I rewrote my 2012 self-signed cert generator in Go
cert-depot.com
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Back in 2012 I built https://cert-depot.com as a weekend project. Node.js + Express + jQuery, shelling out to OpenSSL for certificate generation. It worked but I eventually let it rot. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4766743Rewrote it from scratch in Go. The entire thing is a single binary with no external dependencies:1. Certificate generation uses Go's crypto/x509 (no OpenSSL)2. Certificates are generated in memory and streamed directly — nothing is stored on the server3. RSA 2048/4096 and ECDSA P-256/P-3844. Subject Alternative Names (required by browsers since Chrome 58)5. ZIP (PEM files) or PFX/PKCS#12 outputYou comments / suggestions / bug reports are very welcome. Thanks.Source: https://github.com/dimastopel/certdepot
HN · launched Apr 2, 2026 · 9 upvotes (top 45%) · 0 views
Niche: encryption and cryptography tools · 147 launches, 21 in the last 7 days ▲ +40% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Dev tools
- Developer
- Not AI
- Hobby / open-source project
More like this: all 147 launches in encryption and cryptography tools →
Could you build this?
Yes It is a simple Go HTTP server using the standard library's crypto/x509 and crypto/tls packages to generate self-signed SSL/TLS certificates.
Discussion
1 comment analyzed.
Concerns raised: CA cert distribution across heterogeneous environments (Linux, Windows, Java) becomes maintenance burden, Self-signed cert deployment complexity across multiple trust stores
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 167 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #70 of 168 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 135 days after the earliest competitor.
- SelfCertForge, manage root CAs and self-signed certs on macOS/Windows · hn · 2026-05-13 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.54
- CertKit for automating SSL certs to Windows, JKS, and appliances · hn · 2026-04-08 · 7 upvotes · similarity 0.46
- BitTorrent client written in Go without external dependencies · hn · 2026-02-28 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.46
- PassTheCert-rs · github · 2026-09-09 · 37 upvotes · similarity 0.45
- JWT Secret Key Generator · ph · 2026-11-11 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.45
- I built a DNS resolver from scratch in Rust · hn · 2026-04-02 · 115 upvotes · similarity 0.43
- Browser-based Nginx config generator with live preview · hn · 2026-09-09 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.43
- X509-certificate-exporter · hn · 2026-05-12 · 8 upvotes · similarity 0.41
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