NAME.md

Name API

• name.publish
• name.pubsub.cancel
• name.pubsub.state
• name.pubsub.subs
• name.resolve

name.publish

Publish an IPNS name with a given value.

ipfs.name.publish(value, [options])

value is a base58 encoded IPFS multihash, such as: /ipfs/QmbezGequPwcsWo8UL4wDF6a8hYwM1hmbzYv2mnKkEWaUp.

options is an object that may contain:

{
  resolve:  // bool - Resolve given path before publishing. Default: true
  lifetime: // string - Time duration of the record. Default: 24h
  ttl:      // string - Time duration this record should be cached
  key:      // string - Name of the key to be used. Default: 'self'
  allowOffline: // bool - When offline, save the IPNS record to the the local datastore without broadcasting to the network instead of simply failing.
}

Note: allowOffline option is not yet implemented in js-ipfs. See tracking issue ipfs/js-ipfs#1997.

Returns

Type	Description
Promise<Object>	An object that contains the IPNS hash and the IPFS hash

example of the returned object:

{
  name: "/ipns/QmHash.."
  value: "/ipfs/QmHash.."
}

Example:

Imagine you want to publish your website under IPFS. You can use the Files API to publish your static website and then you'll get a multihash you can link to. But when you need to make a change, a problem arises: you get a new multihash because you now have a different content. And it is not possible for you to be always giving others the new address.

Here's where the Name API comes in handy. With it, you can use one static multihash for your website under IPNS (InterPlanetary Name Service). This way, you can have one single multihash poiting to the newest version of your website.

// The address of your files.
const addr = '/ipfs/QmbezGequPwcsWo8UL4wDF6a8hYwM1hmbzYv2mnKkEWaUp'

const res = await ipfs.name.publish(addr)
// You now have a res which contains two fields:
//   - name: the name under which the content was published.
//   - value: the "real" address to which Name points.
console.log(`https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/${res.name}`)

This way, you can republish a new version of your website under the same address. By default, ipfs.name.publish will use the Peer ID. If you want to have multiple websites (for example) under the same IPFS module, you can always check the key API.

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.

name.pubsub.cancel

Cancel a name subscription.

ipfs.name.pubsub.cancel(arg)

arg is the name of the subscription to cancel.

Returns

Type	Description
Promise<Object>	An object that contains the result of the operation

example of the returned object:

{
  canceled: true
}

Example:

const name = 'QmQrX8hka2BtNHa8N8arAq16TCVx5qHcb46c5yPewRycLm'

const result = await ipfs.name.pubsub.cancel(name)
console.log(result.canceled)
// true

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.

name.pubsub.state

Query the state of IPNS pubsub.

ipfs.name.pubsub.state()

Returns

Type	Description
Promise<Object>	An object that contains the result of the operation

example of the returned object:

{
  enabled: true
}

Example:

const result = await ipfs.name.pubsub.state()
console.log(result.enabled)
// true

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.

name.pubsub.subs

Show current name subscriptions.

ipfs.name.pubsub.subs()

Returns

Type	Description
Promise<Array>	An array of subscriptions

example of the returned array:

['/ipns/QmQrX8hka2BtNHa8N8arAq16TCVx5qHcb46c5yPewRycLm']

Example:

const result = await ipfs.name.pubsub.subs()
console.log(result)
// ['/ipns/QmQrX8hka2BtNHa8N8arAq16TCVx5qHcb46c5yPewRycLm']

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.

name.resolve

Resolve an IPNS name.

ipfs.name.resolve(value, [options])

value is a IPNS address, such as: /ipns/ipfs.io.

options is an object that may contain:

{
  recursive: // bool - Resolve until the result is not an IPNS name. Default: false.
  nocache: // bool - Do not use cached entries. Default: false.
}

Returns

Type	Description
AsyncIterable<String>	An async iterable that yields strings that are increasingly more accurate resolved paths.

Example:

// The IPNS address you want to resolve.
const addr = '/ipns/ipfs.io'

for await (const name of ipfs.name.resolve(addr)) {
  console.log(name)
  // /ipfs/QmQrX8hka2BtNHa8N8arAq16TCVx5qHcb46c5yPewRycLm
}

A great source of examples can be found in the tests for this API.