kubo/docs/config.md

# The go-ipfs config file

The go-ipfs config file is a JSON document located at `$IPFS_PATH/config`. It
is read once at node instantiation, either for an offline command, or when
starting the daemon. Commands that execute on a running daemon do not read the
config file at runtime.

#### Profiles

Configuration profiles allow to tweak configuration quickly. Profiles can be
applied with `--profile` flag to `ipfs init` or with the `ipfs config profile
apply` command. When a profile is applied a backup of the configuration file
will be created in `$IPFS_PATH`.

Available profiles:

- `server`

  Recommended for nodes with public IPv4 address (servers, VPSes, etc.),
  disables host and content discovery in local networks.

- `local-discovery`

  Sets default values to fields affected by `server` profile, enables
  discovery in local networks.

- `test`

  Reduces external interference, useful for running ipfs in test environments.
  Note that with these settings node won't be able to talk to the rest of the
  network without manual bootstrap.

- `default-networking`

  Restores default network settings. Inverse profile of the `test` profile.

- `badgerds`

  Replaces default datastore configuration with experimental badger datastore.
  If you apply this profile after `ipfs init`, you will need to convert your
  datastore to the new configuration. You can do this using
  [ipfs-ds-convert](https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs-ds-convert)

  WARNING: badger datastore is experimental. Make sure to backup your data
  frequently.

- `default-datastore`

  Restores default datastore configuration.

- `lowpower`

  Reduces daemon overhead on the system. May affect node functionality,
  performance of content discovery and data fetching may be degraded.

- `randomports`

  Generate random port for swarm.

## Table of Contents

- [`Addresses`](#addresses)
    - [`Addresses.API`](#addressesapi)
    - [`Addresses.Gateway`](#addressesgateway)
    - [`Addresses.Swarm`](#addressesswarm)
    - [`Addresses.Announce`](#addressesannounce)
    - [`Addresses.NoAnnounce`](#addressesnoannounce)
- [`API`](#api)
    - [`API.HTTPHeaders`](#apihttpheaders)
- [`Bootstrap`](#bootstrap)
- [`Datastore`](#datastore)
    - [`Datastore.StorageMax`](#datastorestoragemax)
    - [`Datastore.StorageGCWatermark`](#datastorestoragegcwatermark)
    - [`Datastore.GCPeriod`](#datastoregcperiod)
    - [`Datastore.HashOnRead`](#datastorehashonread)
    - [`Datastore.BloomFilterSize`](#datastorebloomfiltersize)
    - [`Datastore.Spec`](#datastorespec)
- [`Discovery`](#discovery)
    - [`Discovery.MDNS`](#discoverymdns)
        - [`Discovery.MDNS.Enabled`](#discoverymdnsenabled)
        - [`Discovery.MDNS.Interval`](#discoverymdnsinterval)
- [`Routing`](#routing)
    - [`Routing.Type`](#routingtype)
- [`Gateway`](#gateway)
    - [`Gateway.NoFetch`](#gatewaynofetch)
    - [`Gateway.NoDNSLink`](#gatewaynodnslink)
    - [`Gateway.HTTPHeaders`](#gatewayhttpheaders)
    - [`Gateway.RootRedirect`](#gatewayrootredirect)
    - [`Gateway.Writable`](#gatewaywritable)
    - [`Gateway.PathPrefixes`](#gatewaypathprefixes)
    - [`Gateway.PublicGateways`](#gatewaypublicgateways)
    - [`Gateway` recipes](#gateway-recipes)
- [`Identity`](#identity)
    - [`Identity.PeerID`](#identitypeerid)
    - [`Identity.PrivKey`](#identityprivkey)
- [`Ipns`](#ipns)
    - [`Ipns.RepublishPeriod`](#ipnsrepublishperiod)
    - [`Ipns.RecordLifetime`](#ipnsrecordlifetime)
    - [`Ipns.ResolveCacheSize`](#ipnsresolvecachesize)
- [`Mounts`](#mounts)
    - [`Mounts.IPFS`](#mountsipfs)
    - [`Mounts.IPNS`](#mountsipns)
    - [`Mounts.FuseAllowOther`](#mountsfuseallowother)
- [`Reprovider`](#reprovider)
    - [`Reprovider.Interval`](#reproviderinterval)
    - [`Reprovider.Strategy`](#reproviderstrategy)
- [`Swarm`](#swarm)
    - [`Swarm.AddrFilters`](#swarmaddrfilters)
    - [`Swarm.DisableBandwidthMetrics`](#swarmdisablebandwidthmetrics)
    - [`Swarm.DisableNatPortMap`](#swarmdisablenatportmap)
    - [`Swarm.DisableRelay`](#swarmdisablerelay)
    - [`Swarm.EnableRelayHop`](#swarmenablerelayhop)
    - [`Swarm.EnableAutoRelay`](#swarmenableautorelay)
    - [`Swarm.EnableAutoNATService`](#swarmenableautonatservice)
    - [`Swarm.ConnMgr`](#swarmconnmgr)
        - [`Swarm.ConnMgr.Type`](#swarmconnmgrtype)
        - [`Swarm.ConnMgr.LowWater`](#swarmconnmgrlowwater)
        - [`Swarm.ConnMgr.HighWater`](#swarmconnmgrhighwater)
        - [`Swarm.ConnMgr.GracePeriod`](#swarmconnmgrgraceperiod)

