Kubo Python Library

A Python wrapper for the Kubo (Go-IPFS) library.

Overview

This library provides Python bindings for Kubo, the Go implementation of IPFS, allowing you to:

• Spawn an in-process IPFS node
• Add and retrieve files/directories from IPFS
• Connect to the IPFS network
• Manage IPFS repositories
• Publish and subscribe to IPFS PubSub topics
• Mount and connect to remote TCP services via libp2p

Project Status

This library is very early in its development, and is published as a proof-of-concept that it is feasible to write a python wrapper around kubo (Go-IPFS) to run IPFS nodes from within python. Much of the code is LLM-generated, and code coverage is poor.

The API structure of this library WILL CHANGE in the near future!

So far this library has been tested on Linux x86 64-bit and Android ARM 64-bit (in Termux & in Kivy). Assuming that it proves to be a reliable way of working in python, this library will be developed to maturity and maintained.

Installation

pip install ipfs_node

Dev Requirements

• Go 1.19+
• Python 3.7+
• IPFS Kubo dependencies

Basic Usage

Working with Files

from ipfs_node import IpfsNode

# Create a new node with a temporary repository
with IpfsNode.ephemeral() as node:
    # Add a file to IPFS
    cid = node.files.add_file("README.md")
    print(f"Added file with CID: {cid}")

    # Retrieve a file from IPFS
    node.files.download(cid, "/path/to/destination.txt")

Using PubSub

from ipfs_node import IpfsNode

with IpfsNode.ephemeral() as node:
    # Subscribe to a topic
    with node.pubsub.subscribe("my-topic") as subscription:
        # Publish a message
        node.pubsub.publish("my-topic", "Hello, IPFS world!")

        # Receive messages
        message = subscription.next_message(timeout=2.0)
        if message:
            print(f"Received: {message.data.decode('utf-8')}")

        # Or use a callback
        def on_message(msg):
            print(f"Received via callback: {msg.data.decode('utf-8')}")

        subscription.subscribe(on_message)

Using P2P Stream Mounting

from ipfs_node import IpfsNode

# Create an IPFS node
with IpfsNode.ephemeral() as node:

    # Example 1: Listen for connections on a protocol and forward them to a local service
    node.tunnels.open_listener("my-service", "127.0.0.1:8080")

    # Example 2: Forward local connections to a remote peer
    node.tunnels.open_sender("their-service", "127.0.0.1:9090", "QmPeerID...")

    # List active listeners and streams
    listeners, streams = node.tunnels.list_listeners()

    # Close specific connections when done
    node.tunnels.close_listener("my-service")
    node.tunnels.close_sender("their-service")

Documentation

• Installation Instructions
• PubSub Documentation
• P2P Stream Mounting

Examples

• Basic Usage
• File Sharing
• PubSub Example
• Chat Application
• P2P Stream Mounting
• P2P Socket Communication

License

MIT License