# curl adds IPFS support Source: https://curl.se/docs/ipfs.html Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/curl-adds-IPFS-support?index=0x6510b93a53a690d7984200722d205dc9609200129532239fb8ec6450ad4e133472c93626 Submitted by freeatnet.eth on 2023-09-24 UTC, 11 upvotes, 0 comments ## Summary curl now supports IPFS URLs such as ipfs://, so users can fetch IPFS content without writing out a gateway address. curl rewrites the IPFS URL into a gateway URL, using the IPFS_GATEWAY environment variable, a ~/.ipfs/gateway file, or the --ipfs-gateway argument to find the gateway. The --ipfs-gateway argument overrides other settings and does not fall back to them if it fails. Gateway redirects are not followed by default, so the -L option is needed to follow them, such as dweb.link's redirect from path-based to subdomain-based requests. ## Article For an overview about IPFS, visit the IPFS project site. In IPFS there are two protocols. IPFS and IPNS (their workings are explained in detail here). The ideal way to access data on the IPFS network is through those protocols. For example to access the Big Buck Bunny video the ideal way to access it is like: ipfs://bafybeigagd5nmnn2iys2f3doro7ydrevyr2mzarwidgadawmamiteydbzi IPFS Gateways IPFS Gateway acts as a bridge between traditional HTTP clients and IPFS. IPFS Gateway specifications of HTTP semantics can be found here. Deserialized responses By default, a gateway acts as a bridge between traditional HTTP clients and IPFS and performs necessary hash verification and deserialization. Through such gateway, users can download files, directories, and other content-addressed data stored with IPFS or IPNS as if they were stored in a traditional web server. Verifiable responses By explicitly requesting application/vnd.ipld.raw or application/vnd.ipld.car responses, by means defined in Trustless Gateway Specification, the user is able to fetch raw content-addressed data and perform hash verification themselves. This enables users to use untrusted, public gateways without worrying they might return invalid/malicious bytes. IPFS and IPNS protocol handling There are various ways to access data from the IPFS network. One such way is through the concept of public "gateways". The short version is that entities can offer gateway services. An example here that is hosted by Protocol Labs (who also makes IPFS) is dweb.link and ipfs.io. Both sites expose gateway functionality. Getting a file through ipfs.io looks like this: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafybeigagd5nmnn2iys2f3doro7ydrevyr2mzarwidgadawmamiteydbzi If you were to be running your own IPFS node then you, by default, also have a local gateway running. In its default configuration the earlier example would then also work in this link: http://127.0.0.1:8080/ipfs/bafybeigagd5nmnn2iys2f3doro7ydrevyr2mzarwidgadawmamiteydbzi curl handling of the IPFS protocols The IPFS integration in curl hides this gateway logic for you. Instead of providing a full URL to a file on IPFS like this: curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/ipfs/bafybeigagd5nmnn2iys2f3doro7ydrevyr2mzarwidgadawmamiteydbzi You can provide it with the IPFS protocol instead: curl ipfs://bafybeigagd5nmnn2iys2f3doro7ydrevyr2mzarwidgadawmamiteydbzi With the IPFS protocol way of asking a file, curl still needs to know the gateway. curl essentially rewrites the IPFS based URL to a gateway URL. IPFS_GATEWAY environment variable If the IPFS_GATEWAY environment variable is found, its value is used as gateway. Automatic gateway detection When you provide no additional details to curl then it: First looks for the IPFS_GATEWAY environment variable and use that if it is set. Looks for the file: ~/.ipfs/gateway. If it can find that file then it means that you have a local gateway running and that file contains the URL to your local gateway. If curl fails, you are presented with an error message and a link to this page to the option most applicable to solving the issue. --ipfs-gateway argument You can also provide a --ipfs-gateway argument to curl. This overrules any other gateway setting. curl does not fallback to the other options if the provided gateway did not work. Gateway redirects A gateway could redirect to another place. For example, dweb.link redirects path based requests to subdomain based ones. A request using: curl ipfs://bafybeigagd5nmnn2iys2f3doro7ydrevyr2mzarwidgadawmamiteydbzi --ipfs-gateway https://inbrowser.link/ Which would be translated to: https://inbrowser.link/ipfs/bafybeigagd5nmnn2iys2f3doro7ydrevyr2mzarwidgadawmamiteydbzi redirects to: https://bafybeigagd5nmnn2iys2f3doro7ydrevyr2mzarwidgadawmamiteydbzi.ipfs.inbrowser.link/ If you trust this behavior from your gateway of choice then passing the -L option follows the redirect. Error messages and hints Depending on the arguments, curl could present the user with an error. Gateway file and environment variable curl tried to look for the file: ~/.ipfs/gateway but could not find it. It also tried to look for the IPFS_GATEWAY environment variable but could not find that either. This happens when no extra arguments are passed to curl and letting it try to figure it out automatically. Any IPFS implementation that has gateway support should expose its URL in ~/.ipfs/gateway. If you are already running a gateway, make sure it exposes the file where curl expects to find it. Alternatively you could set the IPFS_GATEWAY environment variable or pass the --ipfs-gateway flag to the curl command. Malformed gateway URL The command executed evaluates in an invalid URL. This could be anywhere in the URL, but a likely point is a wrong gateway URL. Inspect the URL set via the IPFS_GATEWAY environment variable or passed with the --ipfs-gateway flag. Alternatively opt to go for the automatic gateway detection.