An implementation of IPNS for Helia
IPNS operations using a Helia node
With IPNSRouting routers:
import { createHelia } from 'helia'
import { ipns } from '@helia/ipns'
import { unixfs } from '@helia/unixfs'
const helia = await createHelia()
const name = ipns(helia)
// create a public key to publish as an IPNS name
const keyInfo = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.createKey('my-key')
const peerId = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.exportPeerId(keyInfo.name)
// store some data to publish
const fs = unixfs(helia)
const cid = await fs.add(Uint8Array.from([0, 1, 2, 3, 4]))
// publish the name
await name.publish(peerId, cid)
// resolve the name
const result = name.resolve(peerId)
console.info(result.cid, result.path)
A recursive record is a one that points to another record rather than to a value.
import { createHelia } from 'helia'
import { ipns } from '@helia/ipns'
import { unixfs } from '@helia/unixfs'
const helia = await createHelia()
const name = ipns(helia)
// create a public key to publish as an IPNS name
const keyInfo = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.createKey('my-key')
const peerId = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.exportPeerId(keyInfo.name)
// store some data to publish
const fs = unixfs(helia)
const cid = await fs.add(Uint8Array.from([0, 1, 2, 3, 4]))
// publish the name
await name.publish(peerId, cid)
// create another public key to re-publish the original record
const recursiveKeyInfo = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.createKey('my-recursive-key')
const recursivePeerId = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.exportPeerId(recursiveKeyInfo.name)
// publish the recursive name
await name.publish(recursivePeerId, peerId)
// resolve the name recursively - it resolves until a CID is found
const result = name.resolve(recursivePeerId)
console.info(result.cid.toString() === cid.toString()) // true
It is possible to publish CIDs with an associated path.
import { createHelia } from 'helia'
import { ipns } from '@helia/ipns'
import { unixfs } from '@helia/unixfs'
const helia = await createHelia()
const name = ipns(helia)
// create a public key to publish as an IPNS name
const keyInfo = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.createKey('my-key')
const peerId = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.exportPeerId(keyInfo.name)
// store some data to publish
const fs = unixfs(helia)
const fileCid = await fs.add(Uint8Array.from([0, 1, 2, 3, 4]))
// store the file in a directory
const dirCid = await fs.mkdir()
const finalDirCid = await fs.cp(fileCid, dirCid, '/foo.txt')
// publish the name
await name.publish(peerId, `/ipfs/${finalDirCid}/foo.txt)
// resolve the name
const result = name.resolve(peerId)
console.info(result.cid, result.path) // QmFoo.. 'foo.txt'
Additional IPNS routers can be configured - these enable alternative means to publish and resolve IPNS names.
One example is the PubSub router - this requires an instance of Helia with libp2p PubSub configured.
It works by subscribing to a pubsub topic for each IPNS name that we try to resolve. Updated IPNS records are shared on these topics so an update must occur before the name is resolvable.
This router is only suitable for networks where IPNS updates are frequent and multiple peers are listening on the topic(s), otherwise update messages may fail to be published with "Insufficient peers" errors.
import { createHelia, libp2pDefaults } from 'helia'
import { ipns } from '@helia/ipns'
import { pubsub } from '@helia/ipns/routing'
import { unixfs } from '@helia/unixfs'
import { gossipsub } from '@chainsafe/libp2p-gossipsub'
const libp2pOptions = libp2pDefaults()
libp2pOptions.services.pubsub = gossipsub()
const helia = await createHelia({
libp2p: libp2pOptions
})
const name = ipns(helia, {
routers: [
pubsub(helia)
]
})
// create a public key to publish as an IPNS name
const keyInfo = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.createKey('my-key')
const peerId = await helia.libp2p.services.keychain.exportPeerId(keyInfo.name)
// store some data to publish
const fs = unixfs(helia)
const cid = await fs.add(Uint8Array.from([0, 1, 2, 3, 4]))
// publish the name
await name.publish(peerId, cid)
// resolve the name
const { cid, path } = name.resolve(peerId)
With default DNSResolver resolvers:
import { createHelia } from 'helia'
import { ipns } from '@helia/ipns'
import { unixfs } from '@helia/unixfs'
import { dnsOverHttps } from '@helia/ipns/dns-resolvers'
const helia = await createHelia()
const name = ipns(helia, {
resolvers: [
dnsOverHttps('https://private-dns-server.me/dns-query'),
]
})
const { cid, path } = name.resolveDns('some-domain-with-dnslink-entry.com')
Calling resolveDns
with the @helia/ipns
instance:
// resolve a CID from a TXT record in a DNS zone file, using the default
// resolver for the current platform eg:
// > dig _dnslink.ipfs.io TXT
// ;; ANSWER SECTION:
// _dnslink.ipfs.io. 60 IN TXT "dnslink=/ipns/website.ipfs.io"
// > dig _dnslink.website.ipfs.io TXT
// ;; ANSWER SECTION:
// _dnslink.website.ipfs.io. 60 IN TXT "dnslink=/ipfs/QmWebsite"
const { cid, path } = name.resolveDns('ipfs.io')
console.info(cid)
// QmWebsite
This example uses the Mozilla provided RFC 1035 DNS over HTTPS service. This uses binary DNS records so requires extra dependencies to process the response which can increase browser bundle sizes.
If this is a concern, use the DNS-JSON-Over-HTTPS resolver instead.
// use DNS-Over-HTTPS
import { dnsOverHttps } from '@helia/ipns/dns-resolvers'
const { cid, path } = name.resolveDns('ipfs.io', {
resolvers: [
dnsOverHttps('https://mozilla.cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query')
]
})
DNS-JSON-Over-HTTPS resolvers use the RFC 8427 application/dns-json
and can
result in a smaller browser bundle due to the response being plain JSON.
// use DNS-JSON-Over-HTTPS
import { dnsJsonOverHttps } from '@helia/ipns/dns-resolvers'
const { cid, path } = name.resolveDns('ipfs.io', {
resolvers: [
dnsJsonOverHttps('https://mozilla.cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query')
]
})
$ npm i @helia/ipns
<script>
tagLoading this module through a script tag will make its exports available as HeliaIpns
in the global namespace.
<script src="https://unpkg.com/@helia/ipns/dist/index.min.js"></script>
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