## `Addresses`

Contains information about various listener addresses to be used by this node.

### `Addresses.API`

Multiaddr or array of multiaddrs describing the address to serve the local HTTP
API on.

Supported Transports:

* tcp/ip{4,6} - `/ipN/.../tcp/...`
* unix - `/unix/path/to/socket`

Default: `/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/5001`

### `Addresses.Gateway`

Multiaddr or array of multiaddrs describing the address to serve the local
gateway on.

Supported Transports:

* tcp/ip{4,6} - `/ipN/.../tcp/...`
* unix - `/unix/path/to/socket`

Default: `/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/8080`

### `Addresses.Swarm`

Array of multiaddrs describing which addresses to listen on for p2p swarm
connections.

Supported Transports:

* tcp/ip{4,6} - `/ipN/.../tcp/...`
* websocket - `/ipN/.../tcp/.../ws`
* quic - `/ipN/.../udp/.../quic`

Default:
```json
[
  "/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/4001",
  "/ip6/::/tcp/4001"
]
```

### `Addresses.Announce`

If non-empty, this array specifies the swarm addresses to announce to the
network. If empty, the daemon will announce inferred swarm addresses.

Default: `[]`

### `Addresses.NoAnnounce`
Array of swarm addresses not to announce to the network.

Default: `[]`

## `API`
Contains information used by the API gateway.

### `API.HTTPHeaders`
Map of HTTP headers to set on responses from the API HTTP server.

Example:
```json
{
	"Foo": ["bar"]
}
```

Default: `null`

## `AutoNAT`

Contains the configuration options for the AutoNAT service. The AutoNAT service
helps other nodes on the network determine if they're publicly reachable from
the rest of the internet.

### `AutoNAT.ServiceMode`

When unset (default), the AutoNAT service defaults to _enabled_. Otherwise, this
field can take one of two values:

* "enabled" - Enable the service (unless the node determines that it, itself,
  isn't reachable by the public internet).
* "disabled" - Disable the service.

Additional modes may be added in the future.

### `AutoNAT.Throttle`

When set, this option configure's the AutoNAT services throttling behavior. By
default, go-ipfs will rate-limit the number of NAT checks performed for other
nodes to 30 per minute, and 3 per peer.

### `AutoNAT.Throttle.GlobalLimit`

Configures how many AutoNAT requests to service per `AutoNAT.Throttle.Interval`.

Default: 30

### `AutoNAT.Throttle.PeerLimit`

Configures how many AutoNAT requests per-peer to service per `AutoNAT.Throttle.Interval`.

Default: 3

### `AutoNAT.Throttle.Interval`

Configures the interval for the above limits.

Default: 1 Minute

## `Bootstrap`

Bootstrap is an array of multiaddrs of trusted nodes to connect to in order to
initiate a connection to the network.

