Enigma
a walkthrough from Caesar ciphers to a working Enigma machine
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I recently went on a long walk (to get newborn twins to nap) and ended up having a long discussion with ChatGPT in voice mode; asking it to explain how the Enigma machine worked and clarifying all the errors in my current understanding.I ended up going right back to basics and then subsequently spent ages failing to understand how it was cracked. Anyway, I built this in an attempt to recreate that arc for people (like me) who find Enigma intimidating: 13 stages, ~15 minutes, ending in a sandbox machine and the "no letter encrypts to itself" flaw that doomed it.Built with React + SVG + GSAP. Rotor wirings and stepping are historically accurate; an Advanced toggle exposes Ringstellung and M4. Feedback very welcome, especially on stages that drag or lose you.
HN · launched May 27, 2026 · 5 upvotes (top 89%) · 0 views
Niche: encryption and cryptography tools · 147 launches, 21 in the last 7 days ▲ +40% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Education
- Dev tools
- B2C
- Not AI
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 147 launches in encryption and cryptography tools →
Could you build this?
Yes This is an educational frontend application that visually simulates classic ciphers and Enigma rotor stepping using standard JavaScript.
Discussion
No comments on this launch.
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 296 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #255 of 297 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 210 days after the earliest competitor.
- A working 3D model of an Enigma machine · hn · 2026-09-29 · 115 upvotes · similarity 0.67
- How Enigma worked and was cracked, explained with moving figures · hn · 2026-11-02 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.58
- I made a portals physics engine to prove my point · hn · 2026-11-03 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.49
- enigma_rs · github · 2026-10-29 · 20 upvotes · similarity 0.46
- Strange Attractors · hn · 2025-10-31 · 804 upvotes · similarity 0.46
- Wirespan, a daily power grid optimization puzzle I made for my son · hn · 2026-08-25 · 12 upvotes · similarity 0.45
- Odd Orbit · ph · 2026-10-30 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.45
- I used AI to recreate a $4000 piece of audio hardware as a plugin · hn · 2026-01-03 · 160 upvotes · similarity 0.44
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