This repository introduces the falcon CLI tool, designed to facilitate exploration of the Falcon signature scheme.

This tool is part of the R&D work to make the Algorand blockchain quantum-safe, but it can also be used independently to explore Falcon signatures.

The tool implements the Falcon-1024 scheme, based on this implementation, using deterministic signing (which means signing a message with a given private key will always produce the same signature).

Falcon-1024 targets NIST security level 5 — i.e., at least as hard to break as brute-forcing AES-256 (~256-bit classical security). That’s the highest NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography category for signatures.

You need Go installed.

To install directly:

go install github.com/algorandfoundation/falcon-signatures/cmd/falcon@latest

This places the falcon binary in your Go bin directory (usually $GOBIN or $GOPATH/bin). Make sure that directory is on your PATH.

Verify installation:

falcon help

git clone https://github.com/algorandfoundation/falcon-signatures.git
cd falcon-signatures
make build

This creates the falcon binary in the current directory.

You can also run the tests:

make test

Run static analysis:

make vet

Available commands:

falcon create   : Create a new keypair
falcon sign     : Sign a message
falcon verify   : Verify a signature for a message
falcon info     : Display information about a keypair file
falcon help     : Show help
- -
falcon algorand : Algorand-specific commands

Detailed command syntax lives in per-command docs:

• falcon create
• falcon sign
• falcon verify
• falcon info
• falcon help
• falcon algorand

This project is licensed under the AGPL.