CyberChef
CyberChef is a browser-based "cyber Swiss Army knife" from GCHQ for encoding, decoding, encryption, compression and data analysis operations.
Legal & ethical use. Use this tool only on systems, networks and data that you own or have explicit written permission to test. Unauthorised access or scanning can break computer-misuse laws (for example Pakistan's Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and equivalents elsewhere). Practise in your own lab or in authorised environments such as CTFs.
What it is used for
- Decode Base64, hex and other encodings in CTFs
- Experiment with XOR, hashing and compression recipes
Key features
- Hundreds of operations
- Drag-and-drop recipes
- Runs entirely in your browser (also available offline)
Installation
Open the web app, or download the offline copy from the GitHub releases.
Beginner usage guide
Paste data in the input pane, drag operations such as From Base64 or XOR into the recipe and watch the output update; the Magic operation suggests likely decodings.
Example commands
Run these only against your own lab or authorised targets. Placeholder addresses such as 192.0.2.x are documentation ranges.
Example recipe (UI)
From Base64 → GunzipPaste a gzip+base64 string to decode it in two steps.
Keep learning
🎓 Learning path: Reverse Engineering
🚩 Practice challenge: Hidden in Plain Sight easy
🚩 Practice challenge: Metadata Detective easy
🚩 Practice challenge: Caesar's Lunch Break easy
🚩 Practice challenge: Reused Pad medium
References
Source verification
Last reviewed: 2026-10-27
Links checked over HTTP: 2026-10-27 07:51 UTC — official: 200, docs: 200, repo: 200
Commands were written from the official documentation and have not been executed on this site; test them in your lab.