ipfsdaemonlauncher

IPFS Daemon Launcher

IPFS Daemon Launcher is a Go package that manages IPFS by running the ipfs binary as a separate process alongside your Go application. This package allows your Go application to start an IPFS node, connect it to the IPFS network, and interact with the node via the HTTP Kubo RPC API. Your Go application can also gracefully shut down the IPFS node when needed.

Key Features

1. Automatic IPFS Binary Download
   Upon the first usage in your Go application, the package automatically downloads the appropriate IPFS binary from the official IPFS distribution site, based on your machine's chipset (e.g., amd64, riscv, arm, etc.). The download process is blocking, but once the binary is downloaded, subsequent invocations are quick.

   Example:

   package main
   
   import (
       "log"
   
       "github.com/bartmika/ipfs-daemon-launcher"
   )
   
   func main() {
       // This step will download the IPFS binary if not already present.
       // Note: This is a blocking operation during the initial download.
       wrapper, initErr := ipfsdaemonlauncher.NewDaemonLauncher()
       if initErr != nil {
           log.Fatalf("Failed to create IPFS wrapper: %v", initErr)
       }
       if wrapper == nil {
           log.Fatal("Failed: wrapper cannot be nil")
       }
   
       // Continue with the rest of your application...
   }
   

2. Starting the IPFS Daemon in Background
   Your Go application can start the IPFS daemon concurrently, allowing it to run in the background. This operation is non-blocking, so your application continues running while IPFS is managed by the package.

   Example:

   // Continued from the previous example...
   
   // Start the IPFS daemon in the background (non-blocking).
   if startErr := wrapper.StartDaemonInBackground(); startErr != nil {
       log.Fatal(startErr)
   }
   
   // Ensure IPFS daemon is gracefully shut down when your application exits.
   defer func() {
       if endErr := wrapper.ShutdownDaemon(); endErr != nil {
           log.Fatal(endErr)
       }
   }()
   
   // Continue with the rest of your application...
   

3. Interacting with the IPFS Node
   Once the IPFS daemon is running, your Go application can interact with the node using the HTTP Kubo RPC API.

   Example:

   package main
   
   import (
       "context"
       "fmt"
       "log"
       "net/http"
       "os"
       "strings"
       "time"
   
       ipfsFiles "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-files"
       "github.com/ipfs/kubo/client/rpc"
   
       ipfsdaemonlauncher "github.com/bartmika/ipfs-daemon-launcher"
   )
   
   func main() {
       wrapper, initErr := ipfsdaemonlauncher.NewDaemonLauncher()
       if initErr != nil {
           log.Fatalf("failed creating ipfs-daemon-launcher: %v", initErr)
       }
       if wrapper == nil {
           log.Fatal("cannot return nil wrapper")
       }
   
       if startErr := wrapper.StartDaemonInBackground(); startErr != nil {
           log.Fatal(startErr)
       }
       defer func() {
           if endErr := wrapper.ShutdownDaemon(); endErr != nil {
               log.Fatal(endErr)
           }
       }()
   
       httpClient := &http.Client{}
       httpApi, err := rpc.NewURLApiWithClient("http://127.0.0.1:5001", httpClient)
       if err != nil {
           log.Printf("failed loading ipfs daemon: %v\n", err)
           return
       }
   
       content := strings.NewReader("Hellow world via `github.com/bartmika/ipfs-daemon-launcher/examples/rpc/main.go`!")
       p, err := httpApi.Unixfs().Add(context.Background(), ipfsFiles.NewReaderFile(content))
       if err != nil {
           log.Printf("failed adding data to ipfs: %v\n", err)
           return
       }
   
       fmt.Printf("Data successfully stored in IPFS with file CID: %v\n", p)
   }
   

Note: You can see the full code of above in rpc example code folder.

Installation

STEP 1 - Install our package

go get github.com/bartmika/ipfs-daemon-launcher

STEP 2 - Update your .gitgnore to not include binary

Inside your projects git repository, update your .gitgnore to include the following so your repo doesn't save the ipfs binary!

bin
./bin
./bin/*

STEP 3 - Open port 4001 on your machine

On your server, open port 4001 as this is called the called the Swarm port that ipfs uses to connect to the IPFS network.

Documentation

All documentation can be found here.

Usage

See examples folder.

Contributing

Found a bug? Want a feature to improve your developer experience when finding the difference? Please create an issue.

License

Made with ❤️ by Bartlomiej Mika.
The project is licensed under the ISC License.