DWN Server

Exposes a multi-tenanted DWN (aka Decentralized Web Node) through a JSON-RPC API over http: and ws:

• Supported DBs
• Installation
• Package usage
• Running The Server
• JSON-RPC API
  • Available Methods
    • dwn.processMessage
      • Params
      • Example Request Message
      • Example Success Response
      • Example Error Response
      • Transporting large amounts of data
      • Receiving large amounts of data
• npm scripts
• Configuration
  • Storage Options

Supported DBs

• LevelDB ✔️
• SQLite ✔️
• MySQL ✔️
• PostgreSQL ✔️

See more in Storage Options

Running online environment

Interested in contributing instantly? You can make your updates directly without cloning in the running CodeSandbox environment.

Installation

npm install @web5/dwn-server

Package usage

import { DwnServer } from '@web5/dwn-server';

const server = new DwnServer();

server.start();

Running the server

Running via docker

docker run -p 3000:3000 -v myvolume:/dwn-server/data ghcr.io/tbd54566975/dwn-server:main

This can run on services like AWS, GCP, VPS, home server (with ngrok or cloudflare), fly.io, render.com etc. Ideally the volume is persistent so that data is kept (or has to be synced back from another DWN instance).

Running a specific version

Running the command above will run the latest version at the time the image is pulled. If you need to run a specific version (and in many cases this is recommended) you can see the list published images here

To run a specific image: docker pull ghcr.io/tbd54566975/dwn-server@sha256:870e0f0f12016e6607060a81ea31458443f7439522fab2688d7a6706ab366c58

Running Locally for Development

git clone https://github.com/TBD54566975/dwn-server.git
cd dwn-server
npm install
npm run server

Building a docker image locally

A docker image is continuously published from this repository, but if you want to build it locally run: docker build -t dwn-server .

JSON-RPC API

JSON-RPC is a lightweight remote procedure call (RPC) protocol that uses JSON as a data format for exchanging information between a client and a server over a network. JSON-RPC is language-independent and transport-agnostic which makes it usable in a variety of contexts (e.g. browser, server-side)

With JSON-RPC, a client sends a request message to a server over a network, and the server responds with a response message.

The request message consists of:

• a method name (method)
• a set of parameters (params)
• an identifier (id).

The response message contains:

• the same identifier that was sent with the request message (id)
• the result of the method invocation (result)
• an error message if the method invocation failed (error)

Available Methods

dwn.processMessage

Used to send DWeb Messages to the server.

Params

Property	Required (Y/N)	Description
target	Y	The DID that the message is intended for
message	Y	The DWeb Message
encodedData	N	Data associated to the message (e.g. data associated to a RecordsWrite)

Example Request Message

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "b23f9e31-4966-4972-8048-af3eed43cb41",
  "method": "dwn.processMessage",
  "params": {
    "message": {
      "recordId": "bafyreidtix6ghjmsbg7eitexsmwzvjxc7aelagsqasybmql7zrms34ju6i",
      "descriptor": {
        "interface": "Records",
        "method": "Write",
        "dataCid": "bafkreidnfo6aux5qbg3wwzy5hvwexnoyhk3q3v47znka2afa6mf2rffkbi",
        "dataSize": 32,
        "dateCreated": "2023-04-30T22:49:37.713976Z",
        "dateModified": "2023-04-30T22:49:37.713976Z",
        "dataFormat": "application/json"
      },
      "authorization": {
        "payload": "eyJyZWNvcmRJZCI6ImJhZnlyZWlkdGl4Nmdoam1zYmc3ZWl0ZXhzbXd6dmp4YzdhZWxhZ3NxYXN5Ym1xbDd6cm1zMzRqdTZpIiwiZGVzY3JpcHRvckNpZCI6ImJhZnlyZWlheTVwNWZ1bzJhc2hqZXRvbzR1M3p1b282dW02cGlzNHl5NnUzaHE1emxsdmZhN2ZubXY0In0",
        "signatures": [
          {
            "protected": "eyJhbGciOiJFZERTQSIsImtpZCI6ImRpZDprZXk6ejZNa3UxaDRMZGtoWFczSG5uQktBTnhnVWFRMTYyY3ZXbVJ1emNiZDJZZThWc3RaI2RpZDprZXk6ejZNa3UxaDRMZGtoWFczSG5uQktBTnhnVWFRMTYyY3ZXbVJ1emNiZDJZZThWc3RaI3o2TWt1MWg0TGRraFhXM0hubkJLQU54Z1VhUTE2MmN2V21SdXpjYmQyWWU4VnN0WiJ9",
            "signature": "cy_RtWjjVK2mmKkI_35qiv54_1Pp_f7SjAx0z75PBL4th-fgfjuLZmF-V3czCWwFYMMnN0W4zl3LJ2jEf_t9DQ"
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "target": "did:key:z6Mku1h4LdkhXW3HnnBKANxgUaQ162cvWmRuzcbd2Ye8VstZ",
    "encodedData": "ub3-FwUsSs4GgZWqt5eXSH41RKlwCx41y3dgio9Di74"
  }
}

