Advanced Kubo Usage

Working with Go

Kubo (go-ipfs) is the oldest implementation of IPFS. It is a command-line application, but can also be used as a library in other Go programs.

For more about using Kubo, see any of the following reference documents:

• Configuration reference (opens new window)
  • Datastore configuration (opens new window)
  • Experimental features (opens new window)
• Installing command completion (opens new window)
• Mounting IPFS with FUSE (opens new window)
• Installing plugins (opens new window)

For more technical information about building, debugging or using the API, see:

• Performance Debugging Guidelines (opens new window)
• IPFS API Implementation (opens new window)
• Connecting with Websockets (opens new window)
• Building on Windows (opens new window)
• Additional guides (opens new window)

If you plan to use Kubo as a package in your own Go application, you can take any of three main approaches:

• Use kubo (opens new window) to run Kubo IPFS directly in your own process.
• Use kubo RPC client (opens new window) to communicate with a Kubo IPFS daemon in a separate process via its HTTP RPC API (this is what Kubo does if a daemon is already running).
• Use other Go packages to communicate with the HTTP RPC API directly. See the RPC API reference.

Go CoreAPI

CoreAPI interfaces (opens new window) for go-ipfs. Package iface defines IPFS Core API, which is a set of interfaces used to interact with IPFS nodes.

Go embedded client

Package coreapi (opens new window) provides direct access to the core commands in IPFS. If you are embedding IPFS directly in your Go program, this package is the public interface you should use to read and write files or otherwise control IPFS. This package is experimental and subject to change.

If you are running IPFS as a separate process, you should use go-ipfs-api to work with it via RPC. As we finalize the interfaces in this embedded client, go-ipfs-api will transparently adopt them so you can use the same code with either package.

Go HTTP clients

CoreAPI implementation using HTTP API (opens new window). This package is experimental and subject to change. For an old but stable Go HTTP client, use CoreAPI interfaces (opens new window).

Packages

This table is generated using the module package-table (opens new window) with package-table --data=package-list.json.

Listing of the main go packages in the IPFS ecosystem:

Name	Go Reference	Coverage	Description
Libp2p
go-libp2p	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	p2p networking library
go-libp2p-pubsub	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	pubsub built on libp2p
go-libp2p-kad-dht	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	dht-backed router
go-libp2p-pubsub-router	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	pubsub-backed router
Multiformats
go-cid	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	CID implementation
go-multiaddr	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	multiaddr implementation
go-multihash	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	multihash implementation
go-multibase	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	mulitbase implementation
Files
go-unixfs	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	the core 'filesystem' logic
go-mfs	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	a mutable filesystem editor for unixfs
go-ipfs-posinfo	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	helper datatypes for the filestore
go-ipfs-chunker	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	file chunkers
Exchange
go-ipfs-exchange-interface	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	exchange service interface
go-ipfs-exchange-offline	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	(dummy) offline implementation of the exchange service
go-bitswap	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	bitswap protocol implementation
go-blockservice	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	service that plugs a blockstore and an exchange together
Datastores
go-datastore	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	datastore interfaces, adapters, and basic implementations
go-ipfs-ds-help	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	datastore utility functions
go-ds-flatfs	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	a filesystem-based datastore
go-ds-measure	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	a metric-collecting database adapter
go-ds-leveldb	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	a leveldb based datastore
go-ds-badger	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	a badgerdb based datastore
Namesys
go-ipns	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	IPNS datastructures and validation logic
Repo
go-fs-lock	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	lockfile management functions
fs-repo-migrations	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	repo migrations
IPLD
go-block-format	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	block interfaces and implementations
go-ipfs-blockstore	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	blockstore interfaces and implementations
go-ipld-format	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	IPLD interfaces
go-ipld-cbor	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	IPLD-CBOR implementation
go-ipld-git	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	IPLD-Git implementation
go-merkledag	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	IPLD-Merkledag implementation (and then some)
Commands
go-ipfs-cmds	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	CLI & HTTP commands library
go-ipfs-files	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	CLI & HTTP commands library
go-ipfs-api	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	an old, stable shell for the IPFS HTTP API
go-ipfs-http-client	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	a new, unstable shell for the IPFS HTTP API
interface-go-ipfs-core	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	core go-ipfs API interface definitions
Metrics & Logging
go-metrics-interface	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	metrics collection interfaces
go-metrics-prometheus	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	prometheus-backed metrics collector
go-log	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	logging framework
Generics/Utils
go-ipfs-routing	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	routing (content, peer, value) helpers
go-ipfs-util	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	the kitchen sink
go-ipfs-addr	(opens new window)	(opens new window)	utility functions for parsing IPFS multiaddrs

Hands-on examples

There are use-case examples in the ipfs/kubo GitHub repository (opens new window). They're all self-contained projects that let your spin up and test environments quickly. Check them out → (opens new window).

A good starting place is the Use kubo as a library to spawn a node and add a file (opens new window).