This module allows you to spawn long-lived IPFS implementations from any JS environment and interact with the as is they were in the local process.

It is designed mostly for testing interoperability and is not suitable for production use.

Spawning a single noder: createNode

Example: Spawning a Kubo node

import { createNode } from 'ipfsd-ctl'
import { path } from 'kubo'
import { create } from 'kubo-rpc-client'

const node = await createNode({
  type: 'kubo',
  rpc: create,
  bin: path()
})

console.info(await node.api.id())
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Manage multiple nodes: createFactory

Use a factory to spawn multiple nodes based on some common template.

Example: Spawning multiple Kubo nodes

import { createFactory } from 'ipfsd-ctl'
import { path } from 'kubo'
import { create } from 'kubo-rpc-client'

const factory = createFactory({
  type: 'kubo',
  rpc: create,
  bin: path()
})

const node1 = await factory.spawn()
const node2 = await factory.spawn()
//...etc

// later stop all nodes
await factory.clean()
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Override config based on implementation type

createFactory takes a second argument that can be used to pass default options to an implementation based on the type field.

import { createFactory } from 'ipfsd-ctl'
import { path } from 'kubo'
import { create } from 'kubo-rpc-client'

const factory = createFactory({
  type: 'kubo',
  test: true
}, {
  otherImpl: {
    //...other impl args
  }
})

const kuboNode = await factory.spawn()
const otherImplNode = await factory.spawn({
  type: 'otherImpl'
})
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Spawning nodes from browsers

To spawn nodes from browsers, first start an ipfsd-ctl server from node.js and make the address known to the browser (the default way is to set process.env.IPFSD_CTL_SERVER in your bundle):

Example: Create server

In node.js:

// Start a remote disposable node, and get access to the api
// print the node id, and stop the temporary daemon

import { createServer } from 'ipfsd-ctl'

const port = 9090
const server = createServer(port, {
  type: 'kubo',
  test: true
}, {
   // overrides
})
await server.start()
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In a browser:

import { createFactory } from 'ipfsd-ctl'

const factory = createFactory({
  // or you can set process.env.IPFSD_CTL_SERVER to http://localhost:9090
  endpoint: `http://localhost:${port}`
})

const node = await factory.createNode({
  type: 'kubo'
})
console.info(await node.api.id())
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Disposable vs non Disposable nodes

ipfsd-ctl can spawn disposable and non-disposable nodes.

• disposable- Disposable nodes are useful for tests or other temporary use cases, they create a temporary repo which is deleted automatically when the node is stopped
• non-disposable - Disposable nodes will not delete their repo when stopped