Since 0.4.11 go-ipfs has an experimental plugin system that allows augmenting the daemons functionality without recompiling.
When an IPFS node is started, it will load plugins from the $IPFS_PATH/plugins
directory (by default ~/.ipfs/plugins
).
Table of Contents
Plugins can implement one or more plugin types, defined in the plugin package.
IPLD plugins add support for additional formats to ipfs dag
and other IPLD
related commands.
Datastore plugins add support for additional datastore backends.
(experimental)
Tracer plugins allow injecting an opentracing backend into go-ipfs.
Daemon plugins are started when the go-ipfs daemon is started and are given an instance of the CoreAPI. This should make it possible to build an ipfs-based application without IPC and without forking go-ipfs.
Note: We eventually plan to make go-ipfs usable as a library. However, this plugin type is likely the best interim solution.
(never stable)
Internal plugins are like daemon plugins except that they can access, replace, and modify all internal state. Use this plugin type to extend go-ipfs in arbitrary ways. However, be aware that your plugin will likely break every time go-ipfs updated.
Plugins can be configured in the Plugins
section of the config file. Here,
plugins can be:
Config
field.Disabled
field.Example:
{
// ...
"Plugins": {
"Plugins": {
// plugin named "plugin-foo"
"plugin-foo": {
"Config": { /* arbitrary json */ }
},
// plugin named "plugin-bar"
"plugin-bar": {
"Disabled": true // "plugin-bar" will not be loaded
}
}
}
}
Name | Type | Preloaded | Description |
---|---|---|---|
git | IPLD | x | An IPLD format for git objects. |
badgerds | Datastore | x | A high performance but experimental datastore. |
flatfs | Datastore | x | A stable filesystem-based datastore. |
levelds | Datastore | x | A stable, flexible datastore backend. |
jaeger | Tracing | An opentracing backend. |
Go-ipfs supports two types of plugins: External and Preloaded.
$IPFS_PATH/plugins/
(usually
~/.ipfs/plugins/
).The advantage of an external plugin is that it can be built, packaged, and installed independently of go-ipfs. Unfortunately, this method is only supported on Linux and MacOS at the moment. Users of other operating systems should follow the instructions for preloaded plugins.
To build plugins included in plugin/plugins, run:
go-ipfs$ make build_plugins
go-ipfs$ ls plugin/plugins/*.so
To install, copy desired plugins to $IPFS_PATH/plugins
. For example:
go-ipfs$ mkdir -p ~/.ipfs/plugins/
go-ipfs$ cp plugin/plugins/git.so ~/.ipfs/plugins/
go-ipfs$ chmod +x ~/.ipfs/plugins/git.so # ensure plugin is executable
Finally, restart daemon if it is running.
To build out-of-tree plugins, use the plugin’s Makefile if provided. Otherwise, you can manually build the plugin by running:
myplugin$ go build -buildmode=plugin -i -o myplugin.so myplugin.go
Finally, as with in-tree plugins:
$IPFS_PATH/plugins
.chmod +x $IPFS_PATH/plugins/myplugin.so
).The advantages of preloaded plugins are:
To preload a go-ipfs plugin:
plugin/loader/preload_list
go-ipfs$ make build
You can also preload an in-tree but disabled-by-default plugin by adding it to the IPFS_PLUGINS variable. For example, to enable plugins foo, bar, and baz:
go-ipfs$ make build IPFS_PLUGINS="foo bar baz"
To create your own out-of-tree plugin, use the example plugin as a starting point. When you’re ready, submit a PR adding it to the list of available plugins.