Kubo RPC Client

JavaScript client library for the Kubo RPC API

> A client library for the Kubo RPC API

Install

``console
$ npm i kubo-rpc-client
`

Browser
`

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

$3

- Read the docs
- Look into the examples to learn how to spawn an RPC client or a full IPFS node in Node.js and in the Browser
- Consult the Core API docs to see what you can do with an IPFS node
- Check out for tips, how-tos and more
- Head over to to take interactive tutorials that cover core IPFS APIs
- See for news and more
- Need help? Please ask 'How do I?' questions on

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

`JavaScript
import { create } from 'kubo-rpc-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!')
`

Do you use Kubo's API.Authorizations? Check the Custom Headers section.

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kubo-rpc-client will not implement the IPFS Core API. Please see for more information.

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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.

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- ipfs.getEndpointConfig()

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

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Aside from the default export, kubo-rpc-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:

`js
import { CID } from 'kubo-rpc-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

`js
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

`js
import { create, urlSource } from 'kubo-rpc-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
}
*/
`

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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.

`sh


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
`

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`javascript
import { create } from 'kubo-rpc-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' })
`

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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 kubo-rpc-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:

`html


`

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:

`html
src="https://www.jsdelivr.com/package/npm/kubo-rpc-client"
integrity="sha384-5bXRcW9kyxxnSMbOoHzraqa7Z0PQWIao+cgeg327zit1hz5LZCEbIMx/LWKPReuB"
crossorigin="anonymous"
>
`

CDN-based IPFS API provides the KuboRpcClient object of the global window object. Example:

`js
const ipfs = window.KuboRpcClient.create({ 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:

`js
const ipfs = window.KuboRpcClient.create()
`

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If you wish to send custom headers with each request made by this library, for example, the Authorization header. This can be useful if your Kubo node has keys defined in API.Authorizations.

If you're using bearer:token, where token is abc123:

`js
const ipfs = create({
host: 'localhost',
port: 5001,
protocol: 'http',
headers: {
authorization: 'Bearer abc123'
}
})
`

If you're using basic:user:password, where user:password is alice:secret:

`js
const ipfs = create({
host: 'localhost',
port: 5001,
protocol: 'http',
headers: {
// For Node.js, using:
// Buffer.from('alice:secret').toString('base64')
// is preferred over using btoa.
authorization: 'Basic ' + btoa('alice:secret')
}
})
`

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

`js
// 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

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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.

#### Testing with Custom Kubo Binary

By default, tests use the kubo binary from node_modules. To test with a custom kubo binary (e.g., a development version), use the IPFS_GO_EXEC environment variable:

`bash


Test with a custom kubo binary

IPFS_GO_EXEC=/path/to/custom/kubo npm test

Example: testing with locally built kubo

IPFS_GO_EXEC=/home/user/kubo/cmd/ipfs/ipfs npm test
`

This is particularly useful when developing features that require changes to both kubo and this client.

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.

API Docs

-

License

Licensed under either of

- Apache 2.0, (LICENSE-APACHE / )
- MIT (LICENSE-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.