Tanglestash

IOTA meets BitTorrent: An algorithm to persist any file onto the tangle of IOTA

Features

• Persist any data onto the tangle of IOTA
• Retrieve data that was persisted with this module beforehand
• Optionally encrypt your data with a password (via AES)
• Store a string or even a whole file without any prior conversion

GUI

Check out my other project tanglesta.sh here on GitHub which implements this module into a full-blown desktop app available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Idea

I really like the idea of the tangle of IOTA and I think that this cryptocurrency has a bright future. I run a full node myself and want the idea to succeed. The more I messed with IOTA, the further this idea formed in my mind to use the 2187 trytes of each transactions signature to store any data on the decentralised tangle.

This module can persist any string or even files directly onto the tangle via creating a torrent-esque chain of transactions that reference other transactions holding the data while also referencing their direct predecessor in the chain. That way, this module can also retrieve any data that was persisted beforehand by just passing the 'entry-hash' into it, which is the first transaction hash of the created chain. The data can be optionally encrypted with a secret via AES so that even if someone gets hold of an 'entry-hash', the data will still be illegible. Data is stored as a Base64 string and files will be automatically encoded if passed into the algorithm as well as decoded if retrieved – no prior conversion of the file needed.
Here is a diagram of the data structure I came with for this project:

Disclaimer

I know that primarily the persisting to the tangle is painfully slow compared to a traditional HTTP upload.
Keep in mind though that this project is more of a proof-of-concept rather than a finished product.
The reason that it takes so long is mainly the current speed of the PoW, which might get faster in the future with new techniques.

Additionally, it is important to note that this module just works with Node.js version 8 owing to the fact that a dependency is currently not functioning under version 9.

Installation

NPM

npm install --save tanglestash

Yarn

yarn add tanglestash

Usage

First off, create a new instance of the modules class

let tanglestash = new Tanglestash(provider, datatype, seed);

with the following arguments:

1. provider: String A URI of an IOTA full node
2. datatype: String Either 'file' or 'string' based on the data that will later be used
3. seed: String [Optional] An IOTA wallet seed; will be automatically generated if not passed here

readFromTangle

Retrieves data that was persisted onto the tangle in the past.

Input

tanglestash.readFromTangle(entryHash, secret)

1. entryHash: String Any transaction hash that was output after successfully persisting data beforehand; called 'entry-hash'
2. secret: String [Optional] The password the data was encrypted with; if any

Return Value

1. Promise.<*> - A file buffer of the retrieved data or a string based on this.datatype

saveToTangle

Persists data onto the tangle.

Input

tanglestash.saveToTangle(data, secret)

1. data: String The data as a string or file path based on this.datatype
2. secret: String [Optional] The password the data should be encrypted with; if any

Return Value

1. Promise.<string> - The last transaction hash of the created chain; called 'entry-hash'

getNewIotaAddress

Retrieves a new valid IOTA wallet address based on this.seed.

Input

tanglestash.getNewIotaAddress()

Return Value

1. Promise.<string> - The retrieved wallet address

getAllMarkyEntries

Returns all the marky entries used to time the main processes. If you've never used marky before, learn more about it here.

Input

tanglestash.getAllMarkyEntries()

Return Value

1. Array.<object> - All the timing entries created by marky

License

This project is licensed under the MIT license.
The included dynamic libraries are compiled from the ccurl repository licensed under MIT license.

Donations

If you like this module and want to support it, you can of course donate some IOTA 😊
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