# Generate a Vanity v3 Hidden Service Onion Address with mkp224o

Let us start with some history: as of July 2021, only V3 addresses will be allowed and [V2 are deprecated](https://blog.torproject.org/v2-deprecation-timeline/) for security and privacy reasons, as the algorithm used in V2 is no longer secure. I'll write more about this when I've done my homework.

V3 onion addresses are **56 characters long** and end with `.onion`. V2 only had 16 characters, and the reason V3 addresses are so long is that they contain the full ed25519 public key, not just a hash of it.

I **plan to make ITTavern available over the Tor network**, and in preparation I have been looking into vanity onion addresses. An example of what a vanity address is is the facebook onion address:

`facebookwkhpilnemxj7asaniu7vnjjbiltxjqhye3mhbshg7kx5tfyd.onion`.

Even if it is still impossible to remember, it makes it a little better.


# mkp224o

There are dozens of tools to generate V3 onion addresses, but [mkp224o](https://github.com/cathugger/mkp224o) was the most recommended, so I thought I'd give it a try.

## Installation

The installation is straightforward and I won't go into too much detail, as it's described in more detail in the [repository](https://github.com/cathugger/mkp224o).

Assuming you are using Debian or Ubuntu, here are the simple steps:

```
sudo apt install gcc libc6-dev libsodium-dev make autoconf
git clone https://github.com/cathugger/mkp224o.git
cd ./mkp224o
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
```

That's it.

## Generating Keys

Let us start by creating a new directory in which we save the keys for the upcoming example..

`mkdir vanity-addresses`

**We are going through the most common options using an example**:

`./mkp224o -t 2 -d ./vanity-addresses -f wordlist.txt -o ./vanity-addresses/list-of-hits.log`

Explained:
: `/mkp224o` *# run the programm*
: `-t 2` *# limit to 2 threads - otherwise it tries to get all available*
: `-d ./vanity-addresses` *# directory where keys will be saved in*
: `-f wordlist.txt` *# list of filter words, every word must be in a new line*
: `-o ./vanity-addresses/list-of-hits.log` *# optional log file for found entries - use `-O` to overwrite instead of appending*

That said, it all depends on your needs. It could be as simple as `./mkp224o beer`

```
./mkp224o beer
sorting filters... done.
filters:
        beer
in total, 1 filter
using 4 threads
beerduqu5tb5m3h75dkjv5kcqfyirivtia6vmnpqatzjfq54pkohcryd.onion
beeri7cj2ba7jlz4hhvbhv3lydfiawmonslz7yv63dagl3abrvx3xgyd.onion
beerykugi53rz4rvpelywafzgscot5div5g4soe677xetli2ee7vgmyd.onion
beerxyjhfc5lltenz4q6at3yguqx3gh5m737aht44qvs57vjzycpe2qd.onion
beeraqevtz5dhnkzees2bhvldja4li57mcmqz3gzvlipk6holttevaqd.onion
beerxhx32jgjnov6mdjuhkhbttem2cw6pgrla53vajwddb6ful2xdsid.onion
[...]
```

To get **all options** simply run `./mkp224o -h`.
      
# Chances

Just to give you an idea about the chances of getting your favorite name. Note this reference is from similar program and performance will vary.

Source [katmagic/Shallot](https://web.archive.org/web/20230331011246/https://github.com/katmagic/Shallot) on Github (via Archive.org) with 1.5 Ghz:

| characters | time to generate (approx.) |
| ---------- | -------------------------- |
| 1          | less than 1 second         |
| 2          | less than 1 second         |
| 3          | less than 1 second         |
| 4          | 2 seconds                  |
| 5          | 1 minute                   |
| 6          | 30 minutes                 |
| 7          | 1 day                      |
| 8          | 25 days                    |
| 9          | 2.5 years                  |
| 10         | 40 years                   |
| 11         | 640 years                  |
| 12         | 10 millenia                |
| 13         | 160 millenia               |
| 14         | 2.6 million years          |


As you can see, length indeed matters. 

# Conclusion

It turned out to be easier than I thought. As I mentioned before, I'll try to keep this site available over Tor and will share new things I learn along the way.