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letsencrypt-cli (for node.js)

CLI for node-letsencrypt modeled after the official client.

• Free SSL Certificates
• 90-day certificate lifetime
• One-off standalone registration / renewal
• On-the-fly registration / renewal via webroot

Install Node

For Windows:

Choose Stable from https://nodejs.org/en/

For Linux and OS X:

curl -L bit.ly/nodejs-min | bash

Install LetsEncrypt

npm install -g letsencrypt-cli@2.x

Usage

These commands are shown using the testing server.

Want to use the live server?

1. remove the --server https://acme-staging.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
2. or change it to --server https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory

Note: This has really only been tested with single domains so if multiple domains doesn't work for you, file a bug.

Standalone

You can run standalone mode to get a cert on the server you will be using it for over ports 80 and 443 (or 5001) like so:

letsencrypt certonly \
  --agree-tos --email john.doe@example.com \
  --standalone \
  --domains example.com,www.example.com \
  --server https://acme-staging.api.letsencrypt.org/directory \
  --config-dir ~/letsencrypt/etc

Then you can see your certs at ~/letsencrypt/etc/live.

ls ~/letsencrypt/etc/live

This option is great for testing, but since it requires the use of the same ports that your webserver needs, it isn't a good choice for production.

WebRoot (for production)

You can specify the path to where you keep your index.html with webroot.

For example, if I want to get a domain for example.com and my index.html is at /srv/www/example.com, then I would use this command:

sudo letsencrypt certonly \
  --agree-tos --email john.doe@example.com \
  --webroot --webroot-path /srv/www/example.com \
  --config-dir /etc/letsencrypt \
  --domains example.com,www.example.com \
  --server https://acme-staging.api.letsencrypt.org/directory

Note that we use sudo because in this example we are using /etc/letsencrypt as the cert directory rather than ~/letsencrypt/etc, which we used in the previous example.

Then see your brand new shiny certs:

ls /etc/letsencrypt/live/

You can use a cron job to run the script above every 80 days (the certificates expire after 90 days) so that you always have fresh certificates.

Interactive (for debugging)

The token (for all challenge types) and keyAuthorization (only for https-01) will be printed to the screen and you will be given time to copy it wherever (file, dns record, database, etc) and the process will complete once you hit enter.

sudo letsencrypt certonly \
  --agree-tos --email john.doe@example.com \
  --manual
  --config-dir /etc/letsencrypt \
  --domains example.com,www.example.com \
  --server https://acme-staging.api.letsencrypt.org/directory

Test with a free domain

# Install Daplie DNS
npm install -g ddns-cli

# see terms of use
ddns --help

# agree to terms and get domain
ddns --random --email user@example.com --agree

# the default is to use the ip address from which
# you can the command, but you can also assign the
# ip manually
ddns --random --email user@example.com --agree -a '127.0.0.1'

Example domain:

rubber-duck-42.daplie.me

Run without Root

If you'd like to allow node.js to use privileged ports 80 and 443 (and everything under 1024 really) without being run as root or sudo, you can use setcap to do so. (it may need to be run any time you reinstall node as well)

sudo setcap cap_net_bind_service=+ep /usr/local/bin/node

By default node-letsencrypt assumes your home directory ~/letsencrypt/, but if you really want to use /etc/letsencrypt, /var/lib/letsencrypt/, and /var/log/letsencrypt you could change the permissions on them. Probably a BAD IDEA. Probabry a security risk.

# PROBABLY A BAD IDEA
sudo chown -R $(whoami) /etc/letsencrypt /var/lib/letsencrypt /var/log/letsencrypt

Command line Options

Usage:
  letsencrypt [OPTIONS] [ARGS]

Options:
      --email EMAIL             Email used for registration and recovery contact. (default: null)

      --domains URL             Domain names to apply. For multiple domains you can enter a comma
                                separated list of domains as a parameter. (default: [])

      --duplicate BOOLEAN       Allow getting a certificate that duplicates an existing one

      --agree-tos BOOLEAN       Agree to the Let's Encrypt Subscriber Agreement

      --debug BOOLEAN           show traces and logs

      --tls-sni-01-port NUMBER  Use TLS-SNI-01 challenge type with this port. (Default is 443)
                                (must be 443 with most production servers) (Boulder allows 5001 in testing mode)

      --http-01-port [NUMBER]   Use HTTP-01 challenge type with this port, used for SimpleHttp challenge. (Default is 80)
                                (must be 80 with most production servers)

      --dns-01                  Use DNS-01 challenge type.

      --rsa-key-size [NUMBER]   Size (in bits) of the RSA key. (Default is 2048)

      --cert-path STRING        Path to where new cert.pem is saved
                                (Default is :conf/live/:hostname/cert.pem)

      --fullchain-path [STRING] Path to where new fullchain.pem (cert + chain) is saved
                                (Default is :conf/live/:hostname/fullchain.pem)

      --chain-path [STRING]     Path to where new chain.pem is saved
                                (Default is :conf/live/:hostname/chain.pem)

      --domain-key-path STRING  Path to privkey.pem to use for domain (default: generate new)

      --config-dir STRING       Configuration directory. (Default is ~/letsencrypt/etc/)

      --server [STRING]         ACME Directory Resource URI. (Default is https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory))

      --standalone [BOOLEAN]    Obtain certs using a "standalone" webserver.  (Default is true)

      --manual [BOOLEAN]        Print the token and key to the screen and wait for you to hit enter,
                                giving you time to copy it somewhere before continuing. (Default is false)

      --webroot BOOLEAN         Obtain certs by placing files in a webroot directory.

      --webroot-path STRING      public_html / webroot path.

  -h, --help                    Display help and usage details

Note: some of the options may not be fully implemented. If you encounter a problem, please report a bug on the issues page.