⛔️ DEPRECATED: This module has been superseded by multiformats

The JavaScript implementation of the IPLD

The JavaScript implementation of the IPLD, InterPlanetary Linked-Data

Project Status

This project is considered stable, but alpha quality implementation. The IPLD strategy for persistence and integration with IPFS has evolved since this package was created. This package will be deprecated once the new strategy is fully implemented. You can read more about the new strategy in Issue #260

IPLD Team Management

Tech Lead

Volker Mische

Lead Maintainer

Volker Mische

Install
Usage
API
Packages
Contribute
License

Install

> npm install --save ipld

Usage

const Ipld = require('ipld')
const IpfsRepo = require('ipfs-repo')
const IpfsBlockService = require('ipfs-block-service')

const initIpld = async (ipfsRepoPath) => {
  const repo = new IpfsRepo(ipfsRepoPath)
  await repo.init({})
  await repo.open()
  const blockService = new IpfsBlockService(repo)
  return new Ipld({blockService: blockService})
}

initIpld('/tmp/ipfsrepo2')
  .then((ipld) => {
    // Do something with the `ipld`, e.g. `ipld.get(…)`
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.error(error)
  })

API

The IPLD API works strictly with CIDs and deserialized IPLD Nodes. Interacting with the binary data happens on lower levels. To access the binary data directly, use the Block API.

All methods that return an async iterator return one that got extended with convenience methods:

iter.first(): Return the first item only
iter.last(): Return the last item only
iter.all(): Return all items as array

Example:

const result = ipld.getMany([cid1, cid2])
const node1 = await result.first()

IPLD constructor

Creates and returns an instance of IPLD.

const ipld = new Ipld(options)

The options is an object with any of these properties:

`options.blockService`

Type	Default
`ipfs.BlockService` instance	Required (no default)

Example:

const blockService = new IpfsBlockService(repo)
const ipld = new Ipld({blockService: blockService})

`options.formats`

Type	Default
Array of IPLD Format implementations	`[require('ipld-dag-cbor'), require('ipld-dag-pb'), require('ipld-raw')]`

By default only the dag-cbor), dag-pb) and raw) IPLD Formats are supported. Other formats need to be added manually. Here is an example if you want to have support for ipld-git only:

const ipldGit = require('ipld-git')

const ipld = new Ipld({
  formats: [ipldGit],
  …
})

`options.loadFormat(codec)`

Type	Default
`async Function`	`null`

Function to dynamically load an IPLD Format. It is passed a codec, the multicodec code of the IPLD format to load and returns an IPLD Format implementation. For example:

const multicodec = require('multicodec')
const ipld = new Ipld({
  async loadFormat (codec) {
    if (codec === multicodec.GIT_RAW) {
      return require('ipld-git')
    } else {
      throw new Error('unable to load format ' + multicodec.print[codec])
    }
  }
})

`.put(node, format, options)`

Stores the given IPLD Node of a recognized IPLD Format.

node (Object): the deserialized IPLD node that should be inserted.
format (multicodec, required): the multicodec of the format that IPLD Node should be encoded in.
options is an object with the following properties:
- hashAlg (multicodec, default: hash algorithm of the given multicodec): the hashing algorithm that is used to calculate the CID.
- cidVersion (number, default: 1): the CID version to use.
- onlyHash (boolean, default: false): if true the serialized form of the IPLD Node will not be passed to the underlying block store.
- signal (AbortSignal): a signal that can be used to abort any long-lived operations that are started as a result of this operation.

Returns a Promise with the CID of the serialized IPLD Node.

`.putMany(nodes, format, options)`

Stores the given IPLD Nodes of a recognized IPLD Format.

nodes (AsyncIterable<Object>): deserialized IPLD nodes that should be inserted.
format (multicodec, required): the multicodec of the format that IPLD Node should be encoded in.
options is applied to any of the nodes and is an object with the following properties:
- hashAlg (multicodec, default: hash algorithm of the given multicodec): the hashing algorithm that is used to calculate the CID.
- cidVersion (number, default: 1): the CID version to use.
- onlyHash (boolean, default: false): if true the serialized form of the IPLD Node will not be passed to the underlying block store.
- signal (AbortSignal): a signal that can be used to abort any long-lived operations that are started as a result of this operation.

Returns an async iterator with the CIDs of the serialized IPLD Nodes. The iterator will throw an exception on the first error that occurs.

