Updating Zencrypt Software Engineering and Design:
Add a solid UI/UX for a GUI (for example, in Python using Tkinter or PyQt)
Migrate zencrypt CLI from a single-file CLI script into a modular project structure
Implement industry best practices ( For example using a config file approach, logging, environment variables for secrets)
Expand to a web-service architecture (Flask/Django) so others can encrypt/decrypt remotely
This Flowchart helps to show the modular project structure, GUI or web-service interface, the config file usage, logging, environment-variable handling, etc along with all of the changes or additions that I am planning for a final release of Zencrypt.
With that in mind, I will mention that these adjustments wont change the core foundations of the Zencrypt v4 functions and their existing flowcharts for the logic used behind the encryption and decryption- More or less this will be used as a foundation to the final v5 of Zencrypt which will incorporate a new architectural approach that will be integrated around Zencrypt’s core functionality and the bigger picture behind the cipher and its use case.
Flowchart:
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ START (Zencrypt v5) │
└──────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1) Read Config & Env. Variables │
│ - Load config file (zencrypt.ini│
│ or .env) │
│ - Retrieve secrets / settings │
│ from environment variables │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2) Initialize Logging & Modular Architecture │
│ - Configure log handlers (for example, │
│ file, console) │
│ - Import modules (ui.py, cli.py, utils.py, │
│ crypto_ops.py, config.py, etc.) │
│ - Validate any required environment vars │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
│
▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3) Check Interface Mode (GUI / Web / CLI) │
│ - If "GUI" selected → proceed with Tkinter/PyQt │
│ - If "Web" selected → run Flask/Django server (REST / etc.) │
│ - Else → continue in CLI mode (legacy Zencrypt approach) │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌────────────────────┴────────────────────┐
│ │
▼ ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│4A) LAUNCH GUI (Tkinter/PyQt) │ │4B) LAUNCH WEB SERVICE (Flask/Django) │
│ - Build main window, forms, buttons │ │ - Start server at configured port │
│ - Connect event handlers → │ │ - Expose endpoints for encryption │
│ (encrypt, decrypt, file ops, etc.) │ │ / decryption / key management │
│ - Integrate logging │ │ - Integrate logging │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
▼ ▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 5A) User Interacts With GUI │ │ 5B) Users Interact With Web Endpoints │
│ - Inputs text/files, chooses │ │ - Submit encryption / decryption │
│ encryption mode, etc. │ │ requests │
│ - Calls underlying Zencrypt │ │ - API returns responses or files │
│ modules (crypto_ops.py) │ │ - Logging tracks usage / errors │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 6) CLI Mode (If Selected) │
│ - Present updated main menu │
│ (hashing, encrypt text, │
│ file ops, PGP, etc.) │
│ - Integrate new logging │
│ & config usage │
│ - Use same crypto_ops.py │
│ functions as GUI/Web modes │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 7) Finalize Operations & Exit/Shutdown (Any Mode) │
│ - Close opened files, sockets, windows │
│ - Clean up environment variables in memory │
│ - Save logs if necessary │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ END │
└──────────────────────────┘
