v0.50.0

Note

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team and IPFS community.

Important

This is the last Kubo release with new features from the Shipyard team. Our IPFS work ends on September 30, 2026. Until then we will ship security and bug fix releases if any are needed. After that date, no one at Shipyard maintains IPFS Desktop. If you depend on IPFS Desktop, read the announcement and send us your transition questions before the end of September.

Highlights

🧊 Updated Kubo to v0.43 and Electron to v43

Bundled Kubo is now v0.43.0. See Release Notes for Kubo v0.43.0 for the full list of changes, key highlights below. Electron is now v43 (Chromium 150).

🗂️ Files No Longer Freezes During Garbage Collection

Adding, renaming or deleting in the Files screen while garbage collection was running could leave Files stuck for good: every later action hung, and restarting IPFS Desktop did not clear it. The two now take turns. A file whose data cannot be found anywhere also gives up with an error instead of waiting forever and blocking everything behind it. (details)

🔒 Security Fixes

Worth updating for. A remote peer could make your node's memory grow until you restarted it, using a transport every install listens on by default. (details)

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📡 Your Node Announces What You Keep, Not What You Browsed

Until now your node advertised every block it held, including everything picked up while browsing. It now announces your pins and the files in the Files screen. Expect less background traffic and CPU, and no more advertising content you only looked at once.

Change it any time under tray icon's Settings → Provide Strategy, where All Files, Pins, and Browsing Cache (default) restores the old behavior.

Important

This is applied to existing installs on first launch, unless you had already set Provide.Strategy yourself. If you were deliberately re-announcing content you fetched for others, switch back from the tray.

Files you add or pin are now announced immediately, rather than at the next reprovide cycle, so a link you copy right after adding a folder works sooner for the person you send it to.

🆕 New Installs Add Files as CIDv1

A fresh install now imports with the modern IPIP-499 profile: content you add gets a bafy... or bafk... address instead of Qm..., and files are split into 1 MiB chunks. Existing repositories keep the format they already use, since changing it would change the addresses of everything you add from then on.

Either way, pick what you want under tray icon's Settings → CID Profile.

🎨 Updated WebUI

The Web UI has been updated to v4.13.0.

• Sharing IPFS Links settings let Share Link hand out a native ipfs:// address or a link to your own node, instead of a public gateway. IPFS Desktop opens ipfs:// links through your local node.
• Deleting several files at once offers to remove their pins again, so batch deletes no longer leave the space unreclaimed.
• A failed IPNS publish now tells you why instead of sitting on a finished-looking progress bar.

🔕 Fewer Update Popups

Waking your laptop or losing Wi-Fi no longer produces an Update Download Failed dialog when the background check cannot reach GitHub. Real failures during a download still surface, and Check for Updates in the tray still reports what went wrong.

What's Changed

• fix(updater): mute transient update-check errors by @mikelsr in #3170
• chore: update stale github repo urls by @lidel in #3171
• chore(deps): bump actions/checkout from 4 to 7 by @dependabot[bot] in #3178
• chore(deps): bump actions/cache from 5 to 6 by @dependabot[bot] in #3179
• chore(deps): bump actions/setup-node from 6 to 7 by @dependabot[bot] in #3184
• feat: webui 4.13.0 by @lidel in #3185
• fix(ci): skip windows signing without secrets by @lidel in #3186
• feat: kubo 0.43.0, electron 43 by @lidel in #3188
• fix: kubo config defaults suited to desktop by @lidel in #3194
• feat: new repos import as CIDv1 from IPIP-499 by @lidel in #3195
• fix: robust provide strategy detection by @lidel in #3196

Full Changelog: v0.49.1...v0.50.0

v0.49.1

Note

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team and IPFS community.

Highlights

Kubo 0.42 and Electron 42

Bundled Kubo is now v0.42.0. Highlights include announcing CIDs on demand with ipfs provide once, exporting and importing partial CARs with --local-only, smoother first-run migrations of very old repos, and more reliable daemon shutdown. Electron is now v42 (Chromium 148).

Important

If you manually set Provide.DHT.Interval=0 in the Kubo config, the daemon now requires an explicit Provide.Enabled and refuses to start without it. See Provide.DHT.Interval=0 no longer disables providing for both options.

Fix for Stalled Imports Under Custom Provide Strategies

If you switched Settings → Provide Strategy to Only Files and Pins or Only Pins (added in v0.49.0), adding files and other pin operations could stall for hours whenever the node was reannouncing a large pinset to the DHT. Kubo 0.42 no longer blocks pin operations during the reprovide cycle. The default All Files, Pins, and Browsing Cache strategy was not affected.

More Useful Error Reports

When IPFS Desktop hits an unexpected error, the Report the error button opens a prefilled GitHub issue with the stack trace. The prefill travels in a URL with a hard length cap, and long traces (for example repo migration logs) used to be cut from the end, dropping the lines that name the actual failure. The cap is now four times higher, and when truncation is still needed, the report keeps both the beginning and the end of the trace, with a marker for how many lines were omitted.