`.resolve(cid, path, options)`

Retrieves IPLD Nodes along the path that is rooted at cid.

cid (CID, required): the CID the resolving starts.
path (IPLD Path, required): the path that should be resolved.
options an optional object that may have the following properties:
- signal (AbortSignal): a signal that can be used to abort any long-lived operations that are started as a result of this operation.

Returns an async iterator of all the IPLD Nodes that were traversed during the path resolving. Every element is an object with these fields:

remainderPath (string): the part of the path that wasn’t resolved yet.
value (*): the value where the resolved path points to. If further traversing is possible, then the value is a CID object linking to another IPLD Node. If it was possible to fully resolve the path, value is the value the path points to. So if you need the CID of the IPLD Node you’re currently at, just take the value of the previously returned IPLD Node.

`.get(cid, options)`

Retrieve an IPLD Node.

cid (CID): the CID of the IPLD Node that should be retrieved.
options an optional object that may have the following properties:
- signal (AbortSignal): a signal that can be used to abort any long-lived operations that are started as a result of this operation.

Returns a Promise with the IPLD Node that correspond to the given cid.

Throws an error if the IPLD Node can’t be retrieved.

`.getMany(cids, options)`

Retrieve several IPLD Nodes at once.

cids (AsyncIterable<CID>): the CIDs of the IPLD Nodes that should be retrieved.
options an optional object that may have the following properties:
- signal (AbortSignal): a signal that can be used to abort any long-lived operations that are started as a result of this operation.

Returns an async iterator with the IPLD Nodes that correspond to the given cids.

Throws an error if a IPLD Node can’t be retrieved.

`.remove(cid, options)`

Remove an IPLD Node by the given cid

cid (CID): the CIDs of the IPLD Node that should be removed.
options an optional object that may have the following properties:
- signal (AbortSignal): a signal that can be used to abort any long-lived operations that are started as a result of this operation.

Throws an error if the IPLD Node can’t be removed.

`.removeMany(cids, options)`

Remove IPLD Nodes by the given cids

cids (AsyncIterable<CID>): the CIDs of the IPLD Nodes that should be removed.
options an optional object that may have the following properties:
- signal (AbortSignal): a signal that can be used to abort any long-lived operations that are started as a result of this operation.

Throws an error if any of the Blocks can’t be removed. This operation is not atomic, some Blocks might have already been removed.

`.tree(cid, [path], [options])`

Returns all the paths that can be resolved into.

cid (CID, required): the CID to get the paths from.
path (IPLD Path, default: ''): the path to start to retrieve the other paths from.
options:
- recursive (bool, default: false): whether to get the paths recursively or not. false resolves only the paths of the given CID.
- signal (AbortSignal): a signal that can be used to abort any long-lived operations that are started as a result of this operation.

Returns an async iterator of all the paths (as Strings) you could resolve into.

`.addFormat(ipldFormatImplementation)`

Add support for an IPLD Format

ipldFormatImplementation (IPLD Format, required): the implementation of an IPLD Format.

Returns the IPLD instance. This way you can chain addFormat() calls.

`.getFormat(codec)`

Return the implementation for an IPLD Format

codec (multicodec, required): the codec of the IPLD Format to return the implementation from.

If the implementation is not present in the current list of resolvers, the loadFormat function passed as an option to the constructor of this module will be invoked and it's output added to the list of available resolvers.

`.removeFormat(codec)`

Remove support for an IPLD Format

codec (multicodec, required): the codec of the IPLD Format to remove.

Returns the IPLD instance. This way you can chain removeFormat() calls.

Properties

`defaultOptions`

Default options for IPLD.

Packages

Listing of dependencies from the IPLD ecosystem.

This table is generated using the module package-table with package-table --data=package-list.json.

Package	Version	Deps	CI	Coverage	Lead Maintainer
IPLD Formats
`ipld-bitcoin`					Volker Mische
`ipld-dag-cbor`					Volker Mische
`ipld-dag-pb`					Volker Mische
`ipld-ethereum`					Volker Mische
`ipld-git`					Volker Mische
`ipld-raw`					Volker Mische
`ipld-zcash`					Volker Mische
Data Types (non IPLD specific)
`multihashes`					David Dias
`ipfs-block`					Volker Mische
Storage
`ipfs-repo`					Jacob Heun
`interface-datastore`					Pedro Teixeira
`ipfs-block-service`					Volker Mische