Default: The ipfs.io bootstrap nodes

## `Datastore`

Contains information related to the construction and operation of the on-disk
storage system.

### `Datastore.StorageMax`

A soft upper limit for the size of the ipfs repository's datastore. With `StorageGCWatermark`,
is used to calculate whether to trigger a gc run (only if `--enable-gc` flag is set).

Default: `10GB`

### `Datastore.StorageGCWatermark`

The percentage of the `StorageMax` value at which a garbage collection will be
triggered automatically if the daemon was run with automatic gc enabled (that
option defaults to false currently).

Default: `90`

### `Datastore.GCPeriod`

A time duration specifying how frequently to run a garbage collection. Only used
if automatic gc is enabled.

Default: `1h`

### `Datastore.HashOnRead`

A boolean value. If set to true, all block reads from disk will be hashed and
verified. This will cause increased CPU utilization.

Default: `false`

### `Datastore.BloomFilterSize`

A number representing the size in bytes of the blockstore's [bloom
filter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom_filter). A value of zero represents
the feature being disabled.

This site generates useful graphs for various bloom filter values:
<https://hur.st/bloomfilter/?n=1e6&p=0.01&m=&k=7> You may use it to find a
preferred optimal value, where `m` is `BloomFilterSize` in bits. Remember to
convert the value `m` from bits, into bytes for use as `BloomFilterSize` in the
config file. For example, for 1,000,000 blocks, expecting a 1% false positive
rate, you'd end up with a filter size of 9592955 bits, so for `BloomFilterSize`
we'd want to use 1199120 bytes. As of writing, [7 hash
functions](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-blockstore/blob/547442836ade055cc114b562a3cc193d4e57c884/caching.go#L22)
are used, so the constant `k` is 7 in the formula.


Default: `0`

### `Datastore.Spec`

Spec defines the structure of the ipfs datastore. It is a composable structure,
where each datastore is represented by a json object. Datastores can wrap other
datastores to provide extra functionality (eg metrics, logging, or caching).

This can be changed manually, however, if you make any changes that require a
different on-disk structure, you will need to run the [ipfs-ds-convert
tool](https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs-ds-convert) to migrate data into the new
structures.

For more information on possible values for this configuration option, see
docs/datastores.md

Default:
```
{
  "mounts": [
	{
	  "child": {
		"path": "blocks",
		"shardFunc": "/repo/flatfs/shard/v1/next-to-last/2",
		"sync": true,
		"type": "flatfs"
	  },
	  "mountpoint": "/blocks",
	  "prefix": "flatfs.datastore",
	  "type": "measure"
	},
	{
	  "child": {
		"compression": "none",
		"path": "datastore",
		"type": "levelds"
	  },
	  "mountpoint": "/",
	  "prefix": "leveldb.datastore",
	  "type": "measure"
	}
  ],
  "type": "mount"
}
```

## `Discovery`

Contains options for configuring ipfs node discovery mechanisms.

### `Discovery.MDNS`

Options for multicast dns peer discovery.

#### `Discovery.MDNS.Enabled`

A boolean value for whether or not mdns should be active.

Default: `true`

#### `Discovery.MDNS.Interval`

A number of seconds to wait between discovery checks.

## `Routing`

Contains options for content, peer, and IPNS routing mechanisms.

### `Routing.Type`

Content routing mode. Can be overridden with daemon `--routing` flag.

There are two core routing options: "none" and "dht" (default).

* If set to "none", your node will use _no_ routing system. You'll have to
  explicitly connect to peers that have the content you're looking for.
* If set to "dht" (or "dhtclient"/"dhtserver"), your node will use the IPFS DHT.

When the DHT is enabled, it can operate in two modes: client and server.

* In server mode, your node will query other peers for DHT records, and will
  respond to requests from other peers (both requests to store records and
  requests to retrieve records).
* In client mode, your node will query the DHT as a client but will not respond
  to requests from other peers. This mode is less resource intensive than server
  mode.

When `Routing.Type` is set to `dht`, your node will start as a DHT client, and
switch to a DHT server when and if it determines that it's reachable from the
public internet (e.g., it's not behind a firewall).

