What is Kubo?

Kubo was the first IPFS implementation and is the most widely used one today. Implementing the Interplanetary Filesystem - the Web3 standard for content-addressing, interoperable with HTTP. Thus powered by IPLD's data models and the libp2p for network communication. Kubo is written in Go.

Featureset

• Runs an IPFS-Node as a network service that is part of LAN and WAN DHT
• HTTP Gateway (/ipfs and /ipns) functionality for trusted and trustless content retrieval
• HTTP Routing V1 (/routing/v1) client and server implementation for delegated routing lookups
• HTTP Kubo RPC API (/api/v0) to access and control the daemon
• Command Line Interface based on (/api/v0) RPC API
• WebUI to manage the Kubo node
• Content blocking support for operators of public nodes

Other implementations

See List

What is IPFS?

IPFS is a global, versioned, peer-to-peer filesystem. It combines good ideas from previous systems such as Git, BitTorrent, Kademlia, SFS, and the Web. It is like a single BitTorrent swarm, exchanging git objects. IPFS provides an interface as simple as the HTTP web, but with permanence built-in. You can also mount the world at /ipfs.

For more info see: https://docs.ipfs.tech/concepts/what-is-ipfs/

Before opening an issue, consider using one of the following locations to ensure you are opening your thread in the right place:

• kubo (previously named go-ipfs) implementation bugs in this repo.
• Documentation issues in ipfs/docs issues.
• IPFS design in ipfs/specs issues.
• Exploration of new ideas in ipfs/notes issues.
• Ask questions and meet the rest of the community at the IPFS Forum.
• Or chat with us.

Next milestones

Milestones on GitHub

Table of Contents

• What is Kubo?
• What is IPFS?
• Next milestones
• Table of Contents
• Security Issues
• Minimal System Requirements
• Install
  • Docker
  • Official prebuilt binaries
    • Updating
      • Using ipfs-update
      • Downloading builds using IPFS
  • Unofficial Linux packages
    • ArchLinux
    • Gentoo Linux
    • Nix
    • Solus
    • openSUSE
    • Guix
    • Snap
    • Ubuntu PPA
  • Unofficial Windows packages
    • Chocolatey
    • Scoop
  • Unofficial MacOS packages
    • MacPorts
    • Nix
    • Homebrew
  • Build from Source
    • Install Go
    • Download and Compile IPFS
      • Cross Compiling
    • Troubleshooting
• Getting Started
  • Usage
  • Some things to try
  • Troubleshooting
• Packages
• Development
  • Map of Implemented Subsystems
  • CLI, HTTP-API, Architecture Diagram
  • Testing
  • Development Dependencies
  • Developer Notes
• Maintainer Info
• Contributing
• License

Security Issues

Please follow SECURITY.md.

Minimal System Requirements

IPFS can run on most Linux, macOS, and Windows systems. We recommend running it on a machine with at least 4 GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores (kubo is highly parallel). On systems with less memory, it may not be completely stable, and you run on your own risk.

Install

The canonical download instructions for IPFS are over at: https://docs.ipfs.tech/install/. It is highly recommended you follow those instructions if you are not interested in working on IPFS development.

Docker

Official images are published at https://hub.docker.com/r/ipfs/kubo/:

• 🟢 Releases
  • latest and release tags always point at the latest stable release
  • vN.N.N points at a specific release tag
  • These are production grade images.
• 🟠 We also provide experimental developer builds
  • master-latest always points at the HEAD of the master branch
  • master-YYYY-DD-MM-GITSHA points at a specific commit from the master branch
  • These tags are used by developers for internal testing, not intended for end users or production use.

$ docker pull ipfs/kubo:latest
$ docker run --rm -it --net=host ipfs/kubo:latest

To customize your node, pass necessary config via -e or by mounting scripts in the /container-init.d.

Learn more at https://docs.ipfs.tech/install/run-ipfs-inside-docker/

Official prebuilt binaries

The official binaries are published at https://dist.ipfs.tech#kubo:

From there:

• Click the blue "Download Kubo" on the right side of the page.
• Open/extract the archive.
• Move kubo (ipfs) to your path (install.sh can do it for you).