Example Success Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "18eb421f-4750-4e31-a062-412b71139546",
  "result": {
    "reply": {
      "status": {
        "code": 202,
        "detail": "Accepted"
      }
    }
  }
}

Example Error Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "1c7f6ed8-eaaf-447c-aaf3-b9e61f3f59af",
  "error": {
    "code": -50400,
    "message": "Unexpected token ';', \";;;;@!#@!$$#!@%\" is not valid JSON"
  }
}

Transporting large amounts of data

RecordsWrite data can be of any size. If needed, large amounts of data can be streamed to the server over http by:

• including the JSON-RPC request message in a dwn-request request header
• setting the content-type request header to application/octet-stream
• sending binary data in the request body.

💡 Examples can be found in the examples directory.

Receiving large amounts of data

RecordsWrite data can be of any size. RecordsWrite messages returned as the result of a RecordsQuery will include encodedData if the RecordsWrite data is under 9.77KB. Data larger than this will need to be fetched using RecordsRead which can be done over http. The response to a RecordsRead includes:

• The JSON-RPC response message in a dwn-response header
• The associated data as binary in the response body.

Examples can be found in the examples directory.

💡 TODO: Add examples in examples directory

Hosting your own DWN-server

By default, when you call web5.connect() there will be some bootstrap DWN nodes included which allow people to reach you via your DID.

You may want to run a DWN server just for you, or as a public service for you and your friends and family. DWNs can be as simple as a docker image or a node process running somewhere.

DWN-servers can run anywhere you can run node.js or docker. http and websocket need to be available to the DWN server. See below for some suggestions.

Running on render.com

You can run an instance on the render.com service:

• Create a render.com account
• Fork this repo
• Upgrade your render.com account to a paid account
• Create a new "Web service" type application
• Choose the forked repo to run (or you can point to the main repo)
• Choose the "starter" size instance
• Create a 1GB (or larger) disk, and mount it on /dwn-server/data

Running with ngrok

You can run a DWN-server on your local machine or home server and expose it to the internet using ngrok.

First, install ngrok

Then run:

docker run -p 3000:3000 -v myvolume:/dwn-server/data ghcr.io/tbd54566975/dwn-server:main

## in another terminal:
ngrok http 3000

Note the resulting publicly addressable https url for your DWN instance.

Running with cloudflared

Cloudflare has a tunnel service that you can use to expose your DWN server to the internet, if you run it on a server at home. With cloudflared installed, run the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/TBD54566975/dwn-server.git
cd dwn-server
npm install
npm run server

## in another terminal:

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:3000

Running on GCP

... check back soon ... (enterprising people I am sure can work it out)

npm scripts

Script	Description
npm run build:esm	compiles typescript into ESM JS
npm run build:cjs	compiles typescript into CommonJS
npm run build	compiles typescript into ESM JS & CommonJS
npm run clean	deletes compiled JS
npm run lint	runs linter
npm run lint:fix	runs linter and fixes auto-fixable problems
npm run test	runs tests
npm run server	starts server
npm run prepare	prepares husky for pre-commit hooks (auto-runs with npm install)

