provider-hinted-uri

an explorative URI-based format for expressing content-addressed identifiers (such as IPFS CIDs) optionally augmented with one or more provider hints.

Getting started

• Read Exploration document to get familiar with problem space and explored format. This MAY evolve into a Spec/IPIP.

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📦 Installation

npm install provider-hinted-uri

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🚀 Usage

createUri({ base, path, providers })

Constructs a URI with optional provider hints and an optional path.

Parameters

• base (string): The base URI which includes the CID, in one of the supported formats:

  • ipfs://<CID>
  • https://<host>/ipfs/<CID>
  • https://<CID>.ipfs.<domain>

• path (string, optional): Path to append to the CID, e.g., /foo/bar. This will be appended to the resolved base form /ipfs/<CID>.

• providers (ProviderHint[], optional): A list of provider hints, each consisting of a multiaddr.

Returns

• URL: A URL instance representing the full URI with provider hints as query parameters.

Example

import { multiaddr } from '@multiformats/multiaddr'
import { createUri } from 'provider-hinted-uri'

const uri = createUri({
  base: 'ipfs://bafybeigdyrzt...',
  path: '/dir/file.txt',
  providers: [
    {
      multiaddr: multiaddr('/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/1234/https')
    },
    {
      multiaddr: multiaddr('/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/8000/ws/p2p/Qm...')
    }
  ]
})

console.log(uri.toString())
// ipfs://bafybeigdyrzt.../dir/file.txt?provider=/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/1234/https&provider=/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/8000/ws/p2p/Qm...

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parseUri(uri)

Parses a URI and extracts the CID, provider hints, and path.

Parameters

• uri (string): The full URI string to parse.

Returns

{
  cid: CID,
  providers: ProviderHint[],
  path: string
}

• cid: The parsed CID extracted from the URI.
• providers: An array of provider hints, each with:
  • multiaddr: A Multiaddr instance
• path: The normalized path segment of the URI (e.g., /dir/file.txt)

Example

import { parseUri } from 'provider-hinted-uri'

const parsed = parseUri(
  'ipfs://bafybeigdyrzt.../foo.txt?provider=/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/1234'
)

console.log(parsed.cid.toString())       // bafybeigdyrzt...
console.log(parsed.path)                 // /foo.txt
console.log(parsed.providers[0].multiaddr.toString()) // /ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/1234

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parseQueryString(query)

Parses query parameters (string or URLSearchParams) to extract provider hints.

Parameters

• query (string | URLSearchParams): The query string or object to parse.

Returns

• ProviderHint[]: Array of provider hints with multiaddr.

Example

import { parseQueryString } from 'provider-hinted-uri'

const providers = parseQueryString('provider=/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/1234&provider=/ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/5678/ws')

console.log(providers[0].multiaddr.toString()) // /ip4/1.2.3.4/tcp/1234

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Types

ProviderHint

interface ProviderHint {
  multiaddr: Multiaddr
}

• multiaddr: A Multiaddr instance pointing to the provider.

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CID Extraction Rules

The parser supports extracting CIDs from:

• Subdomain: https://<CID>.ipfs.<domain>
• Path-based: https://<gateway>/ipfs/<CID>
• Protocol: ipfs://<CID>

If multiple formats are mixed (e.g., both subdomain and path), the parser throws an error due to ambiguity.

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🧑‍💻 License

Dual-licensed under MIT + Apache 2.0

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Enjoy more resilient and efficient content addressable data requests! 🎉