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# System prepended metadata

title: IPFS nodes

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# IPFS nodes

## go-ipfs node
* runs on servers and user machines with the full set of capabilities
    * tcp and quic transports enabled by default
    * /ws/ transport disabled by default
    * http gateway with subdomain support for origin isolation between content roots

## js-ipfs node
* runs in the browser with a limited set of capabilities
    * can connect to server nodes (go/js-ipfs) only via secure websockets (/wss/ requires manual setup of TLS at the server)
        * NOTE: unless WSS, _won't_ connect to "mainnet" DHT -- only to other js-ipfs nodes
    * can connect to browser nodes via webrtc (with help of centralized ws-webrtc-star signaling service)
    * no http gateway (can't open TCP port)
* runs on servers and user machines with (in theory) the full set of capabilities
    * DHT not in par with go-ipfs (is this still the case?)
    * http gateway present, but has no subdomain support

## Preload node

* are go-ipfs nodes with their API ports exposed, some HTTP API commands accessible, and a [patch applied](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/tree/feat/stabilize-dht)
* used by js-ipfs nodes, both in browser and not
* js-ipfs nodes remain connected to the libp2p swarm ports of all preload nodes by having preload nodes on the bootstrap list
* when users want to make some UnixFS DAG publicly available they call `ipfs refs -r <CID>` on a randomly chosen preload node's HTTP API which puts the CID in the preload nodes' wantlist which then causes it to fetch the data from the user
* Other js-ipfs nodes requesting the content can then resolve it from the preload node via bitswap as the data is now present in the preload node's blockstore
* Only works with dag-pb CIDs because that's all the refs command understands
    * Q: What are the net effects of this? Bad perf or broken js-ipfs for non-dag-pb CIDs? Are there mitigations?
    * A: Harder to find non-dag-pb content - e.g. you need a connection to the publishing js-ipfs instance or it needs to be put on the DHT by a delegate node.  We could do this at the block level and use block stat in the same way as [js-delegate-content module](https://github.com/libp2p/js-libp2p-delegated-content-routing/blob/master/src/index.js#L127-L128)
* Preload nodes garbage collect every hour so preloaded content only survives for that long
    * Q: Is this configurable?
    * A: Yes? Infra would be able to tell you more
* TODO: Is there anything about pubsub topic bootstrapping here?

## Relay node

* are go-ipfs nodes
    * Q: or are they custom go-libp2p nodes?
* can also be js-libp2p nodes properly configured, or the out of the box [js relay](https://github.com/libp2p/js-libp2p-relay-server)
* are used by go-ipfs nodes to serve as relays/VPNs for nodes who deem themselves to be unreachable by the public internet
    * Q: Used by js-ipfs too?
    * A: Yes. They can also be used to overcome lack of transport compatibility. For instance, a browser node with websockets/webRTC transports can talk with a go-ipfs node that only talks TCP, via a relay that support both transports. This is not enabled by default and needs to be setup.
* not configurable in go-ipfs and uses a preset list of relays

## Bootstrap node

* are go-ipfs nodes
* used by go and js-ipfs nodes to enter the DHT
* if they go offline a go-ipfs node that restarts will not by default be able to join the public DHT
    * Q: SO MANY QUESTIONS... to start, do you mean if *all* configured bootstrap nodes go offline this happens?
* configurable in go and js-ipfs config files 

## Delegate routing node

* are go-ipfs nodes with their API ports exposed and some HTTP API commands accessible
* used by js-ipfs nodes to query the DHT and also publish content without having to actually run DHT logic on their own
* publishing works with arbitrary CID codecs as the [js-delegate-content module](https://github.com/libp2p/js-libp2p-delegated-content-routing/blob/master/src/index.js#L127-L128) publishes CIDs at the block level rather than the ipld/dag level
* Delegate nodes garbage collect every hour so provided content only survives for that long - unless the uploading js-ipfs node is still running, in which case it will issue periodic re-provides via the same publising mechanic which extends the life of the content on the DHT

## Addenda

1. Preload and delegate routing nodes are the same servers (go-ipfs nodes) though they are addressed independently so do not need to be - we have the choice to make them stand-alone processes in the future if we wish.
    * Q: "addressed independently" - what does this mean? a different place in config? or where the network communication happens in the stack/codepath?
    * A: different multiaddrs that resolve to the same physical (virtual?) machine - e.g. [preload config](https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs/blob/master/packages/ipfs-core/src/runtime/config-nodejs.js#L36-L39), [delegate config](https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs/blob/master/packages/ipfs-core/src/runtime/config-nodejs.js#L14-L17)
3. Preload, delegate and bootstrap nodes are all in the js-ipfs configuration as bootstrap nodes so it will maintain libp2p swarm connections to them at all times.
    * Q: Are they distinguished in the js-ipfs config, or just look like a regular bootrap node there?
    * A: They are [configured](https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs/blob/master/packages/ipfs-core/src/runtime/config-nodejs.js#L29-L39) as regular bootstrap nodes but have the string 'preload' in their multiaddrs
    * Q: Is there documentation for how to add these nodes to config, and what they do?
    * A: https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs/blob/master/docs/CONFIG.md#addresses