This Go program generates a self-signed X.509 certificate, private key, and PFX file for testing and development purposes. This can be a handy utility for creating certificates for testing HTTPS, TLS, code signing, or authentication flows.
- Generates a 2048-bit RSA private key
- Creates a self-signed certificate using the private key
- Encodes private key and certificate in PEM format
- Writes private key, certificate, and PFX file to disk
- Outputs file names for easy testing
Simply run the program:
go run main.go
It will generate unique file names each time using UUIDs.
Sample output:
Written A1 certificate files:
Private Key: c918a919-4157-4832-8ac2-9cadffi3872b.key
Certificate: 15db6f4a-f94e-4426-9e76-33735421211a.crt
PFX File: a87362ba-7586-4971-8f29-754834f97d9f.pfx
The certificate is valid for 180 days and issued to "Acme Co".
The PFX file is protected with the password "password".
You can easily tweak the certificate details like subject, extensions, and validity period by modifying the main.go file.
I created this tool because I needed a simple way to generate self-signed certificates for a project at work. It's amazing how much mileage you can get from the standard library crypto and x509 packages!
This project scratches my own itch. But I think other developers and testers could find it useful too.
In the future I may add:
- More customization
- A UI or TUI for interactive use
- Support for other key types like ECC
- Additional certificate extensions like Subject Alternative Name
- Configuration through a config file or command line flags
If you have any other feature ideas, please open an issue!