To force a specific DHT mode, client or server, set `Routing.Type` to
`dhtclient` or `dhtserver` respectively. Please do not set this to `dhtserver`
unless you're sure your node is reachable from the public network.
  
**Example:**

```json
{
  "Routing": {
    "Type": "dhtclient"
  }
}
```  
  

## `Gateway`

Options for the HTTP gateway.

### `Gateway.NoFetch`

When set to true, the gateway will only serve content already in the local repo
and will not fetch files from the network.

Default: `false`

### `Gateway.NoDNSLink`

A boolean to configure whether DNSLink lookup for value in `Host` HTTP header
should be performed.  If DNSLink is present, content path stored in the DNS TXT
record becomes the `/` and respective payload is returned to the client.

Default: `false`

### `Gateway.HTTPHeaders`

Headers to set on gateway responses.

Default:
```json
{
	"Access-Control-Allow-Headers": [
		"X-Requested-With"
	],
	"Access-Control-Allow-Methods": [
		"GET"
	],
	"Access-Control-Allow-Origin": [
		"*"
	]
}
```

### `Gateway.RootRedirect`

A url to redirect requests for `/` to.

Default: `""`

### `Gateway.Writable`

A boolean to configure whether the gateway is writeable or not.

Default: `false`

### `Gateway.PathPrefixes`

Array of acceptable url paths that a client can specify in X-Ipfs-Path-Prefix
header.

The X-Ipfs-Path-Prefix header is used to specify a base path to prepend to links
in directory listings and for trailing-slash redirects. It is intended to be set
by a frontend http proxy like nginx.

Example: We mount `blog.ipfs.io` (a dnslink page) at `ipfs.io/blog`.

**.ipfs/config**
```json
"Gateway": {
  "PathPrefixes": ["/blog"],
```

**nginx_ipfs.conf**
```nginx
location /blog/ {
  rewrite "^/blog(/.*)$" $1 break;
  proxy_set_header Host blog.ipfs.io;
  proxy_set_header X-Ipfs-Gateway-Prefix /blog;
  proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
}
```

Default: `[]`


### `Gateway.PublicGateways`

`PublicGateways` is a dictionary for defining gateway behavior on specified hostnames.

#### `Gateway.PublicGateways: Paths`

Array of paths that should be exposed on the hostname.

Example: 
```json
{
  "Gateway": {
    "PublicGateways": {
      "example.com": {
        "Paths": ["/ipfs", "/ipns"],
```

Above enables `http://example.com/ipfs/*` and `http://example.com/ipns/*` but not `http://example.com/api/*`

Default: `[]`

#### `Gateway.PublicGateways: UseSubdomains`

A boolean to configure whether the gateway at the hostname provides [Origin isolation](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Same-origin_policy)
between content roots.

- `true` - enables [subdomain gateway](#https://docs-beta.ipfs.io/how-to/address-ipfs-on-web/#subdomain-gateway) at `http://*.{hostname}/`
    - **Requires whitelist:** make sure respective `Paths` are set.
    For example, `Paths: ["/ipfs", "/ipns"]` are required for `http://{cid}.ipfs.{hostname}` and `http://{foo}.ipns.{hostname}` to work:
        ```json
        {
        "Gateway": {
            "PublicGateways": {
            "dweb.link": {
                "UseSubdomains": true,
                "Paths": ["/ipfs", "/ipns"],
        ```
    - **Backward-compatible:** requests for content paths such as `http://{hostname}/ipfs/{cid}` produce redirect to `http://{cid}.ipfs.{hostname}`
    - **API:** if `/api` is on the `Paths` whitelist, `http://{hostname}/api/{cmd}` produces redirect to `http://api.{hostname}/api/{cmd}`

- `false` - enables [path gateway](https://docs-beta.ipfs.io/how-to/address-ipfs-on-web/#path-gateway) at `http://{hostname}/*`
  - Example:
    ```json
    {
    "Gateway": {
        "PublicGateways": {
        "ipfs.io": {
            "UseSubdomains": false,
            "Paths": ["/ipfs", "/ipns", "/api"],
    ```
<!-- **(not implemented yet)** due to the lack of Origin isolation, cookies and storage on `Paths` will be disabled by [Clear-Site-Data](https://github.com/ipfs/in-web-browsers/issues/157) header -->

Default: `false`


#### `Gateway.PublicGateways: NoDNSLink`

A boolean to configure whether DNSLink for hostname present in `Host`
HTTP header should be resolved. Overrides global setting.
If `Paths` are defined, they take priority over DNSLink.

