age-concurrent

A concurrent, API-compatible wrapper around FiloSottile/age, providing efficient encryption and decryption using multiple workers.

Overview

age-concurrent is a drop-in replacement for age that accelerates encryption and decryption by utilizing multiple concurrent workers. It maintains full API compatibility with filippo.io/age, ensuring seamless integration while enhancing performance.

Features

• Concurrent Encryption & Decryption: Uses runtime.NumCPU() workers by default, configurable via EncryptN and DecryptN.
• API-Compatible: Functions and signatures match filippo.io/age.

Installation

go get github.com/bifrosta/age-concurrent

Usage

Encrypt

package main

import (
	"os"
	"github.com/bifrosta/age-concurrent"
)

func main() {
	file, _ := os.Create("encrypted.age")
	recipient, _ := age.ParseX25519Recipient("age1...")
	writer, _ := age.Encrypt(file, recipient)
	writer.Write([]byte("Hello, encrypted world!"))
	writer.Close()
}

Decrypt

package main

import (
	"os"
	"github.com/bifrosta/age-concurrent"
)

func main() {
	file, _ := os.Open("encrypted.age")
	identity, _ := age.ParseX25519Identity("AGE-SECRET-KEY-1...")
	reader, _ := age.Decrypt(file, identity)
	io.Copy(os.Stdout, reader)
}

Controlling Concurrency

writer, _ := age.EncryptN(file, 4, recipient) // Use 4 workers
reader, _ := age.DecryptN(file, 4, identity)  // Use 4 workers

Performance

Benchmark results on an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16-Core Processor show some speed improvements with increased concurrency:

CPU Cores	Read Speed (MB/s)	Write Speed (MB/s)
(upstream age)	3179	4202
1	3897	2682
2	4760	4659
4	5743	5484
8	7572	7479
16	8758	9268
32	7781	10503

Higher concurrency levels generally improve performance, particularly for encryption operations. However, performance may plateau at very high core counts due to memory bandwidth and synchronization overhead. Do your own testing to find the optimal concurrency level for your workload and hardware.

Experimental Status

Warning: This project is highly experimental and untested. While it aims to provide improved performance over age, it has not undergone rigorous security auditing or extensive testing. Use at your own risk, and do not rely on it for critical applications without performing your own verification.

License

age-concurrent is licensed under the same terms as age. See the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgements

Built on top of filippo.io/age with performance enhancements for concurrency.