Default Attack Config Suggestions#

🧠 Task: Show Default Attack Config Suggestions#

ID: attack.default_config_suggestions Context: Attack Editor UI (Web)

🧭 Purpose#

Provide a curated list of default attack configurations (e.g., common mask patterns, rulesets, and charset combos) to guide new or casual users. These suggestions should be admin-managed and project-aware, enabling power users to surface battle-tested configurations to the rest of the team.

✅ Final Design Approach#

Rather than hardcoding suggestions or adding a new system, we will extend the existing AttackTemplate concept to allow templates to be stored and flagged as "recommended" in the backend.

Templates with recommended: true will be exposed to the frontend as default suggestions for use in the attack editor. These templates will be stored in the database (not just as import/export files) and may be project-scoped or global.

🔧 Implementation Tasks#

📦 Backend Tasks#

• Add a new AttackTemplateRecord database model to persist named templates server-side

• Include fields:

  • name: String
  • description: Text
  • attack_mode: Integer (enum reference to AttackMode)
  • recommended: Boolean
  • project_id: Integer (nullable, belongs_to , optional: true)
  • template_json: JSON
  • created_at: DateTime

• Create API endpoint GET /api/v1/web/templates/ - Returns only templates where recommended = true and project_id is null or equals the current project (unless the user is an admin)

  • Takes a parameter attack_mode: Integer to filter templates by attack mode
  • Takes a parameter project_id: Integer (nullable) to filter templates by project (unless the user is an admin)
  • Returns a JSON array of AttackTemplateRecord objects

• Add POST /api/v1/web/templates/ for creating a new template in the database (admin-only)

• Add GET /api/v1/web/templates/{id} for retrieving a template from the database

• Add PATCH /api/v1/web/templates/{id} for updating a template in the database (admin-only)

• Add DELETE /api/v1/web/templates/{id} for deleting a template in the database (admin-only)

🧑‍💼 Admin UI Tasks#

• Add UI to list and manage stored templates (admin-only)
• Add an upload form that accepts an AttackTemplate JSON file via drag and drop or file upload
• Allow global (project-less) templates to be marked as reusable across the entire instance
• Add a button to remove a template
• Add a button to open a modal to allow the assigned project to be selected via dropdown, with a save button, cancel button, and a "Clear Project" button to set it to null (global).

🎨 Attack Editor UI Tasks#

• Display a new dropdown or section labeled ""Use a Recommended Template"
• Pull recommended templates from the new endpoint (show all templates where project_id IS NULL or project_id equals the current project)
• Autofill the attack editor with the selected template's config (mask, rule, charset, etc.)
• Allow editing after selection — this is just a starting point to prefill the attack editor with a template, but the user should be able to edit the attack editor after selection.

🧠 Benefits#

• Admins can define reusable, pre-tuned configurations
• New users get battle-tested starting points without needing to understand hashcat internals
• Project-scoped recommendations allow tailored templates for different customers or ops
• TUI and CLI workflows can reuse the same backend logic