Classic cryptography, made legible

Turn a message
into a method.

Explore three foundational ciphers through one focused workspace. Choose a path, set a key, and see the transformation happen in your browser.

Open the workspace
PLAINTEXTMEET AT NINE
OUTPUTPHHW DW QLQH
01 / INPUT 02 / TRANSFORM

Workbench

Build your transformation

Everything runs locally in this tab.
Nothing is uploaded.

01Choose a pathEncrypt or decrypt
02Choose a cipherPick your method
03Run the methodRead your result

Operation

What do you want to do?

Cipher model

Select a classic method to use.

3 available

Your key

A number from 0 to 25.

Required
iExample: 3 shifts A → D.

Plaintext

The message you want to transform.

0 characters
iLetters keep their case. Spaces and punctuation stay in place.

Result

Your transformed message

Awaiting input
✦

Your result will appear here.

Set a key and message above, then run the method.

Quick reference

Three ways to think about a key

A compact guide to the
models in this workspace.

01

Caesar

A single shift value moves every letter around the alphabet. It is fast to understand and easy to break.

KEY = SHIFT
02

Playfair

A keyword creates a 5×5 square. Two letters at a time are transformed using their shared row, column, or rectangle.

KEY = WORD
03

Hill

A matrix turns letter values into vectors. The matrix must have an inverse modulo 26 to decrypt.

KEY = MATRIX