ipfs

package module

v0.42.0 Latest Latest Go to latest Published: Jun 8, 2026 License: Apache-2.0, MIT, Apache-2.0, + 1 more Imports: 5 Imported by: 4

Details

Valid go.mod file
Redistributable license
Tagged version
Stable version
Learn more about best practices

Repository

github.com/ipfs/kubo

Links

Open Source Insights

README ¶

Kubo: IPFS Implementation in Go

The first implementation of IPFS.

What is Kubo?

Kubo was the first IPFS implementation and is the most widely used one today. It takes an opinionated approach to content-addressing (CIDs, DAGs) that maximizes interoperability: UnixFS for files and directories, HTTP Gateways for web browsers, Bitswap and HTTP for verifiable data transfer.

Features:

Runs an IPFS node as a network service (LAN mDNS and WAN Amino DHT)
Command-line interface (ipfs --help)
WebUI for node management
HTTP Gateway for trusted and trustless content retrieval
HTTP RPC API to control the daemon
HTTP Routing V1 client and server for delegated routing
FUSE mounts for mounting /ipfs, /ipns, and /mfs as local filesystems (experimental)
Content blocking for public node operators

Other IPFS implementations: Helia (JavaScript), more...

Quick Taste

After installing Kubo, verify it works:

$ ipfs init
generating ED25519 keypair...done
peer identity: 12D3KooWGcSLQdLDBi2BvoP8WnpdHvhWPbxpGcqkf93rL2XMZK7R

$ ipfs daemon &
Daemon is ready

$ echo "hello IPFS" | ipfs add -q --cid-version 1
bafkreicouv3sksjuzxb3rbb6rziy6duakk2aikegsmtqtz5rsuppjorxsa

$ ipfs cat bafkreicouv3sksjuzxb3rbb6rziy6duakk2aikegsmtqtz5rsuppjorxsa
hello IPFS

Verify this CID is provided by your node to the IPFS network: https://check.ipfs.network/?cid=bafkreicouv3sksjuzxb3rbb6rziy6duakk2aikegsmtqtz5rsuppjorxsa

See ipfs add --help for all import options. Ready for more? Follow the command-line quick start.

Install

Follow the official installation guide, or choose: prebuilt binary | Docker | package manager | from source.

Prefer a GUI? Try IPFS Desktop and/or IPFS Companion.

Minimal System Requirements

Kubo runs on most Linux, macOS, and Windows systems. For optimal performance, we recommend at least 6 GB of RAM and 2 CPU cores (more is ideal, as Kubo is highly parallel).

[!IMPORTANT] Larger pinsets require additional memory, with an estimated ~1 GiB of RAM per 20 million items for reproviding to the Amino DHT.

[!CAUTION] Systems with less than the recommended memory may experience instability, frequent OOM errors or restarts, and missing data announcement (reprovider window), which can make data fully or partially inaccessible to other peers. Running Kubo on underprovisioned hardware is at your own risk.

Official Prebuilt Binaries

Download from https://dist.ipfs.tech#kubo or GitHub Releases.

Docker

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

🟢 Release Images

Use these for production deployments.

latest and release always point at the latest stable release
vN.N.N points at a specific release tag

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

To customize your node, pass config via -e or mount scripts in /container-init.d.

🟠 Developer Preview Images

For internal testing, not intended for production.

master-latest points at HEAD of master
master-YYYY-DD-MM-GITSHA points at a specific commit

🔴 Internal Staging Images

For testing arbitrary commits and experimental patches (force push to staging branch).

staging-latest points at HEAD of staging
staging-YYYY-DD-MM-GITSHA points at a specific commit

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/ipfs/kubo.git
cd kubo
make build    # creates cmd/ipfs/ipfs
make install  # installs to $GOPATH/bin/ipfs

See the Developer Guide for details, Windows instructions, and troubleshooting.

Package Managers

Kubo is available in community-maintained packages across many operating systems, Linux distributions, and package managers. See Repology for the full list:

[!WARNING] These packages are maintained by third-party volunteers. The IPFS Project and Kubo maintainers are not responsible for their contents or supply chain security. For increased security, build from source.