If you are unable to access dist.ipfs.tech, you can also download kubo (go-ipfs) from:

• this project's GitHub releases page
• /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech at dweb.link gateway

Updating

Using ipfs-update

IPFS has an updating tool that can be accessed through ipfs update. The tool is not installed alongside IPFS in order to keep that logic independent of the main codebase. To install ipfs-update tool, download it here.

Downloading builds using IPFS

List the available versions of Kubo (go-ipfs) implementation:

$ ipfs cat /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/versions

Then, to view available builds for a version from the previous command ($VERSION):

$ ipfs ls /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/$VERSION

To download a given build of a version:

$ ipfs get /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/$VERSION/kubo_$VERSION_darwin-386.tar.gz    # darwin 32-bit build
$ ipfs get /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/$VERSION/kubo_$VERSION_darwin-amd64.tar.gz  # darwin 64-bit build
$ ipfs get /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/$VERSION/kubo_$VERSION_freebsd-amd64.tar.gz # freebsd 64-bit build
$ ipfs get /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/$VERSION/kubo_$VERSION_linux-386.tar.gz     # linux 32-bit build
$ ipfs get /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/$VERSION/kubo_$VERSION_linux-amd64.tar.gz   # linux 64-bit build
$ ipfs get /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/$VERSION/kubo_$VERSION_linux-arm.tar.gz     # linux arm build
$ ipfs get /ipns/dist.ipfs.tech/kubo/$VERSION/kubo_$VERSION_windows-amd64.zip    # windows 64-bit build

Unofficial Linux packages

• ArchLinux
• Gentoo Linux
• Nix
• Solus
• openSUSE
• Guix
• Snap
• Ubuntu PPA

Arch Linux

# pacman -S kubo

Gentoo Linux

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Kubo

# emerge -a net-p2p/kubo

https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/net-p2p/kubo

Nix

With the purely functional package manager Nix you can install kubo (go-ipfs) like this:

$ nix-env -i kubo

You can also install the Package by using its attribute name, which is also kubo.

Solus

Package for Solus

$ sudo eopkg install kubo

You can also install it through the Solus software center.

openSUSE

Community Package for go-ipfs

Guix

Community Package for go-ipfs is no out-of-date.

Snap

No longer supported, see rationale in kubo#8688.

Ubuntu PPA

PPA homepage on Launchpad.

Latest Ubuntu (>= 20.04 LTS)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:twdragon/ipfs
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ipfs-kubo

Any Ubuntu version

sudo su
echo 'deb https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/twdragon/ipfs/ubuntu <<DISTRO>> main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ipfs
echo 'deb-src https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/twdragon/ipfs/ubuntu <<DISTRO>> main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ipfs
exit
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ipfs-kubo

where <<DISTRO>> is the codename of your Ubuntu distribution (for example, jammy for 22.04 LTS). During the first installation the package maintenance script may automatically ask you about which networking profile, CPU accounting model, and/or existing node configuration file you want to use.

NOTE: this method also may work with any compatible Debian-based distro which has libc6 inside, and APT as a package manager.

Unofficial Windows packages

• Chocolatey
• Scoop

Chocolatey

No longer supported, see rationale in kubo#9341.

Scoop

Scoop provides kubo as kubo in its 'extras' bucket.

PS> scoop bucket add extras
PS> scoop install kubo

Unofficial macOS packages

• MacPorts
• Nix
• Homebrew

MacPorts

The package ipfs currently points to kubo (go-ipfs) and is being maintained.

$ sudo port install ipfs

Nix

In macOS you can use the purely functional package manager Nix:

$ nix-env -i kubo

You can also install the Package by using its attribute name, which is also kubo.

Homebrew

A Homebrew formula ipfs is maintained too.

$ brew install --formula ipfs

Build from Source

kubo's build system requires Go and some standard POSIX build tools:

• GNU make
• Git
• GCC (or some other go compatible C Compiler) (optional)

To build without GCC, build with CGO_ENABLED=0 (e.g., make build CGO_ENABLED=0).

