ipfslib 0.1.10

IPFS Library for Python

ipfslib - Python IPFS Library

Simple wrapper for IPFS Kubo RPC API in Python

Installation

py -m pip install ipfslib

Connect to API

First you need to create an object of the Connect class. For most usecases you don't need to specify any parameter as it's taking IPFS standard values:

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

If your API doesn't run on 127.0.0.1:5001, you can specify your own API endpoint:

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect("127.0.0.1", 5001)

Interacting with IPFS

There are some tools to interact with the IPFS network. But as this library is still in development some of the functions could change in behaviour any time.

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IPFS.add()

Adding files to IPFS is simple.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

cid = ipfslib.IPFS.add(api, "helloworld.txt")
print(cid)

This function can take the parameter mode. If 't' is passed, the file is opened in read mode (r). If 'b' is passed, then the file is opened in read byte mode (rb).

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IPFS.cat()

Getting files from IPFS by the IPFS-Path. IPFS-Paths start with /ipfs/ or /ipns/.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

path = "/ipfs/QmQrXZ4iXdEKQMiQT6GRg2Wy3vxb9exR25sYdaqoHwWWuR"
text = ipfslib.IPFS.cat(api, path)

print(text)

This function can also take a mode Parameter. It can either be set to 't' for "Text Mode", which returns a string in plain text. The other mode is 'b', which returns a string with byte data. This can be useful to retreive imagages from IPFS.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

path = "/ipfs/bafkreibih73gfbpgkmskacqtlsr4vtp47lmx24skh7jv27bnhsmhtivbeq"
data = ipfslib.IPFS.cat(api, path, mode='b')

with open('cat.png', 'wb') as img:
    img.write(data)

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IPFS.get()

With this function you can retreive data from an IPFS content identifier (CID).

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

cid = "QmQrXZ4iXdEKQMiQT6GRg2Wy3vxb9exR25sYdaqoHwWWuR"
text = ipfslib.IPFS.get(api, cid)

print(text)

This function can also take the mode parameter, which can be either set to 't' or 'b'. Read IPFS.cat() above to learn more.

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IPFS.rem()

Remove files from being provided to IPFS by their CID.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

cid = "QmQrXZ4iXdEKQMiQT6GRg2Wy3vxb9exR25sYdaqoHwWWuR"
ipfslib.IPFS.rem(cid)

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IPFS.resolve()

Resolve IPNS names to get the CID they're pointing to.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

ipns_name = "k51qzi5uqu5dk37cdlr3ztr4457txgqmukmiex8ohkzyeeqpwfph2e21sks16s"
cid = ipfslib.IPFS.resolve(api, ipns_name)

print(cid)

Interacting with IPNS Keys

Most of these tools can be used while offline, except of course ipfslib.Key.publish().

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Key.generate()

This let's you generate a new IPNS Key.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

ipns_name = ipfslib.Key.generate(api, "test_key")

print(ipns_name)

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Key.list()

Returns a list with dictionaries for every key. Each entry in the list has two keys (Name and Id). Name is the local name under which the key is stored. Id is the public IPNS Name of the key.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

keys = ipfslib.Key.list(api)

# Get the IPNS name of the Key with the name "test_key"
for key in keys:
    if key['Name'] == 'test_key':
        ipns_name = key['Id']
        break

print(ipns_name)

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Key.publish()

This let's you link a CID to your IPNS Name.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

cid = "QmQrXZ4iXdEKQMiQT6GRg2Wy3vxb9exR25sYdaqoHwWWuR"

ipfslib.Key.publish(api, cid, key_name='test_key')

If no key name is given to publish to, it will automatically publish to the 'self' key, which is your node's main key.

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Key.remove()

With this function you can remove previously generated keys.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

ipfslib.Key.remove(api, key_name='test_key')

If you try to remove a non exsistent key the function will throw an exception.

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Key.rename()

This let's you rename your IPNS keys locally.

import ipfslib
api = ipfslib.Connect()

old_name = "test_key"
new_name = "project_key"

ipfslib.Key.rename(api, old_name, new_name)

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Note

That's actually it for Version 0.1, thank you for considering to use my library. You can check out my blog to find out how I made this.

Blog: https://blog.remboldt.eu/ipfslib/
GitHub: https://github.com/remboldt/ipfslib/