Linux

Distribution	Install	Version
Ubuntu	PPA: `sudo apt install ipfs-kubo`
Arch	`pacman -S kubo`
Fedora	COPR: `dnf install kubo`
Nix	`nix-env -i kubo`
Gentoo	`emerge -a net-p2p/kubo`
openSUSE	`zypper install kubo`
Solus	`sudo eopkg install kubo`
Guix	`guix install kubo`
other	See Repology for the full list

~~Snap~~ no longer supported (#8688)

macOS

Manager	Install	Version
Homebrew	`brew install ipfs`
MacPorts	`sudo port install ipfs`
Nix	`nix-env -i kubo`
other	See Repology for the full list

Windows

Manager	Install	Version
Scoop	`scoop install kubo`
other	See Repology for the full list

~~Chocolatey~~ no longer supported (#9341)

Documentation

Topic	Description
Configuration	All config options reference
Environment variables	Runtime settings via env vars
Experimental features	Opt-in features in development
HTTP Gateway	Path, subdomain, and trustless gateway setup
HTTP RPC clients	Client libraries for Go, JS
Delegated routing	Multi-router and HTTP routing
Metrics & monitoring	Prometheus metrics
FUSE mounts	Mount `/ipfs`, `/ipns`, `/mfs` as local filesystems
Content blocking	Denylist for public nodes
Customizing	Unsure if use Plugins, Boxo, or fork?
Debug guide	CPU profiles, memory analysis, tracing
Changelogs	Release notes for each version
All documentation	Full list of docs

Development

See the Developer Guide for build instructions, testing, and contribution workflow. AI coding agents should follow AGENTS.md.

Getting Help

IPFS Forum - community support, questions, and discussion
Community - chat, events, and working groups
GitHub Issues - bug reports for Kubo specifically
IPFS Docs Issues - documentation issues

Security Issues

See SECURITY.md.

Contributing

We welcome contributions. See CONTRIBUTING.md and the Developer Guide.

This repository follows the IPFS Code of Conduct.

Maintainer Info

[!NOTE] Kubo is maintained by the Shipyard team.

Release Process

License

Dual-licensed under Apache 2.0 and MIT:

Documentation ¶

Overview ¶

IPFS is a global, versioned, peer-to-peer filesystem

Constants ¶

View Source

const ApiVersion = "/kubo/" + CurrentVersionNumber + "/" //nolint

View Source

const CurrentVersionNumber = "0.42.0"

CurrentVersionNumber is the current application's version literal.

View Source

const RepoVersion = 18

RepoVersion is the version number that we are currently expecting to see.

Variables ¶

View Source

var CurrentCommit string

CurrentCommit is the current git commit, this is set as a ldflag in the Makefile.

Functions ¶

func GetUserAgentVersion ¶ added in v0.14.0

func GetUserAgentVersion() string

GetUserAgentVersion is the libp2p user agent used by go-ipfs.

func ImplicitAgentSuffix ¶ added in v0.42.0

func ImplicitAgentSuffix() string

ImplicitAgentSuffix returns a Version.AgentSuffix default derived from the build origin. It prefers the Makefile-injected URL (covers forks that keep the upstream `module` line) and falls back to debug.ReadBuildInfo's main module path (covers `go install` and forks that renamed their module). Returns "" for upstream builds.

func SetUserAgentSuffix ¶ added in v0.14.0

func SetUserAgentSuffix(suffix string)

Types ¶

type VersionInfo ¶ added in v0.14.0

type VersionInfo struct {
	Version string
	Commit  string
	Repo    string
	System  string
	Golang  string
}