Install Go

If you need to update: Download latest version of Go.

You'll need to add Go's bin directories to your $PATH environment variable e.g., by adding these lines to your /etc/profile (for a system-wide installation) or $HOME/.profile:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin

(If you run into trouble, see the Go install instructions).

Download and Compile IPFS

$ git clone https://github.com/ipfs/kubo.git

$ cd kubo
$ make install

Alternatively, you can run make build to build the go-ipfs binary (storing it in cmd/ipfs/ipfs) without installing it.

NOTE: If you get an error along the lines of "fatal error: stdlib.h: No such file or directory", you're missing a C compiler. Either re-run make with CGO_ENABLED=0 or install GCC.

Cross Compiling

Compiling for a different platform is as simple as running:

make build GOOS=myTargetOS GOARCH=myTargetArchitecture

Troubleshooting

• Separate instructions are available for building on Windows.
• git is required in order for go get to fetch all dependencies.
• Package managers often contain out-of-date golang packages. Ensure that go version reports at least 1.10. See above for how to install go.
• If you are interested in development, please install the development dependencies as well.
• Shell command completions can be generated with one of the ipfs commands completion subcommands. Read docs/command-completion.md to learn more.
• See the misc folder for how to connect IPFS to systemd or whatever init system your distro uses.

Getting Started

Usage

To start using IPFS, you must first initialize IPFS's config files on your system, this is done with ipfs init. See ipfs init --help for information on the optional arguments it takes. After initialization is complete, you can use ipfs mount, ipfs add and any of the other commands to explore!

Some things to try

Basic proof of 'ipfs working' locally:

echo "hello world" > hello
ipfs add hello
# This should output a hash string that looks something like:
# QmT78zSuBmuS4z925WZfrqQ1qHaJ56DQaTfyMUF7F8ff5o
ipfs cat <that hash>

HTTP/RPC clients

For programmatic interaction with Kubo, see our list of HTTP/RPC clients.

Troubleshooting

If you have previously installed IPFS before and you are running into problems getting a newer version to work, try deleting (or backing up somewhere else) your IPFS config directory (~/.ipfs by default) and rerunning ipfs init. This will reinitialize the config file to its defaults and clear out the local datastore of any bad entries.

Please direct general questions and help requests to our forums.

If you believe you've found a bug, check the issues list and, if you don't see your problem there, either come talk to us on Matrix chat, or file an issue of your own!

Packages

See IPFS in GO documentation.

Development

Some places to get you started on the codebase:

• Main file: ./cmd/ipfs/main.go
• CLI Commands: ./core/commands/
• Bitswap (the data trading engine): go-bitswap
• libp2p
  • libp2p: https://github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p
  • DHT: https://github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-kad-dht
• IPFS : The Add command demystified

Map of Implemented Subsystems

WIP: This is a high-level architecture diagram of the various sub-systems of this specific implementation. To be updated with how they interact. Anyone who has suggestions is welcome to comment here on how we can improve this!

CLI, HTTP-API, Architecture Diagram

Origin

Description: Dotted means "likely going away". The "Legacy" parts are thin wrappers around some commands to translate between the new system and the old system. The grayed-out parts on the "daemon" diagram are there to show that the code is all the same, it's just that we turn some pieces on and some pieces off depending on whether we're running on the client or the server.

Testing

make test

Development Dependencies

If you make changes to the protocol buffers, you will need to install the protoc compiler.

Developer Notes

Find more documentation for developers on docs

Maintainer Info

Kubo is maintained by Shipyard.

• This repository is part of Shipyard's GO Triage triage.
• Release Process

Contributing

We ❤️ all our contributors; this project wouldn’t be what it is without you! If you want to help out, please see CONTRIBUTING.md.

This repository falls under the IPFS Code of Conduct.

Members of IPFS community provide Kubo support on discussion forum category here.

Need help with IPFS itself? Learn where to get help and support at https://ipfs.tech/help.

License

This project is dual-licensed under Apache 2.0 and MIT terms:

• Apache License, Version 2.0, (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)