This repository contains the specs for the IPFS Protocol and associated subsystems. Some day we will hopefully transform these specs into RFCs. For now, they assume a high level of familiarity with the concepts.
Warning: this is a work in progress. IPFS is a young system and we want to get it right. We will continue to evaluate and re-think pieces. At this point, the IPFS protocol is solid enough to write this spec and produce interoperable implementations in different languages.
(This is not done yet, but) I will tag different specs with their stability:
wipthis spec is a work-in-progress, it is likely not even complete.draftthis spec is a rough draft and will likely change substantially.stablethis spec is likely to improve, but not change fundamentally.reliablethis spec is believed to be close to final. minor changes only.permanentthis spec will not change
Nothing in this spec repository is permanent yet. The most important
pieces of IPFS are now solid or stable. Many subsystems remain as
draft.
The specs contained in this repository are:
Protocol:
- protocol - the top-level spec and the stack
Stack:
- network - the network layer spec
- routing - the routing layer spec
- exchange - the exchange layer spec
- merkledag - the merkledag layer spec
- ipns - the naming layer spec
- app - the application layer spec
Routing Systems:
- kademlia - kademlia dht
- dnssd - mdns for local area networks
- snr - supernode delegated routing
- multirouter - combines multiple others
Exchanges:
- bitswap - bittorrent inspired exchange
Service:
- service - the spec ipfs libraries and servers should implement
- service-http-api - the http api version of ipfs-service
- service-cli - the cli version of ipfs-service
Repository:
- repo - ipfs node local repository spec
- config - ipfs node configuration
- fs-repo - the spec of the fs-repo implementation
Other protocols:
- id - node identification
- relay - the relay protocol
Formats:
Suggestions, contributions, criticisms are welcome. Though please make sure to familiarize yourself deeply with IPFS, the models it adopts, and the principles it follows.
Please be aware that specs are really hard to design by committee. Treat this space like you would the workshop of an artist. Please suggest improvements, but please don't be disappointed if we say no to something. What we leave out is often more important than what we add in.