{"slug": "cyberchef", "name": "CyberChef", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 9, "warners": 0, "score": 5.935, "rising": 0.36, "first": "2025-11-16", "latest": "2026-08-24", "why": "Very useful when you are debugging a custom encoder.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 8, "neutral": 1, "compare": 2, "warn": 0}, "spark": [2, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Very useful when you are debugging a custom encoder.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/gchq/cyberchef", "official_url": "https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["CyberChef"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 790636320, "item_id": 49414770, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49414770", "by": "vivzkestrel", "date": "2026-08-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "sorry bro this is not even close to cyberchef", "excerpt": "- https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ - sorry bro this is not even close to cyberchef", "context": "", "use_case": "Data encoding and analysis", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Dev // Cyber Toolkit \u2013 a free floating dev/cybersecurity widget"}, {"id": 787394704, "item_id": 49212169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49212169", "by": "samschooler", "date": "2026-08-07", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CyberChef? https://cyberchef.io/", "excerpt": "CyberChef? https://cyberchef.io/", "context": "", "use_case": "Data conversion web app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Another Corner of the Internet Has Been Ruined"}, {"id": 777303472, "item_id": 48581467, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48581467", "by": "sifex", "date": "2026-06-17", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There are tools online to help you do this as well", "excerpt": "Yea, the process overall has a fairly cool name as well \u201cde-fang\u201d. Overall it helps security teams share these indicators safely without having to worry about Slack or any other tool hyperlinking them automatically. There are tools online to help you do this as well https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=Defang_URL(true,true,true,'Valid%20domains%20and%20full%20URLs')&input=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLnljb21iaW5hdG9yLmNvbS8g", "context": "", "use_case": "defanging URLs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Multiple JetBrains IDE plugins caught stealing AI keys"}, {"id": 744189744, "item_id": 46511859, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46511859", "by": "vivzkestrel", "date": "2026-01-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is easily one of the most comprehensive tools I have ever seen anyone build", "excerpt": "- my gripe with most of these tools is that whenever i actually need one, i can never seem to remember their name. - That kills like half the traffic for you guys. - For example look at this dude https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ This is easily one of the most comprehensive tools I have ever seen anyone build - I literally bookmarked that site under a tools tag and that is how I am able to find them. I can't ever see", "context": "", "use_case": "Data encoding and analysis", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Prism.Tools \u2013 Free and privacy-focused developer utilities"}, {"id": 743957778, "item_id": 46497361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46497361", "by": "fainpul", "date": "2026-01-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "here are a few things I enjoy using", "excerpt": "Nothing is perfect, but here are a few things I enjoy using: https://www.geogebra.org/calculator https://regex101.com/ https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ https://www.figma.com https://www.affinity.studio Any spreadsheet program Apple's Spotlight, GNOME's similiar thing (don't know the name) I also like Tantacrul's interface design work: https://www.youtube.com/@Tantacrul/videos", "context": "", "use_case": "data transformation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Lessons from 14 Years at Google"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["data encoding and analysis", "data conversion web app", "offline developer utilities", "defanging urls", "data transformation", "offline data transformation"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49409934", "title": "Show HN: Dev // Cyber Toolkit \u2013 a free floating dev/cybersecurity widget", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49211758", "title": "Another Corner of the Internet Has Been Ruined", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48989460", "title": "Show HN: QuiverKit \u2013 62 developer tools that run offline", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836233", "title": "Cloudflare Drop", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48567638", "title": "Multiple JetBrains IDE plugins caught stealing AI keys", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361054", "title": "Show HN: Textile \u2013 A desktop app for weaving together bits of text", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"compare": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 790636320, "item_id": 49414770, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49414770", "by": "vivzkestrel", "date": "2026-08-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "sorry bro this is not even close to cyberchef", "excerpt": "- https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ - sorry bro this is not even close to cyberchef", "context": "", "use_case": "Data encoding and analysis", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Dev // Cyber Toolkit \u2013 a free floating dev/cybersecurity widget"}, {"id": 787394704, "item_id": 49212169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49212169", "by": "samschooler", "date": "2026-08-07", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "CyberChef? https://cyberchef.io/", "excerpt": "CyberChef? https://cyberchef.io/", "context": "", "use_case": "Data conversion web app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Another