generateSaltedKey()

Signature

SaltyKeys.generateSaltedKey(apiKey: string): string | null

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
apiKey	string	Your original, plain-text API key. Must be a non-empty string.

Returns

Value	Meaning
string	The obfuscated salted key. Store this in your pen code.
null	Generation failed — either apiKey was invalid, the pen ID could not be extracted, or an encoding error occurred.

How the salted key is constructed

ORIGINAL_KEY + ":" + PEN_ID + ":" + TIMESTAMP + ":" + NONCE
   → base64 encoded
   → reversed character-by-character
   = salted key

Each component adds an obfuscation layer:

Component	Purpose
ORIGINAL_KEY	The value you want to protect
PEN_ID	Binds the key to this exact pen
TIMESTAMP	Makes each generated key unique in time
NONCE	Random string adding unpredictability

Caution

The timestamp and nonce make each call to generateSaltedKey() produce a different output, even for the same input. Only the most recently generated salted key is valid in a given pen at a given time — but because getApiKey() only checks the pen ID, any salted key from the same pen will decode successfully. The timestamp and nonce are not verified on decode; they are purely for obfuscation.

Example

Step 1 — Open your pen in CodePen and paste SaltyKeys.js. Then, in the browser console, run:

const salted = SaltyKeys.generateSaltedKey('MY_API_KEY_12345');
console.log(salted);
// → something like: "=kJHGFcba...reversed base64 string..."

Step 2 — Copy the logged value and embed it in your pen’s JS:

const SALTED = 'PASTE_SALTED_KEY_HERE';
const key = SaltyKeys.getApiKey(SALTED);

Note

Run generation in the console, not on the page. If you call generateSaltedKey() in your pen’s JavaScript, the original API key will be visible in the source. Run it once from the console, copy the result, and remove the generation call.

Error cases

Situation	Return value	Console warning
apiKey is empty or not a string	null	"API key must be a non-empty string."
Pen ID could not be extracted	null	"Unable to extract Pen ID."
Encoding failed internally	null	"Failed to generate salted key: ..."