How to Deploy CyberChef – Open-Source Data Transformation Platform

CyberChef is an open-source, browser-based application for performing data transformations and cyber operations. It supports encoding schemes like Base64 and hexadecimal, encryption algorithms including AES, DES, and Blowfish, hash generation, data compression, character encoding conversion, and network parsing for IPv6 and X.509 certificates. Operations chain together as "recipes" that can be saved and shared.

This article explains how to deploy CyberChef on a Linux server using Docker Compose. It covers directory setup, environment configuration, Traefik reverse proxy integration for automatic HTTPS, and demonstrates the application with a sample data transformation.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you need to:

• Have access to a Linux-based server (with at least 2 CPU cores and 4 GB of RAM) as a non-root user with sudo privileges.
• Install Docker and Docker Compose.
• Create a DNS A record pointing to your server's IP address (for example, cyberchef.example.com).

Set Up the Directory Structure, Configuration, and Environment Variables

CyberChef runs as a stateless container that serves static web assets. Traefik handles TLS termination and automatic certificate provisioning through Let's Encrypt.

1. Create the project directory and navigate into it.

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   $ mkdir -p ~/cyberchef
   $ cd ~/cyberchef

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   CyberChef is stateless and requires no persistent data directories. The only volume used is for Traefik's TLS certificates.

2. Create a .env file to store environment variables.

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   $ nano .env

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   Add the following configuration:

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   DOMAIN=cyberchef.example.com
   LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=admin@example.com

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   Replace:

   • cyberchef.example.com with your registered domain name.
   • admin@example.com with your email address for Let's Encrypt notifications.

   Save and close the file.

Deploy with Docker Compose

Traefik automatically discovers the CyberChef container through Docker labels and routes HTTPS traffic based on the configured domain. Let's Encrypt certificates are provisioned and renewed automatically.

1. Create the Docker Compose file.

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   $ nano docker-compose.yaml

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   Add the following manifest:

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   services:
     traefik:
       image: traefik:v3.6
       container_name: traefik
       command:
         - "--providers.docker=true"
         - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
         - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
         - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
         - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
         - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
         - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge=true"
         - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
         - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
         - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
       ports:
         - "80:80"
         - "443:443"
       volumes:
         - "letsencrypt:/letsencrypt"
         - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro"
       restart: unless-stopped
   
     cyberchef:
       image: ghcr.io/gchq/cyberchef:10.22.0
       container_name: cyberchef
       expose:
         - "80"
       labels:
         - "traefik.enable=true"
         - "traefik.http.routers.cyberchef.rule=Host(`${DOMAIN}`)"
         - "traefik.http.routers.cyberchef.entrypoints=websecure"
         - "traefik.http.routers.cyberchef.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
         - "traefik.http.services.cyberchef.loadbalancer.server.port=80"
       restart: unless-stopped
   
   volumes:
     letsencrypt:

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   Save and close the file.

   In the above manifest:

   • services: Launches two containers managed by Docker Compose:
     • traefik: Functions as the reverse proxy and TLS termination point.
     • cyberchef: Hosts the data transformation web application.
   • image: Defines which container image each service uses.
   • container_name: Sets a predictable name for each container, simplifying log inspection and management commands.
   • command (Traefik): Establishes Traefik's operational parameters—Docker provider integration, HTTP and HTTPS entry points, automatic redirection from HTTP to HTTPS, and Let's Encrypt certificate acquisition.
   • ports (Traefik): Maps host ports 80 and 443 to Traefik, allowing it to receive incoming web traffic.
   • expose (CyberChef): Opens port 80 internally so Traefik can forward requests without exposing the port directly to the host network.
   • volumes:
     • The letsencrypt named volume retains TLS certificates between container restarts.
     • The Docker socket mount (/var/run/docker.sock) enables Traefik to detect and configure routes for running containers automatically.
   • labels (CyberChef): Instructs Traefik to route HTTPS requests matching the configured domain to the CyberChef container.
   • restart: unless-stopped: Configures both containers to restart automatically after crashes or server reboots, unless explicitly stopped.

2. Start the containers in detached mode.

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   $ docker compose up -d

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3. Verify that both containers are running.

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   $ docker compose ps

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   Output:

   NAME        IMAGE                           COMMAND                  SERVICE     CREATED         STATUS         PORTS
   cyberchef   ghcr.io/gchq/cyberchef:10.22.0  "/docker-entrypoint.…"   cyberchef   3 seconds ago   Up 2 seconds   80/tcp
   traefik     traefik:v3.6                    "/entrypoint.sh --pr…"   traefik     3 seconds ago   Up 2 seconds   0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp, [::]:80->80/tcp, 0.0.0.0:443->443/tcp, [::]:443->443/tcp

4. View the logs for the services.

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   $ docker compose logs

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   For more information on managing Docker Compose stack, see the How To Use Docker Compose article.

Access CyberChef

CyberChef is a client-side application with no authentication or persistent state. All operations execute in the browser, and recipes can be exported as URLs or JSON files.

1. Open your web browser and navigate to CyberChef at https://cyberchef.example.com, replacing cyberchef.example.com with your configured domain name.

2. Verify the interface loads with four panels.

   

   The interface contains:

   • Operations (left): Searchable list of available transformations.
   • Recipe (center): Workspace where operations chain together.
   • Input (top-right): Text or file data to transform.
   • Output (bottom-right): Transformation results.

Run a Sample Data Transformation

CyberChef processes data by applying operations sequentially. The following example decodes a Base64-encoded string.

1. Paste the following Base64 string into the Input panel.

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   Q3liZXJDaGVmIHN1Y2Nlc3NmdWxseSBkZXBsb3llZCE=

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2. Search for From Base64 in the Operations panel and drag it into the Recipe area.

3. Click Bake to execute the transformation.

   Output:

   CyberChef successfully deployed!

   The decoded output confirms that CyberChef processes transformations correctly.

Conclusion

You have successfully deployed CyberChef on your server using Docker Compose with Traefik for automatic HTTPS. The setup provides secure browser access to a powerful data transformation toolkit without requiring authentication or server-side storage. CyberChef supports hundreds of operations for encoding, encryption, compression, and analysis that execute entirely in the browser. For more information, refer to the official CyberChef documentation.