How I built an end-to-end encrypted pastebin (and why the server can’t read your text)

got annoyed that pastebin and similar sites log everything and keep your text forever, so i built one where the server literally cant read what you paste. heres how the encryption actually works and what i learned building it

the problem

most paste sites work like this: you type something, it goes to their server as plain text, and it sits in their database. they can read it. their employees can read it. anyone who breaches them can read it. and a lot of them keep it forever even after you think its gone.

i didnt want to just promise not to look at your stuff. i wanted it so that i cant look even if i wanted to.

the idea: encrypt before it leaves the browser