Default: `false` (DNSLink lookup enabled by default for every defined hostname)

#### Implicit defaults of `Gateway.PublicGateways`

Default entries for `localhost` hostname and loopback IPs are always present.
If additional config is provided for those hostnames, it will be merged on top of implicit values:
```json
{
  "Gateway": {
    "PublicGateways": {
      "localhost": {
        "Paths": ["/ipfs", "/ipns"],
        "UseSubdomains": true
      }
    }
  }
}
```

It is also possible to remove a default by setting it to `null`.  
For example, to disable subdomain gateway on `localhost`
and make that hostname act the same as `127.0.0.1`:

```console
$ ipfs config --json Gateway.PublicGateways '{"localhost": null }'
```

### `Gateway` recipes

Below is a list of the most common public gateway setups.

* Public [subdomain gateway](https://docs-beta.ipfs.io/how-to/address-ipfs-on-web/#subdomain-gateway) at `http://{cid}.ipfs.dweb.link` (each content root gets its own Origin)
   ```console
   $ ipfs config --json Gateway.PublicGateways '{
       "dweb.link": {
         "UseSubdomains": true,
         "Paths": ["/ipfs", "/ipns"]
       }
     }'
   ```
   **Note:** this enables automatic redirects from content paths to subdomains  
   `http://dweb.link/ipfs/{cid}` → `http://{cid}.ipfs.dweb.link`

* Public [path gateway](https://docs-beta.ipfs.io/how-to/address-ipfs-on-web/#path-gateway) at `http://ipfs.io/ipfs/{cid}` (no Origin separation)
   ```console
   $ ipfs config --json Gateway.PublicGateways '{
       "ipfs.io": {
         "UseSubdomains": false,
         "Paths": ["/ipfs", "/ipns", "/api"]
       }
     }'
   ```

* Public [DNSLink](https://dnslink.io/) gateway resolving every hostname passed in `Host` header.
  ```console
  $ ipfs config --json Gateway.NoDNSLink true
  ```
  * Note that `NoDNSLink: false` is the default (it works out of the box unless set to `true` manually)

* Hardened, site-specific [DNSLink gateway](https://docs-beta.ipfs.io/how-to/address-ipfs-on-web/#dnslink-gateway).  
  Disable fetching of remote data (`NoFetch: true`)
  and resolving DNSLink at unknown hostnames (`NoDNSLink: true`).
  Then, enable DNSLink gateway only for the specific hostname (for which data
  is already present on the node), without exposing any content-addressing `Paths`:
      "NoFetch": true,
      "NoDNSLink": true,
   ```console
   $ ipfs config --json Gateway.NoFetch true
   $ ipfs config --json Gateway.NoDNSLink true
   $ ipfs config --json Gateway.PublicGateways '{
       "en.wikipedia-on-ipfs.org": {
         "NoDNSLink": false,
         "Paths": []
       }
     }'
   ```

## `Identity`

### `Identity.PeerID`

The unique PKI identity label for this configs peer. Set on init and never read,
its merely here for convenience. Ipfs will always generate the peerID from its
keypair at runtime.

### `Identity.PrivKey`

The base64 encoded protobuf describing (and containing) the nodes private key.

## `Ipns`

### `Ipns.RepublishPeriod`

A time duration specifying how frequently to republish ipns records to ensure
they stay fresh on the network. If unset, we default to 4 hours.

### `Ipns.RecordLifetime`

A time duration specifying the value to set on ipns records for their validity
lifetime.

If unset, we default to 24 hours.

### `Ipns.ResolveCacheSize`

The number of entries to store in an LRU cache of resolved ipns entries. Entries
will be kept cached until their lifetime is expired.

Default: `128`

## `Mounts`

FUSE mount point configuration options.

