Helia is a lean, modular, and modern TypeScript implementation of IPFS for the prolific JS and browser environments.
See the Manifesto, the FAQ, and the State of IPFS in JS blog post from October 2022 for more info.
A quick overview of how to get different types of data in and out of your Helia node.
You can use the @helia/strings module to easily add and get strings from your Helia node:
import { createHelia } from 'helia'
import { strings } from '@helia/strings'
const helia = await createHelia()
const s = strings(helia)
const myImmutableAddress = await s.add('hello world')
console.log(await s.get(myImmutableAddress))
// hello world
The @helia/json module lets you add or get plain JS objects:
import { createHelia } from 'helia'
import { json } from '@helia/json'
const helia = await createHelia()
const j = json(helia)
const myImmutableAddress = await j.add({ hello: 'world' })
console.log(await j.get(myImmutableAddress))
// { hello: 'world' }
The @helia/dag-json allows you to store references to linked objects as CIDs:
import { createHelia } from 'helia'
import { dagJson } from '@helia/dag-json'
const helia = await createHelia()
const d = dagJson(helia)
const object1 = { hello: 'world' }
const myImmutableAddress1 = await d.add(object1)
const object2 = { link: myImmutableAddress1 }
const myImmutableAddress2 = await d.add(object2)
const retrievedObject = await d.get(myImmutableAddress2)
console.log(retrievedObject)
// { link: CID(baguqeerasor...) }
console.log(await d.get(retrievedObject.link))
// { hello: 'world' }
@helia/dag-cbor works in a
similar way to @helia/dag-json
but stores objects using
Concise Binary Object Representation:
import { createHelia } from 'helia'
import { dagCbor } from '@helia/dag-cbor'
const helia = await createHelia()
const d = dagCbor(helia)
const object1 = { hello: 'world' }
const myImmutableAddress1 = await d.add(object1)
const object2 = { link: myImmutableAddress1 }
const myImmutableAddress2 = await d.add(object2)
const retrievedObject = await d.get(myImmutableAddress2)
console.log(retrievedObject)
// { link: CID(baguqeerasor...) }
console.log(await d.get(retrievedObject.link))
// { hello: 'world' }
Check out the helia-examples repo for how to do mostly anything with your Helia node.
Check out the Helia examples repo, which covers a wide variety of use cases. If you feel something has been missed, follow the contribution guide and create a PR to the examples repo.
graph TD;
User["User or application"]-->IPNS["@helia/ipns"];
User-->UnixFS["@helia/unixfs"];
User-->Libp2p;
User-->Datastore;
User-->Blockstore;
UnixFS-->Blockstore;
IPNS-->Datastore;
subgraph helia [Helia]
Datastore
Blockstore-->BlockBrokers;
BlockBrokers-->Bitswap;
BlockBrokers-->TrustlessGateways;
Libp2p-->DHT;
Libp2p-->PubSub;
Libp2p-->IPNI;
Libp2p-->Reframe;
end
Blockstore-->BlockStorage["File system/IDB/S3/etc"];
Datastore-->DataStorage["Level/S3/IDB/etc"];
Bitswap-->Network;
TrustlessGateways-->Gateway1;
TrustlessGateways-->GatewayN;
DHT-->Network;
PubSub-->Network;
IPNI-->Network;
Reframe-->Network;
Helia embraces a modular approach and encourages users to bring their own implementations of various APIs to suit their needs.
The basic Helia API is defined in:
/packages/interface
The Helia APIThe API is implemented by:
/packages/helia
An peer to peer implementation that uses bitswap, libp2p and HTTP gateways as fallback/packages/http
A lightweight implementation that uses HTTP gateways exclusivelyHelia also ships a number of supplemental libraries and tools that can be combined with Helia API implementations to accomplish tasks in distributed and trustless ways.
These libraries are not intended to be the "one true implementation" of any given API, but are made available for users to include depending on the need of their particular application:
@helia/car
module@helia/dag-cbor
module@helia/dag-json
module@helia/ipns
module@helia/json
module@helia/mfs
module@helia/strings
module@helia/unixfs
moduleAn interop suite ensures everything is compatible:
/packages/interop
Interop tests for HeliaThere are several other modules available outside this repo:
@helia/verified-fetch
A fetch-like API for retrieving trustless, verified content from the distributed web@helia/delegated-routing-v1-http-api
An implementation of the Delegated Routing v1 HTTP API including a server and a client@helia/remote-pinning
A Helia client for communicating with IPFS Pinning Services@helia/http-gateway
An implentation of the IPFS HTTP Gateway API built with HeliaHelia v1 shipped in 202303 (see releases), and development keeps on trucking as we work on initiatives in the roadmap and make performance improvements and bug fixes along the way.
Please find and comment on the Roadmap here.
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.
Licensed under either of