What's Changed

• chore(deps): bump actions/upload-artifact from 5 to 7 by @dependabot[bot] in #3128
• chore: pull new translations by @github-actions[bot] in #3150
• fix(errors): preserve stack tail in report url by @lidel in #3152
• chore: pull new translations by @github-actions[bot] in #3166
• feat: kubo 0.42, electron 42 by @lidel in #3167

Full Changelog: v0.49.0...v0.49.1

v0.49.0

Note

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team and IPFS community.

Highlights

Kubo 0.41 and Electron 41

Bundled Kubo is now v0.41.0. Highlights include faster reclamation of provide queue disk space, and improved FUSE. Electron is now v41 (Chromium 135).

Pick a CID Format from the Tray

A new Settings → CID Profile submenu (IPIP-499) lets you switch the format used for newly imported content between the modern UnixFS v1 default (unixfs-v1-2025) and the legacy v0 format (unixfs-v0-2015). User edits made directly in JSON config show up as Manually edited in Kubo config, so the tray never overwrites a hand-tuned config.

Pick What You Announce to the Network

A new Settings → Provide Strategy submenu lets you cut down on what your node announces to the DHT:

• All Files, Pins, and Browsing Cache (Kubo default)
• Only Files and Pins
• Only Pins

Each preset also turns on fast-provide for newly imported content, so files show up on the network without waiting for the next reprovide cycle.

Cleaner Recovery When Your Install Is Out of Date

If Kubo refuses to start because the on-disk repo is newer than the bundled binary, the startup dialog now offers a Download latest release button linking to the latest release, instead of asking you to file a crash report.

Smoother WebUI Navigation

• Opening a tray entry while the window is visible navigates in place instead of reloading.
• The bandwidth graph and peer list pause rendering when the window is hidden, minimized, or covered.
• Routes survive a daemon restart instead of snapping back to Status.

Sharper Tray Icons on HiDPI Displays

Tray status icons now ship in every scale Electron's HiDPI resolver looks for, including @1.25x (the default on most 13" to 14" 1080p Windows laptops).

Better Linux Autostart with System Electron

If you launch IPFS Desktop through a system Electron (for example via the AUR package), the generated autostart entry now points at the correct app path and escapes shell-special characters, so the app reliably starts on login.

What's Changed

• fix: link to releases when repo version exceeds program by @lidel in #3144
• fix(tray): use scale-aware lookup for status menu icons by @RubenKelevra in #3126
• feat: kubo to 0.41 electron 41 by @lidel in #3146
• feat: add IPIP-499 CID Profile submenu to tray menu by @lidel in #3132
• feat: provide strategy tray menu by @lidel in #3149
• chore: pull new translations by @github-actions[bot] in #3148
• fix(webui): navigation fixes by @RubenKelevra in #3122
• feat(linux/autostart): include app path when launched via external electron by @RubenKelevra in #3123

Full Changelog: v0.48.0...v0.49.0

v0.48.0

Note

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team and IPFS community.

Highlights

Updated Kubo to v0.40

See Release Notes for Kubo v0.40.0 and v0.40.1 for details.

Updated Electron to v40

Electron has been updated from v39 to v40, bringing Chromium 134 and Node.js v22 under the hood.

Fixed Startup Crash with Busy Ports

The port conflict handler had a bug where it could corrupt multiaddr IP addresses producing an invalid address and crashing on startup. This is now fixed.

Updated WebUI

The Web UI has been updated from v4.10.0 to v4.12.0. Key changes across v4.11.0, v4.11.1, and v4.12.0:

Search and Filter Files

You can now search and filter files directly in the Files screen. Type a name, CID, or file extension and the list narrows down in real time. Works in both list and grid view.

DHT Provide Diagnostic Screen

New screen under Diagnostics that shows the health of DHT Provide operations. You can see reprovide cycle progress, worker utilization, queue status, and network throughput at a glance. It may take a few minutes after startup for the system to initialize and populate the data.

Improved Error Page for Missing Files

The Inspect button now resolves /ipfs/ and /ipns/ paths to their final CID before opening the IPLD Explorer. The Explore form also accepts ipfs:// and ipns:// protocol URLs. When a file is not found, the error page now shows actionable suggestions instead of a blank screen.

Peers Screen: IPv6 and Updated GeoIP

The Peers screen now supports IPv6 geolocation and ships with updated GeoLite2 data from February 2026.

