Free · Private · Client-side

VAPID Key Generator

Generate VAPID (Voluntary Application Server Identification) key pairs for Web Push notifications. Required for sending push notifications through browsers.

Generated values never leave this device.

Algorithm

ECDSA P-256

Format

URL-safe Base64

Generated key pairECDSA P-256

Generating your VAPID key pair…

ECDSA key pair over the P-256 curve, encoded as URL-safe Base64 — the format Web Push (VAPID) requires.

What is VAPID?

VAPID (Voluntary Application Server Identification) is a specification that allows your application server to identify itself to push services (like Firebase Cloud Messaging, Mozilla Push Service, etc.) when sending push notifications.

Why VAPID?

No need to register with each push service
Works with all major browsers
Provides sender identification
Enables rate limiting and abuse prevention

Browser Support

Chrome / Edge (Chromium)
Firefox
Safari (macOS/iOS 16+)
Opera

Generate Locally

Generate VAPID keys using popular libraries:

Node.js web-push (recommended)

$npx web-push generate-vapid-keys

Python py-vapid

$pip install py-vapid && vapid --gen

OpenSSL (generates PEM format)

$openssl ecparam -name prime256v1 -genkey -noout -out vapid_private.pem

How to use these VAPID keys

Generate one key pair

Generate VAPID keys once per application and reuse them — changing keys invalidates every existing push subscription.

Use the public key in the browser

Pass the public key as applicationServerKey when calling pushManager.subscribe(). It is safe to expose in client-side code.

Keep the private key on your server

Store the private key as an environment variable and use it to sign push requests with a library like web-push.

Important

Generate keys once and reuse them for your application
If you change keys, all existing subscriptions become invalid
Store the private key securely as an environment variable
The public key is safe to expose in client-side code