ipfs-http-client (original) (raw)

⛔️ DEPRECATED: js-IPFS has been superseded by Helia

📚 Learn more about this deprecation or how to migrate

⚠️ If you continue using this repo, please note that security fixes will not be provided

ipfs-http-client

A client library for the IPFS HTTP API exposed by js-ipfs.

Note: The client library for the Kubo RPC API has moved into js-kubo-rpc-client.

Table of contents

• Install
  • Browser

    

    The JavaScript HTTP RPC API client library for js-ipfs.

    

    
    

    Getting Started

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

    npm install --save ipfs-http-client

    Both the Current and Active LTS versions of Node.js are supported. Please see nodejs.org for what these currently are.

    Next Steps

    • 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

    Usage

    create([options])

    create an instance of the HTTP API client

    Parameters

    None

    Options

    options can be a String, a URL or a Multiaddr which will be interpreted as the address of the IPFS node we wish to use the API of.

    Alternatively it can be an object which may have the following keys:

    Name	Type	Default	Description
    url	String or URL or Multiaddr	'http://localhost:5001/api/v0'	A URL that resolves to a running instance of the IPFS HTTP RPC API
    protocol	String	'http'	The protocol to used (ignored if url is specified)
    host	String	'localhost'	The host to used (ignored if url is specified)
    port	number	5001	The port to used (ignored if url is specified)
    path	String	'api/v0'	The path to used (ignored if url is specified)
    agent	http.Agent	http.Agent({ keepAlive: true, maxSockets: 6 })	An http.Agent used to control client behaviour (node.js only)

    Returns

    Type	Description
    Object	An object that conforms to the IPFS Core API

    Example

    import { create } from 'ipfs-http-client'

    // connect to the default API address http://localhost:5001 const client = create()

    // connect to a different API const client = create({ url: "http://127.0.0.1:5002/api/v0" });

    // connect using a URL const client = create(new URL('http://127.0.0.1:5002'))

    // call Core API methods const { cid } = await client.add('Hello world!')

    API

    

    js-ipfs-http-client implements the IPFS Core API - please follow the previous link to see the methods available.

    Additional Options

    All core API methods take additional options specific to the HTTP API:

    • headers - An object or Headers instance that can be used to set custom HTTP headers. Note that this option can also be configured globally via the constructor options.
    • searchParams - An object or URLSearchParams instance that can be used to add additional query parameters to the query string sent with each request.

    Instance Utils

    • ipfs.getEndpointConfig()

    Call this on your client instance to return an object containing the host, port, protocol and api-path.

    Static Types and Utils

    Aside from the default export, ipfs-http-client exports various types and utilities that are included in the bundle:

    • multiaddr
    • multibase
    • multicodec
    • multihash
    • CID
    • globSource (not available in the browser)
    • urlSource

    These can be accessed like this, for example:

    const { CID } = require('ipfs-http-client') // ...or from an es-module: import { CID } from 'ipfs-http-client'

    Glob source

    A utility to allow files on the file system to be easily added to IPFS.

    globSource(path, pattern, [options])

    • path: A path to a single file or directory to glob from
    • pattern: A pattern to match files under path
    • options: Optional options
    • options.hidden: Hidden/dot files (files or folders starting with a ., for example, .git/) are not included by default. To add them, use the option { hidden: true }.

    Returns an async iterable that yields { path, content } objects suitable for passing to ipfs.add.

    Example

    import { create, globSource } from 'ipfs'

    const ipfs = await create()

    for await (const file of ipfs.addAll(globSource('./docs', '**/'))) { console.log(file) } / { path: 'docs/assets/anchor.js', cid: CID('QmVHxRocoWgUChLEvfEyDuuD6qJ4PhdDL2dTLcpUy3dSC2'), size: 15347 } { path: 'docs/assets/bass-addons.css', cid: CID('QmPiLWKd6yseMWDTgHegb8T7wVS7zWGYgyvfj7dGNt2viQ'), size: 232 } ... */

    URL source

    A utility to allow content from the internet to be easily added to IPFS.

    urlSource(url)

    • url: A string URL or URL instance to send HTTP GET request to

    Returns an async iterable that yields { path, content } objects suitable for passing to ipfs.add.

