Base Encodings

Operation	Description	Parameters
To / From Base64	Standard RFC 4648 Base64 & URL-Safe variant	`URL Safe` toggle (`-` and `_`)
To / From Base32	RFC 4648 Base32 encoding & decoding	`Padding` toggle (`=`)
To / From Base58	Bitcoin Base58 alphabet with leading-zero preservation	—
To / From Base85 (Ascii85)	Adobe Ascii85 variant with `z` zero-run abbreviation	—
To / From Base91	BasE91 ASCII-armored binary encoding	—

2. 🔢 Radix & Numerical Conversions

Operation	Description	Parameters
To / From Hex	Converts between raw bytes/text and hexadecimal string	Delimiters: `None`, `Space`, `Colon`, `0x with comma`
To / From Binary	Formats bytes as 8-bit binary bitstreams	Delimiters: `Space`, `Comma`, `None`
To / From Decimal	Byte decimal representation (0–255)	Delimiters: `Space`, `Comma`
To / From Octal	3-digit octal byte representation	Delimiters: `Space`, `Comma`, `None`

3. 🔐 Ciphers & Bitwise Operations

Operation	Description	Parameters
ROT13	Classic symmetric Caesar cipher rotating letters by 13	Symmetric (Encode = Decode)
ROT-N	Parameterized Caesar shift by $N$ positions	`Shift Amount` (1 to 25)
ROT47	Rotates printable ASCII characters (ASCII 33–126) by 47	Symmetric (Encode = Decode)
XOR	Repeating-key bitwise XOR cipher	`Key` (string) & `Key Format` (`UTF-8`, `Hex`, `Base64`, `Latin1`)

4. 🌐 Web & Token Utilities

Operation	Description	Output
JWT Decode	Inspects JSON Web Tokens (header, claims, signature)	Pretty-printed JSON + Auto-converted ISO timestamps for `exp`, `iat`, `nbf`
URL Encode	Percent-encodes special characters for URLs (`encodeURIComponent`)	Encoded URI string
URL Decode	Decodes percent-encoded URL characters (`decodeURIComponent`)	Decoded string

5. 🛡️ Cryptographic Hashes

Operation	Algorithm	Format Options
MD5	Fast OpenSSL MD5 checksum	`Hex` or `Base64`
SHA-1	NIST SHA-1 hash	`Hex` or `Base64`
SHA-256	SHA-2 256-bit cryptographic digest	`Hex` or `Base64`
SHA-384	SHA-2 384-bit cryptographic digest	`Hex` or `Base64`
SHA-512	SHA-2 512-bit cryptographic digest	`Hex` or `Base64`

🚀 How to Use

Click the Chef Hat Icon in the VS Code Activity Bar (left sidebar) to open CyChef Workbench.
Input:
- Type or paste text into the Input textarea, or click Sync Selection to grab whatever is currently highlighted in your active editor.
Select Operation:
- Filter by category pills (Bases, Radix, Ciphers, Hashing, Web) or search (e.g. type jwt, b64, hex, sha).
- Click an operation to select it. If the operation accepts parameters (like XOR key or Hex delimiter), adjust them in the Parameters box.
Output & Actions:
- With Auto-Bake enabled, results appear instantly in the Output textarea.
- Click ✏️ Replace in Editor to immediately substitute the active selection in your open file with the result.
- Click Copy to copy the output to your clipboard, or Use as Input to chain manual transformations.

+------------------------------------------+
|  CyChef                [Quick] [Recipe]  |
|------------------------------------------|
|  INPUT                 [Sync]   [Clear]  |
|  [ eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsIn...           ] |
|------------------------------------------|
|  OPERATIONS            [x] Auto-Bake     |
|  [Search operations...                 ] |
|  (All) (Bases) (Radix) (Ciphers) (Web)   |
|  * JWT Decode                            |
|  * To Base64                             |
|  * From Hex                              |
|------------------------------------------|
|  OUTPUT                [Use Input] [Copy]|
|  [ { "HEADER": { "alg": "HS256" } ...  ] |
|                                          |
|  [ Done (1ms) ]   [ ✏️ Replace in Editor ]|
+------------------------------------------+

Highlight any text in your editor (e.g., a Base64 string, Hex bytes, or JWT).
Right-click the selection ➔ Hover over CyChef in the context menu.
Select an operation (e.g., CyChef: From Base64 or CyChef: From Hex).
The highlighted text is instantly converted and replaced in-place!
Hit Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z) anytime if you want to undo the edit.

Workflow C: Command Palette Quick Access

Press Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS).
Type CyChef to access all registered commands:
- CyChef: Open Sidebar Workbench
- CyChef: Transform Selection... (fuzzy search across all operations with interactive prompts for parameters)
- CyChef: To Base64 / From Base64
- CyChef: To Hex / From Hex
- CyChef: To Binary / From Binary
- CyChef: To Decimal / From Decimal
- CyChef: ROT13 / ROT-N
- CyChef: XOR
- CyChef: JWT Decode
- CyChef: MD5 Hash / SHA-256 Hash

Workflow D: Chaining Multi-Step Recipes

In the CyChef sidebar, switch from Quick mode to Recipe mode at the top.
Click operations to append them as sequential steps (e.g., From Hex ➔ XOR ➔ To Base64).
Reorder steps with ▲ and ▼ or remove steps with ✕.
Click ⚡ Bake Recipe to execute the pipeline through all stages.

⌨️ Command Reference

Command	Identifier	Description
Open Workbench	`cychef.openWorkbench`	Focuses the CyChef workbench in the activity bar
Transform Selection...	`cychef.transformSelection`	QuickPick menu of all operations with interactive argument prompts
To Base64	`cychef.toBase64`	Encodes editor selection to Base64
From Base64	`cychef.fromBase64`	Decodes Base64 editor selection to raw string
To Hex	`cychef.toHex`	Encodes editor selection to Hex
From Hex	`cychef.fromHex`	Decodes Hex editor selection to raw string
To Binary	`cychef.toBinary`	Encodes editor selection to 8-bit binary
From Binary	`cychef.fromBinary`	Decodes binary string to bytes
To Decimal	`cychef.toDecimal`	Converts editor selection to decimal bytes
From Decimal	`cychef.fromDecimal`	Decodes decimal bytes to string
ROT13	`cychef.rot13`	Applies ROT13 substitution to editor selection
ROT-N	`cychef.rotN`	Prompts for shift amount and applies Caesar cipher
XOR	`cychef.xor`	Prompts for key and applies bitwise XOR
JWT Decode	`cychef.jwtDecode`	Formats and inspects JWT header, payload, and claims
MD5 Hash	`cychef.md5`	Computes MD5 hash of editor selection
SHA-256 Hash	`cychef.sha256`	Computes SHA-256 hash of editor selection

📦 Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

Search for CyChef in the VS Code Extensions tab (Ctrl+Shift+X) and click Install.

From Open VSX

Search for CyChef in VSCodium, Cursor, Gitpod, or Eclipse Theia.

From VSIX File

code --install-extension "cychef-0.1.0.vsix"

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. CyChef is an independent open-source VS Code extension inspired by GCHQ's CyberChef.

CyChef

Blaise Rodrigues