Corner of the Internet Has Been Ruined"}, {"id": 783857616, "item_id": 48991101, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48991101", "by": "ruairidhwm", "date": "2026-07-21", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Nice! Reminds me a little of https://github.com/gchq/CyberChef", "excerpt": "Nice! Reminds me a little of https://github.com/gchq/CyberChef", "context": "", "use_case": "offline developer utilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: QuiverKit \u2013 62 developer tools that run offline"}, {"id": 781492305, "item_id": 48843269, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48843269", "by": "rifty", "date": "2026-07-09", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "CyberChef for example does offer a downloadable copy of its web app", "excerpt": "I don't know about Windows, but on macOS you can. If you wanted to try yourself you could use SingleFile to export a webpage as a .html zip file which you could then just 'open' into the web browser. For a web app, you might have to unzip it and launch the .html inside. CyberChef for example does offer a downloadable copy of its web app instructing you do just that. [1]: https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloudflare Drop"}, {"id": 777303472, "item_id": 48581467, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48581467", "by": "sifex", "date": "2026-06-17", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There are tools online to help you do this as well", "excerpt": "Yea, the process overall has a fairly cool name as well \u201cde-fang\u201d. Overall it helps security teams share these indicators safely without having to worry about Slack or any other tool hyperlinking them automatically. There are tools online to help you do this as well https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/#recipe=Defang_URL(true,true,true,'Valid%20domains%20and%20full%20URLs')&input=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLnljb21iaW5hdG9yLmNvbS8g", "context": "", "use_case": "defanging URLs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Multiple JetBrains IDE plugins caught stealing AI keys"}, {"id": 773815169, "item_id": 48363448, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48363448", "by": "cosmotic", "date": "2026-06-01", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Looks a lot like CyberChef which is web based. https://cyberchef.org/", "excerpt": "Looks a lot like CyberChef which is web based. https://cyberchef.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Textile \u2013 A desktop app for weaving together bits of text"}, {"id": 744189744, "item_id": 46511859, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46511859", "by": "vivzkestrel", "date": "2026-01-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is easily one of the most comprehensive tools I have ever seen anyone build", "excerpt": "- my gripe with most of these tools is that whenever i actually need one, i can never seem to remember their name. - That kills like half the traffic for you guys. - For example look at this dude https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ This is easily one of the most comprehensive tools I have ever seen anyone build - I literally bookmarked that site under a tools tag and that is how I am able to find them. I can't ever see", "context": "", "use_case": "Data encoding and analysis", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Prism.Tools \u2013 Free and privacy-focused developer utilities"}, {"id": 743957778, "item_id": 46497361, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46497361", "by": "fainpul", "date": "2026-01-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "here are a few things I enjoy using", "excerpt": "Nothing is perfect, but here are a few things I enjoy using: https://www.geogebra.org/calculator https://regex101.com/ https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ https://www.figma.com https://www.affinity.studio Any spreadsheet program Apple's Spotlight, GNOME's similiar thing (don't know the name) I also like Tantacrul's interface design work: https://www.youtube.com/@Tantacrul/videos", "context": "", "use_case": "data transformation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Lessons from 14 Years at Google"}, {"id": 743865264, "item_id": 46491579, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46491579", "by": "mutant", "date": "2026-01-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "or, do it all offline", "excerpt": "or, do it all offline https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/", "context": "", "use_case": "offline data transformation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I built a privacy-first developer toolkit (JSON, cURL, SQL, etc.)"}, {"id": 737388288, "item_id": 46086768, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46086768", "by": "tliltocatl", "date": "2025-11-29", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Very useful when you are debugging a custom encoder.", "excerpt": "Not a DE either, haven't been thru Avro, but I have worked with PB wire format quite a lot. Here's what I've used: https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ - data transcoder pipeline, can do protobuf, among others. Very useful when you are debugging a custom encoder. https://github.com/nccgroup/blackboxprotobuf - decodes wire format without a scheme.", "context": "", "use_case": "Protobuf decoding, data transforms", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How do you inspect Avro/Protobuf records during debugging?"}, {"id": 735109072, "item_id": 45944317, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45944317", "by": "fainpul", "date": "2025-11-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Most of these tools are also available in CyberChef, with the advantage that you can combine multiple steps", "excerpt": "Most of these tools are also available in CyberChef, with the advantage that you can combine multiple steps to create data transformation pipelines. https://github.com/gchq/CyberChef", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: HashCodeTools \u2013 17 Free Privacy-Focused Dev Tools"}]}