### `Mounts.IPFS`

Mountpoint for `/ipfs/`.

### `Mounts.IPNS`

Mountpoint for `/ipns/`.

### `Mounts.FuseAllowOther`

Sets the FUSE allow other option on the mountpoint.

## `Reprovider`

### `Reprovider.Interval`

Sets the time between rounds of reproviding local content to the routing
system. If unset, it defaults to 12 hours. If set to the value `"0"` it will
disable content reproviding.

Note: disabling content reproviding will result in other nodes on the network
not being able to discover that you have the objects that you have. If you want
to have this disabled and keep the network aware of what you have, you must
manually announce your content periodically.

### `Reprovider.Strategy`

Tells reprovider what should be announced. Valid strategies are:
  - "all" (default) - announce all stored data
  - "pinned" - only announce pinned data
  - "roots" - only announce directly pinned keys and root keys of recursive pins

## `Swarm`

Options for configuring the swarm.

### `Swarm.AddrFilters`

An array of addresses (multiaddr netmasks) to not dial. By default, IPFS nodes
advertise _all_ addresses, even internal ones. This makes it easier for nodes on
the same network to reach each other. Unfortunately, this means that an IPFS
node will try to connect to one or more private IP addresses whenever dialing
another node, even if this other node is on a different network. This may may
trigger netscan alerts on some hosting providers or cause strain in some setups.

The `server` configuration profile fills up this list with sensible defaults,
preventing dials to all non-routable IP addresses (e.g., `192.168.0.0/16`) but
you should always check settings against your own network and/or hosting
provider.


### `Swarm.DisableBandwidthMetrics`

A boolean value that when set to true, will cause ipfs to not keep track of
bandwidth metrics. Disabling bandwidth metrics can lead to a slight performance
improvement, as well as a reduction in memory usage.

### `Swarm.DisableNatPortMap`

Disable automatic NAT port forwarding.

When not disabled (default), go-ipfs asks NAT devices (e.g., routers), to open
up an external port and forward it to the port go-ipfs is running on. When this
works (i.e., when your router supports NAT port forwarding), it makes the local
go-ipfs node accessible from the public internet.

### `Swarm.DisableRelay`

Disables the p2p-circuit relay transport.

### `Swarm.EnableRelayHop`

Enables HOP relay for the node.

If this is enabled, the node will act as an intermediate (Hop Relay) node in
relay circuits for connected peers.

### `Swarm.EnableAutoRelay`

Enables automatic relay for this node.

If the node is a HOP relay (`EnableRelayHop` is true) then it will advertise
itself as a relay through the DHT. Otherwise, the node will test its own NAT
situation (dialability) using passively discovered AutoNAT services. If the node
is not publicly reachable, then it will seek HOP relays advertised through the
DHT and override its public address(es) with relay addresses.

### `Swarm.EnableAutoNATService`

**REMOVED**

Please use [`AutoNAT.ServiceMode`][].

### `Swarm.ConnMgr`

The connection manager determines which and how many connections to keep and can
be configured to keep.

#### `Swarm.ConnMgr.Type`

Sets the type of connection manager to use, options are: `"none"` (no connection
management) and `"basic"`.

#### Basic Connection Manager

##### `Swarm.ConnMgr.LowWater`

LowWater is the minimum number of connections to maintain.

##### `Swarm.ConnMgr.HighWater`

HighWater is the number of connections that, when exceeded, will trigger a
connection GC operation.

##### `Swarm.ConnMgr.GracePeriod`

GracePeriod is a time duration that new connections are immune from being closed
by the connection manager.

The "basic" connection manager tries to keep between `LowWater` and `HighWater`
connections. It works by:

1. Keeping all connections until `HighWater` connections is reached.
2. Once `HighWater` is reached, it closes connections until `LowWater` is
   reached.
3. To prevent thrashing, it never closes connections established within the
   `GracePeriod`.

**Example:**

```json
{
  "Swarm": {
    "ConnMgr": {
      "Type": "basic",
      "LowWater": 100,
      "HighWater": 200,
      "GracePeriod": "30s"
    }
  }
}
```