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Quickstart Guide

Go from zero to quantum-safe encryption in under 5 minutes. By the end of this guide, you will have encrypted and decrypted your first message using Qpher's Kyber768 (ML-KEM-768) API.

Prerequisites​

  • A Qpher account (create one here)
  • An API key from your dashboard
  • A tool to make HTTP requests (cURL, Python, Node.js, or Go)

Step 1: Create Your Account​

Visit portal.qpher.ai/register and sign up. The Free plan includes 1,000 PQC operations per month -- more than enough to get started.

After verifying your email, you will land on your dashboard.

Step 2: Get Your API Key​

From the dashboard, navigate to Settings > API Keys and create a new key. Copy the key value -- it starts with qph_ and will only be shown once.

Store your API key securely

Your API key is displayed only at creation time. Store it in a secrets manager or environment variable. Never commit API keys to source control.

export QPHER_API_KEY="qph_your_key_here"

Step 3: Generate a PQC Key​

Before encrypting data, generate a Kyber768 key pair. Qpher creates and stores the key pair for you -- the private key never leaves our infrastructure.

Generate a Kyber768 key pair
curl -X POST https://api.qpher.ai/api/v1/kms/keys/generate \
-H "X-API-Key: qph_your_key_here" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"algorithm": "Kyber768"}'

The response includes the key_version (starting at 1) and the public_key. You will use the key_version in every subsequent operation.

{
  "data": {
    "algorithm": "Kyber768",
    "key_version": 1,
    "status": "active",
    "public_key": "base64-encoded-public-key..."
  },
  "request_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}

Step 4: Encrypt Your First Message​

Now encrypt a message. Pass your plaintext as a base64-encoded string along with the key_version from the previous step.

Encrypt a message with Kyber768
curl -X POST https://api.qpher.ai/api/v1/kem/encrypt \
-H "X-API-Key: qph_your_key_here" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"plaintext": "SGVsbG8gUXVhbnR1bSBXb3JsZCE=", "key_version": 1}'

The response contains the ciphertext and the key_version used. Save both -- you will need them for decryption.

{
  "data": {
    "ciphertext": "base64-encoded-ciphertext...",
    "key_version": 1,
    "algorithm": "Kyber768"
  },
  "request_id": "b2c3d4e5-f6a7-8901-bcde-f12345678901",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-15T10:30:05Z"
}
About the ciphertext

The ciphertext is a single base64-encoded blob that contains the KEM ciphertext, a nonce, the AES-256-GCM encrypted data, and an authentication tag. You do not need to parse or manage these components -- just store and pass it back to decrypt.

Step 5: Decrypt the Message​

To decrypt, send the ciphertext and the same key_version back to the decrypt endpoint.

Decrypt the ciphertext
curl -X POST https://api.qpher.ai/api/v1/kem/decrypt \
-H "X-API-Key: qph_your_key_here" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"ciphertext": "YOUR_CIPHERTEXT_FROM_STEP_4", "key_version": 1}'
{
  "data": {
    "plaintext": "SGVsbG8gUXVhbnR1bSBXb3JsZCE=",
    "key_version": 1,
    "algorithm": "Kyber768"
  },
  "request_id": "c3d4e5f6-a7b8-9012-cdef-123456789012",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-15T10:30:10Z"
}

Base64-decode the plaintext field to get your original message: Hello Quantum World!

Congratulations -- you have just performed quantum-resistant encryption and decryption.

What's Next?​

Now that you have made your first PQC API calls, explore more of what Qpher offers: