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

ipfs is the core API, a CLI and a HTTP server that functions as a HTTP to IPFS bridge and an RPC endpoint.

If you want to integrate IPFS into your application without including a CLI or HTTP server, see the ipfs-core module.

Lead Maintainer

Alex Potsides

Table of Contents

• Getting Started
  • Install
  • Next Steps
• Want to hack on IPFS?
• License

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 🐉..

Install

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

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

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