The JavaScript implementation of the IPFS protocol

Upgrading from <=0.40 to 0.48? See the release notes for the list of API changes and the migration guide.

We've come a long way, but this project is still in Alpha, lots of development is happening, APIs might change, beware of 🐉..

Getting started

• Read the docs
• Look into the examples to learn how to spawn an IPFS node in Node.js and in the Browser
• Consult the Core API docs to see what you can do with an IPFS node
• Visit https://dweb-primer.ipfs.io to learn about IPFS and the concepts that underpin it
• Head over to https://proto.school to take interactive tutorials that cover core IPFS APIs
• Check out https://docs.ipfs.io for tips, how-tos and more
• See https://blog.ipfs.io for news and more
• Need help? Please ask 'How do I?' questions on https://discuss.ipfs.io

Lead Maintainer

Alex Potsides

Table of Contents

• Getting started
  • Install as a CLI user
  • Install as an application developer
• Documentation
• Structure
• Packages
• Want to hack on IPFS?
• License

Getting Started

Install as a CLI user

Installing ipfs globally will give you the jsipfs command which you can use to start a daemon running:

$ npm install -g ipfs
$ jsipfs daemon
Initializing IPFS daemon...
js-ipfs version: x.x.x
System version: x64/darwin
Node.js version: x.x.x
Swarm listening on /ip4/127.0
.... more output

You can then add a file:

$ jsipfs add ./hello-world.txt
added QmXXY5ZxbtuYj6DnfApLiGstzPN7fvSyigrRee3hDWPCaf hello-world.txt

Install as an application developer

If you do not need to run a command line daemon, use the ipfs-core package - it has all the features of ipfs but in a lighter package:

$ npm install ipfs-core

Then start a node in your app:

const IPFS = require('ipfs-core')

const ipfs = await IPFS.create()
const { cid } = await ipfs.add('Hello world')
console.info(cid)
// QmXXY5ZxbtuYj6DnfApLiGstzPN7fvSyigrRee3hDWPCaf

Documentation

• Concepts
• Config
• Core API
• Examples
• Development

Structure

This project is broken into several modules, their purposes are:

• /packages/interface-ipfs-core Tests to ensure adherence of an implementation to the spec
• /packages/ipfs An aggregator module that bundles the core implementation, the CLI, HTTP API server and daemon
• /packages/ipfs-cli A CLI to the core implementation
• /packages/ipfs-core The core implementation
• /packages/ipfs-core-types Typescript definitions for the core API
• /packages/ipfs-core-utils Helpers and utilities common to core and the HTTP RPC API client
• /packages/ipfs-daemon Run js-IPFS as a background daemon
• /packages/ipfs-grpc-client A gRPC client for js-IPFS
• /packages/ipfs-grpc-protocol Shared module between the gRPC client and server
• /packages/ipfs-grpc-server A gRPC-over-websockets server for js-IPFS
• /packages/ipfs-http-client A client for the RPC-over-HTTP API presented by both js-ipfs and go-ipfs
• /packages/ipfs-http-gateway JS implementation of the IPFS HTTP Gateway
• /packages/ipfs-http-server JS implementation of the IPFS HTTP API
• /packages/ipfs-message-port-client A client for the RPC-over-HTTP API presented by both js-ipfs and go-ipfs
• /packages/ipfs-message-port-client A client for the RPC-over-message-port API presented by js-ipfs running in a shared worker
• /packages/ipfs-message-port-protocol Code shared by the message port client & server
• /packages/ipfs-message-port-server The server that receives requests from ipfs-message-port-client

Packages

List of the main packages that make up the IPFS ecosystem.

Package	Version	Deps	CI/Travis	Coverage	Lead Maintainer
Files
ipfs-unixfs					Alex Potsides
Repo
ipfs-repo					Alex Potsides
ipfs-repo-migrations					N/A
Exchange
ipfs-bitswap					Dirk McCormick
IPNS
ipns					Vasco Santos
Generics/Utils
ipfs-utils					Hugo Dias
ipfs-http-client					Alex Potsides
ipfs-http-response					Vasco Santos
ipfsd-ctl					Hugo Dias
is-ipfs					Marcin Rataj
aegir					Hugo Dias
libp2p
libp2p					Jacob Heun
peer-id					Vasco Santos
libp2p-crypto					Jacob Heun
libp2p-floodsub					Vasco Santos
libp2p-gossipsub					Cayman Nava
libp2p-kad-dht					Vasco Santos
libp2p-mdns					Jacob Heun
libp2p-bootstrap					Vasco Santos
libp2p-noise					N/A
libp2p-tcp					Jacob Heun
libp2p-webrtc-star					Vasco Santos
libp2p-websockets					Jacob Heun
libp2p-mplex					Vasco Santos
libp2p-delegated-content-routing					Jacob Heun
libp2p-delegated-peer-routing					Jacob Heun
IPLD
@ipld/dag-pb					N/A
@ipld/dag-cbor					N/A
Multiformats
multiformats					N/A
mafmt					Vasco Santos
multiaddr					Jacob Heun

This table is generated using the module package-table with package-table --data=package-list.json.

Want to hack on IPFS?

The IPFS implementation in JavaScript needs your help! There are a few things you can do right now to help out:

Read the Code of Conduct and JavaScript Contributing Guidelines.

• Check out existing issues The issue list has many that are marked as 'help wanted' or 'difficulty:easy' which make great starting points for development, many of which can be tackled with no prior IPFS knowledge
• Look at the IPFS Roadmap This are the high priority items being worked on right now
• Perform code reviews More eyes will help a. speed the project along b. ensure quality, and c. reduce possible future bugs.
• Add tests. There can never be enough tests.
• Join the Weekly Core Implementations Call it's where everyone discusses what's going on with IPFS and what's next

License