Quick start

1. Import and initialize

import { init, setupGracefulShutdown } from '@ipfs-meshkit/meshkit';

const { meshkit, localNode } = await init({ localNode: true });
setupGracefulShutdown(localNode);

localNode: true starts or attaches to a Kubo daemon on http://127.0.0.1:5001 and stores the repo in ./.ipfs.

2. Upload content

upload accepts a Uint8Array. Use TextEncoder for strings, or read a file with fs.readFile:

const bytes = new TextEncoder().encode('Hello, IPFS!');
const cid = await meshkit.upload(bytes);

console.log(cid); // Qm...

3. Pin it

Pinned content is excluded from garbage collection:

await meshkit.pin(cid);

4. Retrieve by CID

const retrieved = await meshkit.retrieve(cid);
console.log(new TextDecoder().decode(retrieved)); // Hello, IPFS!

Full example

import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
import { init, setupGracefulShutdown } from '@ipfs-meshkit/meshkit';

const { meshkit, localNode } = await init({ localNode: true });
setupGracefulShutdown(localNode);

const file = await readFile('./document.pdf');
const cid = await meshkit.upload(file);
await meshkit.pin(cid);

console.log('Uploaded and pinned:', cid);
console.log('Active nodes:', meshkit.activeNodes);

Remote node (no local daemon)

If Kubo is already running on a server, skip localNode and pass the URL directly:

import { init } from '@ipfs-meshkit/meshkit';

const { meshkit } = await init({
  nodes: ['http://192.168.1.100:5001'],
});

const cid = await meshkit.upload(new TextEncoder().encode('remote upload'));

CommonJS

const { init } = require('@ipfs-meshkit/meshkit');

(async () => {
  const { meshkit } = await init({ nodes: ['http://127.0.0.1:5001'] });
  console.log(await meshkit.upload(Buffer.from('hello')));
})();