---
id: ocspbuilder
version: "0.10.2"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# ocspbuilder — Creates and signs online certificate status protocol (OCSP) requests and responses for X.509 certificates

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 1.9M/mo

## What it is and what it does

ocspbuilder is a Python library for constructing and signing OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) requests and responses used in X.509 certificate validation workflows. It is part of the modularcrypto family of cryptographic packages and sits alongside asn1crypto for ASN.1 handling and oscrypto for cryptographic operations.

The library handles the low-level construction of OCSP protocol messages, allowing developers to build certificate status responses that can be served to clients validating certificate chains. It abstracts the ASN.1 encoding and signing logic required by the OCSP standard, making it practical to implement OCSP responder functionality or generate OCSP requests for certificate validation in custom PKI systems.

Use it for:

- Build OCSP responses in a custom certificate authority or OCSP responder service.
- Generate OCSP requests to validate certificate status in client applications.
- Integrate certificate revocation checking into PKI infrastructure without external dependencies.
- Test OCSP protocol handling in certificate validation libraries or security tools.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

ocspbuilder creates and signs OCSP requests and responses for X.509 certificates, enabling certificate status validation in PKI systems.

Yes, if you need to work with OCSP protocol messages in a Python PKI system. The library has low install friction, permissive licensing, and no known vulnerabilities. The gap between the latest release (2016) and current maintenance activity warrants checking whether the library's maturity or stability meets your project's expectations, but active repository status suggests it is maintained.

## Install

pip install ocspbuilder
uv add ocspbuilder
poetry add ocspbuilder

## Installing ocspbuilder

Before you install: Low install friction with only two runtime dependencies (asn1crypto and oscrypto). Repository is active with recent commits, though the latest release was in 2016; maintenance status is marked active.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive, allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—suitable for most projects.

Quickstart:

pip install ocspbuilder

from ocspbuilder import OCSPResponseBuilder
from asn1crypto import x509

# Build and sign an OCSP response
response_builder = OCSPResponseBuilder()
# (configure with certificate, issuer, and signing key)

Requires asn1crypto and oscrypto; oscrypto may require system cryptographic libraries depending on platform.

Verify before relying:

- Current real-world adoption and whether 2016 latest release reflects active maintenance or stable maturity.
- Whether oscrypto's platform-specific crypto dependencies introduce practical friction on all target systems.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 1.9M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ocsp request response builder, certificate status protocol, x509 ocsp signing, pki certificate validation, online certificate status protocol, pki, certificate-validation, cryptography

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/ocspbuilder) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/ocspbuilder/)