    Example

    import { create, urlSource } from 'ipfs-http-client' const ipfs = create()

    const file = await ipfs.add(urlSource('https://ipfs.io/images/ipfs-logo.svg')) console.log(file)

    /* { path: 'ipfs-logo.svg', cid: CID('QmTqZhR6f7jzdhLgPArDPnsbZpvvgxzCZycXK7ywkLxSyU'), size: 3243 } */

    Running the daemon with the right port

    To interact with the API, you need to have a local daemon running. It needs to be open on the right port. 5001 is the default, and is used in the examples below, but it can be set to whatever you need.

    Show the ipfs config API port to check it is correct

    ipfs config Addresses.API /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/5001

    Set it if it does not match the above output

    ipfs config Addresses.API /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/5001

    Restart the daemon after changing the config

    Run the daemon

    ipfs daemon

    Importing the module and usage

    import { create } from 'ipfs-http-client'

    // connect to ipfs daemon API server const ipfs = create('http://localhost:5001') // (the default in Node.js)

    // or connect with multiaddr const ipfs = create('/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/5001')

    // or using options const ipfs = create({ host: 'localhost', port: '5001', protocol: 'http' })

    // or specifying a specific API path const ipfs = create({ host: '1.1.1.1', port: '80', apiPath: '/ipfs/api/v0' })

    In a web browser

    through Browserify

    Same as in Node.js, you just have to browserify the code before serving it. See the browserify repo for how to do that.

    See the example in the examples folder to get a boilerplate.

    through webpack

    See the example in the examples folder to get an idea on how to use js-ipfs-http-client with webpack.

    from CDN

    Instead of a local installation (and browserification) you may request a remote copy of IPFS API from jsDelivr.

    To always request the latest version, use one of the following examples:

    For maximum security you may also decide to:

    • reference a specific version of IPFS API (to prevent unexpected breaking changes when a newer latest version is published)
    • generate a SRI hash of that version and use it to ensure integrity. Learn more also at the jsdelivr website
    • set the CORS settings attribute to make anonymous requests to CDN

    Example:

    CDN-based IPFS API provides the IpfsHttpClient constructor as a method of the global window object. Example:

    const ipfs = window.IpfsHttpClient({ host: 'localhost', port: 5001 })

    If you omit the host and port, the client will parse window.host, and use this information. This also works, and can be useful if you want to write apps that can be run from multiple different gateways:

    const ipfs = window.IpfsHttpClient()

    Custom Headers

    If you wish to send custom headers with each request made by this library, for example, the Authorization header. You can use the config to do so:

    const ipfs = create({ host: 'localhost', port: 5001, protocol: 'http', headers: { authorization: 'Bearer ' + TOKEN } })

    Infura Header

    If you wish to send infura headers with each request made by this library, for example, the Authorization header. You can use the config to do so:

    const auth = 'Basic ' + Buffer.from(INFURA_ID + ':' + INFURA_SECRET_KEY).toString('base64'); const client = ipfsClient.create({ host: 'ipfs.infura.io', port: 5001, protocol: 'https', headers: { authorization: auth, }, });

    Global Timeouts

    To set a global timeout for all requests pass a value for the timeout option:

    // Timeout after 10 seconds const ipfs = create({ timeout: 10000 }) // Timeout after 2 minutes const ipfs = create({ timeout: '2m' }) // see https://www.npmjs.com/package/parse-duration for valid string values

    Development

    Testing

    We run tests by executing npm test in a terminal window. This will run both Node.js and Browser tests, both in Chrome and PhantomJS. To ensure that the module conforms with the interface-ipfs-core spec, we run the batch of tests provided by the interface module, which can be found here.

    Historical context

    This module started as a direct mapping from the go-ipfs cli to a JavaScript implementation, although this was useful and familiar to a lot of developers that were coming to IPFS for the first time, it also created some confusion on how to operate the core of IPFS and have access to the full capacity of the protocol. After much consideration, we decided to create interface-ipfs-core with the goal of standardizing the interface of a core implementation of IPFS, and keep the utility functions the IPFS community learned to use and love, such as reading files from disk and storing them directly to IPFS.

    License

    Licensed under either of

    • Apache 2.0, (LICENSE-APACHE / http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
    • MIT (LICENSE-MIT / http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

    Contribute

    Contributions welcome! Please check out the issues.

    Also see our contributing document for more information on how we work, and about contributing in general.

    Please be aware that all interactions related to this repo are subject to the IPFS Code of Conduct.

    Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.