func GetVersionInfo ¶ added in v0.14.0

func GetVersionInfo() *VersionInfo

Source Files ¶

View all Source files

Directories ¶

Path	Synopsis
assets
blocks
blockstoreutil Package blockstoreutil provides utility functions for Blockstores.	Package blockstoreutil provides utility functions for Blockstores.
boxo
autoconf module
client
rpc
rpc/auth
cmd
ipfs command
ipfs/kubo cmd/ipfs/kubo implements the primary CLI binary for kubo	cmd/ipfs/kubo implements the primary CLI binary for kubo
ipfs/util
ipfswatch command
commands
config package config implements the ipfs config file datastructures and utilities.	package config implements the ipfs config file datastructures and utilities.
serialize
core Package core implements the IpfsNode object and related methods.	Package core implements the IpfsNode object and related methods.
commands Package commands implements the ipfs command interface	Package commands implements the ipfs command interface
commands/cmdenv
commands/cmdutils
commands/dag
commands/e
commands/keyencode
commands/name
commands/object
commands/pin
coreapi NOTE: this package is experimental.	NOTE: this package is experimental.
corehttp Package corehttp provides utilities for the webui, gateways, and other high-level HTTP interfaces to IPFS.	Package corehttp provides utilities for the webui, gateways, and other high-level HTTP interfaces to IPFS.
coreiface Package iface defines IPFS Core API which is a set of interfaces used to interact with IPFS nodes.	Package iface defines IPFS Core API which is a set of interfaces used to interact with IPFS nodes.
coreiface/options
coreiface/tests
corerepo
coreunix
mock
node
node/helpers
node/libp2p
node/libp2p/fd
shutdown Package shutdown tracks daemon-wide graceful shutdown state.	Package shutdown tracks daemon-wide graceful shutdown state.
fuse
fusetest Package fusetest provides test helpers shared across FUSE test packages.	Package fusetest provides test helpers shared across FUSE test packages.
ipns Package ipns implements a FUSE filesystem that interfaces with IPNS, the naming system for IPFS.	Package ipns implements a FUSE filesystem that interfaces with IPNS, the naming system for IPFS.
mfs
mount package mount provides a simple abstraction around a mount point	package mount provides a simple abstraction around a mount point
node
readonly package fuse/readonly implements a fuse filesystem to access files stored inside of ipfs.	package fuse/readonly implements a fuse filesystem to access files stored inside of ipfs.
writable
gc Package gc provides garbage collection for go-ipfs.	Package gc provides garbage collection for go-ipfs.
internal
fusemount Package fusemount provides internal helpers shared between the FUSE mount layer and the core API.	Package fusemount provides internal helpers shared between the FUSE mount layer and the core API.
misc
fsutil
p2p
plugin
loader
plugins/badgerds
plugins/dagjose
plugins/flatfs
plugins/fxtest
plugins/git
plugins/levelds
plugins/nopfs
plugins/pebbleds
plugins/peerlog
plugins/telemetry
profile
repo
common
fsrepo package fsrepo	package fsrepo
fsrepo/migrations
fsrepo/migrations/atomicfile
fsrepo/migrations/common Package common contains common types and interfaces for file system repository migrations	Package common contains common types and interfaces for file system repository migrations
fsrepo/migrations/fs-repo-16-to-17 command Package main implements fs-repo-16-to-17 migration for IPFS repositories.	Package main implements fs-repo-16-to-17 migration for IPFS repositories.
fsrepo/migrations/fs-repo-16-to-17/migration package mg16 contains the code to perform 16-17 repository migration in Kubo.	package mg16 contains the code to perform 16-17 repository migration in Kubo.
fsrepo/migrations/fs-repo-17-to-18 command Package main implements fs-repo-17-to-18 migration for IPFS repositories.	Package main implements fs-repo-17-to-18 migration for IPFS repositories.
fsrepo/migrations/fs-repo-17-to-18/migration package mg17 contains the code to perform 17-18 repository migration in Kubo.	package mg17 contains the code to perform 17-18 repository migration in Kubo.
fsrepo/migrations/ipfsfetcher
routing
test
api-startup command
bench/bench_cli_ipfs_add command
bench/offline_add command
cli
cli/harness
cli/testutils
cli/testutils/httprouting
cli/testutils/pinningservice
sharness/t0280-plugin-data command
dependencies module
thirdparty
unit
verifbs
tracing Package tracing contains the tracing logic for go-ipfs, including configuring the tracer and helping keep consistent naming conventions across the stack.	Package tracing contains the tracing logic for go-ipfs, including configuring the tracer and helping keep consistent naming conventions across the stack.

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