[Epic] Helia Node Type

[whizzzkid]

js-ipfs (embedded) node type was removed in #1225, helia can be a viable replacement. Consider helia as a node type.

[Thaina]

Are there any issue about this feature? I would like to use embeded node type directly in chrome browser

[lidel]

Yes! Some prerequisite work is happening in upstream projects:

• https://github.com/ipfs/helia-verified-fetch
• https://github.com/ipfs-shipyard/helia-service-worker-gateway

Mid term (technically possible)

Once we have SW Gateway implementation that works reliably, we will be able to add it as alternative backend here in Companion.

Initially, it will be deployed on some domain name, to provide origin isolation benefits of subdomain gateway.

This will provide drop-in replacement for deserializing subdomain gateways like https://dweb.link, but running gateway will be inexpensive, as it does not act as conduit in data transfer (behind the scenes blocks will be fetched from multiple providers, and hash verification will happen on users machine).

Long term (needs new APIs in browsers)

Our hope is that at some point in the future browser's will allow extensions to register SW as protocol handler:

• https://github.com/ipfs/in-web-browsers/issues/212 (future)

When that happens, ipfs-companion alone will be able to provide a experience to ipfs:// backend in Brave.