SHA-256 is everywhere: bitcoin, TLS, Git, proofs, ...

Yet most explanations skip the internal mechanics and jump straight from:

Input → black box → hash

Which is fine for beginners, but it leaves out the interesting part: how the message is padded, how W[0..63] is generated, and how all 64 rounds update the internal state.

We built a tool that shows those steps in real time.

Live Demo: https://hashexplained.com/
Source (MIT): https://github.com/bitcoin-dev-project/hashes-visualizer

What it shows:
• message preprocessing & padding
• the 64-word schedule (W[0..63])
• round constants & bitwise functions
• (a..h) updating each round
• final digest construction

Reference: NIST FIPS 180-4: Secure Hash Standard