password_engine 1.0.0

A comprehensive and extensible password generation library for Dart and Flutter

Password Engine

A secure, modular, and extensible password generation library for Dart and Flutter.

Features

• Cryptographically Secure: Uses Random.secure() for strong random number generation.
• Modular Design: Built with interfaces (IPasswordGenerationStrategy, IPasswordStrengthEstimator) for maximum flexibility.
• Customizable:
  • Configure length, character sets, and exclusion of ambiguous characters.
  • Inject custom generation strategies.
  • Inject custom strength estimators.
• Extensible: Easily add new strategies (e.g., memorable words, PINs) without modifying the core library.
• Normalizer: Pluggable IPasswordNormalizer interface — inject a custom normalizer for Unicode normalization or whitespace handling.
• Validation: Enforce minimum character counts (e.g., "must have 2 symbols") via ConfigAwarePasswordValidator.
• Feedback: Evaluate password strength with user-friendly feedback via estimateFeedback().
• Customizable Messages: Feedback and error strings are generated from a YAML source and can be updated centrally.

Getting Started

Add the package to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  password_engine: ^1.0.0

Usage

Basic Usage

import 'package:password_engine/password_engine.dart';

void main() {
  // Create a generator with default settings (RandomPasswordStrategy)
  final generator = PasswordGenerator();

  // Generate a password
  String password = generator.generatePassword(); 
  print(password); // e.g., "aB3$kL9@pQ2!"
}

Custom Configuration

Use the fluent PasswordGeneratorConfigBuilder to create robust configs:

final config = PasswordGeneratorConfig.builder()
  .length(20)
  .useUpperCase(true)
  .useLowerCase(true)
  .useNumbers(true)
  .useSpecialChars(true)
  .excludeAmbiguousChars(true) // e.g., excludes 'I', 'l', '1', 'O', '0'
  .build();

final generator = PasswordGenerator();
generator.updateConfig(config);
String password = generator.generatePassword();

Using Custom Strategies

The library supports custom generation strategies. You can implement IPasswordGenerationStrategy to create your own.

Note: The MemorablePasswordStrategy and PronounceablePasswordStrategy have been moved to the example app to serve as learning resources. You can copy them into your project if needed.

// Example of using a custom strategy (e.g., from the example app)
final memorableStrategy = MemorablePasswordStrategy(separator: '-');
final generator = PasswordGenerator(generationStrategy: memorableStrategy);

generator.updateConfig(PasswordGeneratorConfig(length: 4)); // 4 words
String password = generator.generatePassword(); // e.g., "correct-horse-battery-staple"

Password Strength Estimation

The library includes a default entropy-based strength estimator, but you can inject your own (e.g., one based on zxcvbn).

class MyCustomStrengthEstimator implements IPasswordStrengthEstimator {
  @override
  PasswordStrength estimatePasswordStrength(String password) {
    // Your custom logic here
    return PasswordStrength.strong;
  }
}

final generator = PasswordGenerator(
  strengthEstimator: MyCustomStrengthEstimator(),
);

PasswordStrength strength = generator.estimateStrength("myPassword123");

Password Feedback

Evaluate a password and receive user-facing feedback including strength, warnings, and suggestions:

final generator = PasswordGenerator();

final feedback = generator.estimateFeedback('myPassword');
print(feedback.strength.name);    // "veryWeak"
print(feedback.warning);          // "Weak password"
print(feedback.suggestions);      // ["Increase length to at least 16", ...]

Customizing Messages

Feedback and error messages are generated from a YAML source file:

• Source: lib/l10n/messages.i18n.yaml
• Generated output: lib/l10n/messages.i18n.dart

This is a single-locale (English) message system. To customize messages, edit the YAML and re-run build_runner:

dart run build_runner build

Configuration Options

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
length	int	16	Password length (or word count for some strategies)
useUpperCase	bool	true	Include uppercase letters
useLowerCase	bool	true	Include lowercase letters
useNumbers	bool	true	Include numbers
useSpecialChars	bool	true	Include special characters
excludeAmbiguousChars	bool	false	Exclude characters like 'I', 'l', '1', 'O', '0'
extra	Map	{}	Custom parameters for user-defined strategies

Security Notes

• CSPRNG: Uses Random.secure() for all random number generation.
• Normalizer: The default normalizer is a passthrough. Inject a custom IPasswordNormalizer for Unicode normalization or whitespace handling if your application requires it.
• Validation Threshold: The default PasswordValidator enforces strictly 16+ characters and requires a mix of 4 character types.
• Entropy: The default strength estimator uses pool-based entropy (L × log₂(N)). This assumes uniform random selection and may overestimate strength for pattern-enforced passwords. Inject a custom IPasswordStrengthEstimator (e.g., zxcvbn-based) for more accurate estimations.

Additional Information

• Source Code: GitHub Repository
• Issues: Issue Tracker
• Examples: Check the example folder for a full Flutter app demonstrating custom strategies and UI integration.

License

MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.