SwarmAPI

A javascript library for interacting with Swarm, a decentralised and distributed storage platform.

Under the hood, SwarmAPI uses the Swarm HTTP API to communicate with the Swarm gateway.

Installation

npm install swarm-api --save

JS usage

First, import SwarmAPI.

Using CommonJS:

const SwarmAPI = require('swarm-api');

Or, with ES6:

import SwarmAPI from 'swarm-api';

Then instantiate SwarmAPI, specifying the gateway you'd like to connect to. If you are running your own node (recommended), the node should be started before proceeding.

// instantiate SwarmAPI
const swarmapi = new SwarmAPI({ gateway: 'http://localhost:8500' });

Available options:

Option	Description	Default
gateway	URI of the Swarm gateway, ie http://localhost:8500.	swarm-gateways.net

NOTE: If no options are provided, the default gateway URI will be https://swarm-gateways.net. This means you don't necessarily need to run your own Swarm node, however there is an upload limit of ~2.5MB and no guarantees about permanence. It is recommended to run your own Swarm node.

Check gateway availability

swarmapi.isAvailable((err, isAvailable) => {
    if(err) return console.error('Error checking Swarm availability', err);
    console.log(`Gateway at 'http://localhost:8500' is ${isAvailable ? '' : 'un'}available`);
});
// Gateway at 'http://localhost:8500' is available

Upload of raw content

let testHash;
swarmapi.uploadRaw('test', (err, hash) => {
    if(err) return console.error('Error uploading contents', err);
    testHash = hash;
    console.log(`test can now be accessed from 'http://localhost:8500/bzz-raw:/${hash}'`);
});
// test can now be accessed from 'http://localhost:8500/bzz-raw:/6de1faa7d29b1931b4ba3d44befcf7a5e43e947cd0bf2db154172bac5ecac3a6'

Upload file

If you want to upload a file, first read the file's contents, then upload as the raw contents

const fs = require('fs');
fs.readFile('./index.html', (err, data) => {
  if (err) throw err;
  swarmapi.uploadRaw(data, (err, hash) => {
    if (err) return console.error('Error uploading file contents', err);
    console.log(`file contents can now be accessed from 'http://localhost:8500/bzz-raw:/${hash}'`);
  });
});
// file contents can now be accessed from 'http://localhost:8500/bzz-raw:/178739cbbd084e90ae0cef3f95e4b92baa85e83edb1a52d28dc370277db9d457'

Upload directory (only available in NodeJS, not available in the browser!)

Once uploaded, the hash of the manifest is returned. Accessing the manifest from bzz:/ will 404. Instead, you can use the hash as the root of your directory and access the individual files by appending them to the end of the URI, then call swarmapi.download(<uri>, (err, content) => {}). So, if our uploaded directory looked like:

├── dist 
│   └── root.html
│   ├── folder
│   │   └── index.js

Run the upload directory command

swarmapi.uploadDirectory('dist/', null, (err, hash) => {
    if(err) return console.error('Error uploading directory', err);
    console.log(`We can now access our directory via 'http://localhost:8500/bzz:/${hash}/root.html' and 'http://localhost:8500/bzz:/${hash}/folder/index.js'`);
});
// We can now access our directory via 'http://localhost:8500/bzz:/26089099a5f473dfb7b172de6558972989f8db4d3948daedbb974025be7c8534/root.html' and 'http://localhost:8500/bzz:/26089099a5f473dfb7b172de6558972989f8db4d3948daedbb974025be7c8534/folder/index.js'

We will be able to access the root.html file via

swarmapi.download('bzz:/26089099a5f473dfb7b172de6558972989f8db4d3948daedbb974025be7c8534/root.html', (err, content) => {
    if(err) return console.error(err);
    console.log(`contents of root.html: ${content}`);
});

And the folder/index.js file via

swarmapi.download('bzz:/26089099a5f473dfb7b172de6558972989f8db4d3948daedbb974025be7c8534/folder/index.js', (err, content) => {
    if(err) return console.error(err);
    console.log(`contents of folder/index.js: ${content}`);
});

Download content

// Download content via hash
swarmapi.downloadRaw(testHash, (err, content) => {
    if(err) return console.error(err);
    console.log(`contents of our test: ${content}`);
});
// contents of our test: test

CLI

Installation

SwarmAPI can be installed globally to be accessed from the CLI

npm install -g swarm-api

Or installed locally to be accessed from the current folder

npm install swarm-api

CLI Usage

Check gateway availability

swarmapi ping --gateway http://localhost:8500
// [http://localhost:8500] The Swarm gateway at http://localhost:8500 is available

Upload of raw content

swarmapi uploadraw 'Hello World' --gateway http://localhost:8500
// [http://localhost:8500] Swarm hash: a294d3a33dc0b4d9a12fdb48f5a7aed5f8dd2d8fc6a4253487c63012210e210e

Upload file

swarmapi uploadfile index.html --gateway http://localhost:8500
// [http://localhost:8500] Swarm hash: 91a3e25c9cec6d470eeaff24f2e5b5e56b87482eb289da8041b1f97a3dbbd39f

Upload directory (only available in NodeJS, not available in the browser!)

Once uploaded, the hash of the manifest is returned. Accessing the manifest from bzz:/ will 404. Instead, you can use the hash as the root of your directory and access the individual files by appending them to the end of the URI, then call swarmapi download <uri>. So, if our uploaded directory looked like:

├── dist 
│   └── root.html
│   ├── folder
│   │   └── index.js

Run the upload directory command

swarmapi uploaddir dist --gateway http://localhost:8500
// [http://localhost:8500] Swarm manifest hash: 06da636c60c4a5472b209c71e35170044e8cf939aca6acfec765514f33a72b87. Resources can be retreived using bzz:/<hash>/<path:optional>/<filename>, for example (assuming /index.html was uploaded):
// swarmapi download bzz:/06da636c60c4a5472b209c71e35170044e8cf939aca6acfec765514f33a72b87/index.html -g http://localhost:8500

We will be able to access the root.html file via

swarmapi download bzz:/06da636c60c4a5472b209c71e35170044e8cf939aca6acfec765514f33a72b87/root.html -g http://localhost:8500

And the folder/index.js file via

swarmapi download bzz:/06da636c60c4a5472b209c71e35170044e8cf939aca6acfec765514f33a72b87/folder/index.js -g http://localhost:8500

Download content

swarmapi downloadraw a294d3a33dc0b4d9a12fdb48f5a7aed5f8dd2d8fc6a4253487c63012210e210e -g http://localhost:8500
// Hello World