Configuration

Configuration can be set using environment variables

Env Var	Description	Default
DS_PORT	Port that the server listens on	3000
DS_MAX_RECORD_DATA_SIZE	Maximum size for RecordsWrite data. use b, kb, mb, gb for value	1gb
DS_WEBSOCKET_SERVER	Whether to enable listening over ws:. values: on,off	on
DWN_REGISTRATION_STORE_URL	URL to use for storage of registered DIDs. Leave unset to if DWN does not require registration (ie. open for all)	unset
DWN_REGISTRATION_PROOF_OF_WORK_SEED	Seed to generate the challenge nonce from, this allows all DWN instances in a cluster to generate the same challenge.	unset
DWN_REGISTRATION_PROOF_OF_WORK_ENABLED	Require new users to complete a proof-of-work challenge	false
DWN_REGISTRATION_PROOF_OF_WORK_INITIAL_MAX_HASH	Initial maximum allowed hash in 64 char HEX string. The more leading zeros (smaller number) the higher the difficulty.	false
DWN_TERMS_OF_SERVICE_FILE_PATH	Required terms of service agreement if set. Value is path to the terms of service file.	unset
DWN_STORAGE	URL to use for storage by default. See Storage Options for details	level://data
DWN_STORAGE_MESSAGES	URL to use for storage of messages.	value of DWN_STORAGE
DWN_STORAGE_DATA	URL to use for data storage	value of DWN_STORAGE
DWN_STORAGE_EVENTS	URL to use for event storage	value of DWN_STORAGE

Storage Options

Several storage formats are supported, and may be configured with the DWN_STORAGE_* environment variables:

Database	Example	Notes
LevelDB	level://data	use three slashes for absolute paths, two for relative. Example shown uses directory data in the current working directory
Sqlite	sqlite://dwn.db	use three slashes for absolute paths, two for relative. Example shown creates a file dwn.db in the current working directory
MySQL	mysql://user:pass@host/db?debug=true&timezone=-0700	all URL options documented here
PostgreSQL	postgres:///dwn	any options other than the URL scheme (postgres://) may also be specified via standard environment variables

Registration Requirements

There are multiple optional registration gates, each of which can be enabled (all are disabled by default). Tenants (DIDs) must comply with whatever requirements are enabled before they are allowed to use the server. Tenants that have not completed the registration requirements will be met with a 401. Note that registration is tracked in a database, and only SQL-based databases are supported (LevelDB is not supported). Current registration requirements are available at the /info endpoint.

• Proof of Work (DWN_REGISTRATION_PROOF_OF_WORK_ENABLED=true) - new tenants must GET /registration/proof-of-work for a challenge, then generate a nonce that produces a string that has a sha256 hex sum starting with the specified (complexity) number of zeros (0) when added to the end of the challenge (sha256(challenge + nonce)). This nonce should be POSTed to /registration/proof-of-work with a JSON body including the challenge, the nonce in field response and did. Challenges expire after 5 minutes, and complexity will increase based on the number of successful proof-of-work registrations that have been completed within the last hour. This registration requirement is listed in /info as proof-of-work-sha256-v0.
• Terms of Service (DWN_TERMS_OF_SERVICE_FILE_PATH=/path/to/terms-of-service.txt) - new tenants must GET /registration/terms-of-service to fetch the terms. These terms must be displayed to the human end-user, who must actively accept them. When the user accepts the terms, send the sha256 hash of the accepted terms and the user's did via POST /registration/terms-of-service. The JSON body should have fields termsOfServiceHash and did. To change the terms, update the file and restart the server. Users that accepted the old terms will be blocked until they accept the new terms. This registration requirement is listed in /info as terms-of-service.

Server info

the server exposes information about itself via the /info endpoint, which returns data in the following format:

{
  "server": "@web5/dwn-server",
  "maxFileSize": 1073741824,
  "registrationRequirements": ["proof-of-work-sha256-v0", "terms-of-service"],
  "version": "0.1.5",
  "sdkVersion": "0.2.6",
  "webSocketSupport": "true"
}

• server is read from the process.env.npm_package_name variable that npm provides. If that does not exist, it will check for a DWN_SERVER_PACKAGE_NAME environment variable set by the user, or otherwise it will default to @web5/dwn-server.
• version and sdkVersion are read from the package.json file. It will locate the file's path either from the process.env.npm_package_json variable that npm provides. If that does not exist, it will check for a DWN_SERVER_PACKAGE_JSON environment variable set by the user, or otherwise it will default to /dwn-server/package.json which is the path within the default Docker container build.