fp/packages/link2cid/README.md

# link2cid

## Motivation

I wish I could give [kubo](https://github.com/ipfs/kubo) or [IPFS cluster](https://ipfscluster.io/) a URI to a file and then they would download the file and add to ipfs, returning me a [CID](https://docs.ipfs.tech/concepts/glossary/#cid).

However, neither kubo nor IPFS cluster can do this.

link2cid solves this issue with a REST API for adding a file at `url` to IPFS.


## Usage

Configure environment

Create a `.env` file. See `.env.example` for an example. Important environment variables are `API_KEY`, `PORT`, and `IPFS_URL`.

Install and run

```bash
pnpm install
pnpm start
```

Make a GET REST request to `/add` with `url` as a query parameter. Expect a [SSE](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-sent_events) response.

## dokku

dokku builder-dockerfile:set link2cid dockerfile-path link2cid.Dockerfile


### Examples

#### [HTTPIE](https://httpie.io)

```bash
http -A bearer -a $API_KEY --stream 'http://localhost:3939/add?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Example.png' Accept:text/event-stream
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Cache-Control: no-cache
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Type: text/event-stream; charset=utf-8
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2023 11:20:24 GMT
Transfer-Encoding: identity
X-Powered-By: Express

:ok

event: dlProgress
data: {
    "percent": 100
}

event: addProgress
data: {
    "percent": 100
}

event: end
data: {
    "cid": "bafkreidj3jo7efguloaixz6vgivljlmowagagjtqv4yanyqgty2hrvg6km"
}

```

#### Javascript

@todo this is incomplete/untested

```js
await fetch('http://localhost:3939/add?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Example.png', {
    headers: {
        'accept': 'text/event-stream',
        'authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}`
    }
});
```


## Dev notes

### Generate API_KEY

```js
require('crypto').randomBytes(64).toString('hex')
```

### `TypeError: data.split is not a function`

If you see this error, make sure data in SSE event payload is a string, not a number.