Other WebUI Fixes

• Peer filter input now accepts /p2p/ prefix (#2475)
• Modal overlays are properly centered (#2477)
• Import error notifications now show proper error state (#2452)

What's Changed

• chore(ci): update github actions to node24 versions by @lidel in #3027
• chore: pull new translations by @github-actions[bot] in #3038
• chore: pull new translations by @github-actions[bot] in #3039
• feat: update webui to v4.11.0 by @lidel in #3047
• fix: update webui to v4.11.1 by @lidel in #3109
• fix: prevent port replacement from corrupting IP addresses by @lidel in #3035
• feat: kubo 0.40, electron 40 by @lidel in #3115
• fix: kubo 0.40.1 by @lidel in #3120
• feat: webui 4.12.0 by @lidel in #3129

Full Changelog: v0.47.0...v0.48.0

v0.47.0

Note

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team.

What's Changed

• feat: electron 39 + kubo 0.39 with sweep and fast root cid provides by @lidel in #3020
• feat: update webui to v4.10.0 by @lidel in #3015

Full Changelog: v0.46.2...v0.47.0

Highlights

🧊 Updated Kubo with New DHT Provide Sweep System

See Release Notes for Kubo v0.39.0 for the full list of changes, key highlights below:

⚡ Share Files Instantly

Previously, after adding files to IPFS Dsktop, it could take 30+ seconds before friends could find and download them. Now, when you add files or folders, they become discoverable on the network almost immediately (typically under a second).

This means you can share a link right after the upload finishes and it will just work.

🔌 Your Node Stays Reachable After Router Restarts

Home routers occasionally restart or lose their settings. Before, this would silently break your node's connectivity, forcing you to restart IPFS Desktop manually.

Now, IPFS Desktop automatically recovers its network port settings when your router comes back online. Your node stays reachable without any intervention.

📡 Smarter Content Announcements

The way your node tells the network about your files has been redesigned. The new "sweep" system:

• Uses less memory and bandwidth, less likely to kill your inexpensive router
• Announces content at a steady pace instead of bursts that could slow down your internet
• Remembers progress between restarts, so it picks up where it left off instead of starting over

This is especially helpful if you're self-hosting a lot of files on a regular home internet connection.

🎨 Updated WebUI

The Web UI has been updated to v4.10.0.

Fixed: Diagnostics logs now show full details

The Diagnostics screen introduced in v0.46.0 had a bug where log entries were missing important details.
This is now fixed - what you see in the WebUI matches what you'd see running ipfs log tail directly.

v0.46.2

Note

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team.

0.46.2 (2025-10-31)

What's Changed

• fix(windows): update publisher name by @lidel in #3013

Full Changelog: v0.46.1...v0.46.2

v0.46.1

Note

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team.

What's Changed

• fix: kubo 0.38.2 by @lidel in #3011

Full Changelog: v0.46.0...v0.46.1

v0.46.0

Note

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team.

What's Changed

• feat: webui 4.9 and electron 38 by @lidel in #2995
• fix: kubo v0.38.1 with Windows migrations by @lidel in #3003

Highlights

🧊 Updated Kubo

See Release Notes for v0.38.1

🎨 Updated WebUI

The Web UI has been updated to v4.9 with a new Diagnostics screen for troubleshooting and system monitoring.

Diagnostics: Logs	Files: Check Retrieval	Diagnostics: Retrieval Results
Debug issues in real-time by adjusting log level without restart (global or per-subsystem like bitswap)	Check if content is available to other peers directly from Files screen	Find out why content won't load or who is providing it to the network

Peers: Agent Versions
Know what software peers run

Files: Custom Sorting
Find files faster with new sorting

Additional improvements include a close button in the file viewer, better error handling, and fixed navigation highlighting.

🚨 Improved gateway error pages with diagnostic tools

Gateway error pages now provide more actionable information during content retrieval failures. When a 504 Gateway Timeout occurs, users see detailed retrieval state information including which phase failed and a sample of providers that were attempted:

• Enhanced error details: Timeout errors now display the retrieval phase where failure occurred (e.g., "connecting to providers", "fetching data") and up to 3 peer IDs that were attempted but couldn't deliver the content, making it easier to diagnose network or provider issues.
• Retry button on all error pages: Every gateway error page now includes a retry button for quick page refresh without manual URL re-entry.

Full Changelog: v0.45.0...v0.46.0

v0.45.0

0.45.0 (2025-08-27)

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team.

What's Changed

• feat: ipfs-webui v4.8.0 by @lidel in #2981
  • Release Notes: https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs-webui/releases/tag/v4.8.0
• feat: kubo 0.37 and Electron 37 by @lidel in #2988
  • Release Notes: https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/releases/tag/v0.37.0
• chore(readme): fix correct broken CI link by @alikhere in #2986

New Contributors

• @alikhere made their first contribution in #2986

Full Changelog: v0.44.0...v0.45.0

v0.44.0

0.44.0 (2025-07-14)

This release was brought to you by the Shipyard team.

What's Changed

• feat: kubo 0.36 by @lidel in #2963
  • Release Notes: https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/releases/tag/v0.36.0

Full Changelog: v0.43.0...v0.44.0