npm on IPFS

Install your favourite modules from the Distributed Web using IPFS. Have a cache always ready and share them in all your local networks.

Resources

• The original demo video
• Lengthy introduction in a blog post
• Node.js Interactive Talk - Stellar Module Management

Lead Maintainer

Alex Potsides

Quick setup (probably all that you need)

Install this module

> npm i ipfs-npm -g

Usage

Wait for the Server running message:

$ docker run ipfs-npm
📦 Mirroring npm on localhost:50321
😈 Using in-process IPFS daemon
Swarm listening on /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/4003/ws/ipfs/Qm...
Swarm listening on /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/4002/ipfs/Qm...
Swarm listening on /ip4/172.17.0.2/tcp/4002/ipfs/Qm...
🚀 Server running
🔧 Please either update your npm config with 'npm config set registry http://localhost:50321'
🔧 or use the '--registry' flag, eg: 'npm install --registry=http://localhost:50321'

Port 50321 is default and can be set with --port.

Configure npm

Set up your npm to use ipfs-npm with the default port through:

$ npm config set registry http://localhost:50321

If you picked another --port you need to adjust accordingly.

Good to npm install away! :)

Usage

CLI

$ ipfs-npm --help
ipfs-npm

Starts a registry server that uses IPFS to fetch js dependencies

Options:
  --help                      Show help                                [boolean]
  --version                   Show version number                      [boolean]
  --clone                     Whether to clone the registry in the background
                                                                 [default: true]
  --eager-download            Whether to eagerly download tarballs
                                                                 [default: true]
  --mirror-host               Which host to listen to requests on
                                                          [default: "localhost"]
  --mirror-port               Which port to listen to requests on
                                                                [default: 50321]
  --mirror-protocol           Which protocol to use with the server
                                                               [default: "http"]
  --mirror-registry           Where to download missing files from/proxy for
                              non-get requests
                                         [default: "https://registry.npmjs.com"]
  --mirror-upload-size-limit  How large a file upload to allow when proxying for
                              the registry                   [default: "1024MB"]
  --ipfs-port                 Which port the daemon is listening on
                                                                 [default: null]
  --external-host             Which host to use when reaching this mirror
  --external-port             Which port to use when reaching this mirror
  --external-protocol         Which protocol to use when reaching this mirror
  --ipfs-host                 Which host the daemon is listening on
                                                          [default: "localhost"]
  --ipfs-base-dir             Which mfs prefix to use
                                                  [default: "/commons-registry"]
  --ipfs-flush                Whether to flush the MFS cache     [default: true]
  --ipfs-max-requests         How many concurrent requests to make to the IPFS
                              daemon                                [default: 5]
  --ipfs-type                 "proc" to start an in process node, "go" or "js"
                              to connect to a remote daemon (in conjunction with
                              --ipfs-port and --ipfs-host).    [default: "proc"]
  --clone-skim                Which registry to clone
                               [default: "https://replicate.npmjs.com/registry"]
  --clone-user-agent          What user agent to specify when contacting the
                              registry  [default: "IPFS registry-mirror worker"]
  --clone-delay               How long in ms to wait between cloning each module
                                                                 [default: 1000]
  --clone-upgrade-to-https    If a tarball is specifed with an http URL, whether
                              to upgrade it to https             [default: true]
  --request-max-sockets       How many concurrent http requests to make while
                              cloning the repo                     [default: 10]

Docker

$ docker-compose build
$ docker-compose up -d --scale registry=4

Upgrading

$ ./deploy.sh

Important

If you are on Mac OS X, make sure to increase the limit of files open (with ulimit -Sn 4096), otherwise the ipfs daemon will be sad and throw 502 replies.

Acknowledgements

This module takes a lot of inspiration from reginabox. Big thank you to everyone that contributed with code or to the discussion to make this happen.