MCP-IPFS

A Model Context Protocol server for IPFS operations

Give Claude full control over the InterPlanetary File System

Quick Start • Features • Tools • Configuration • Architecture • Contributing

What is MCP-IPFS?

MCP-IPFS is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables Claude and other AI assistants to interact directly with IPFS (InterPlanetary File System). It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for content-addressed storage, peer-to-peer networking, and decentralized data management.

Built on Helia (the modern JavaScript IPFS implementation), with a pluggable architecture ready for Kubo and remote pinning services.

Why MCP-IPFS?

Without MCP-IPFS	With MCP-IPFS
Manual IPFS CLI commands	Claude handles IPFS operations directly
Copy-paste CIDs between tools	Seamless content-addressed workflows
No visibility into node status	Full observability of peers, bandwidth, DHT
Long operations block interaction	Background jobs with progress tracking
Single IPFS backend	Pluggable: Helia, Kubo, pinning services

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+
Claude Code CLI or any MCP-compatible client

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/EricGrill/mcp-ipfs.git
cd mcp-ipfs

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

Add to Claude Code

Add to your ~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ipfs": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-ipfs/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Verify Installation

You: What's the IPFS node status?

Claude: [Uses node_status tool]
Node is running with peer ID QmXxx...
Connected to 12 peers
Repository size: 45.2 MB

✨ Features

📦 Content Operations Add & retrieve text, JSON, files, directories Pin management to prevent garbage collection IPNS publishing for mutable names MFS (Mutable File System) for familiar file operations DAG operations for advanced IPLD data structures	🔭 Node Monitoring Node identity and health status Peer connections with latency and direction Bandwidth statistics total and per-protocol Repository stats and garbage collection DHT operations for peer/content discovery
⚡ Background Jobs Async operations for large files and slow networks Progress tracking with real-time updates Job management - list, poll, cancel Auto-detection - small ops return immediately	🔌 Pluggable Backends Helia (embedded) - zero external dependencies Kubo (planned) - connect to existing go-ipfs nodes Pinning Services (planned) - Pinata, Web3.Storage

🛠 Tools

Content Tools

Tool	Description
`ipfs_add`	Add text, JSON, or file to IPFS. Returns CID.
`ipfs_get`	Retrieve content by CID
`ipfs_pin`	Pin content to prevent garbage collection
`ipfs_unpin`	Unpin content
`ipfs_pins_list`	List all pinned CIDs
`ipfs_add_directory`	Add entire directory, returns root CID
`ipfs_ls`	List contents of directory CID
`ipfs_get_file`	Get specific file from directory by path

IPNS Tools

Tool	Description
`ipns_publish`	Publish CID to IPNS name
`ipns_resolve`	Resolve IPNS name to current CID
`ipns_keys_list`	List available IPNS keys

MFS Tools (Mutable File System)

Tool	Description
`mfs_write`	Write content to mutable path
`mfs_read`	Read content from MFS path
`mfs_ls`	List directory contents
`mfs_mkdir`	Create directory
`mfs_rm`	Remove file or directory
`mfs_mv`	Move/rename file or directory
`mfs_flush`	Flush MFS to get root CID

DAG Tools

Tool	Description
`dag_put`	Store IPLD data, returns CID
`dag_get`	Retrieve IPLD node, optionally traverse path

Node Tools

Tool	Description
`node_id`	Get peer ID, public key, versions
`node_status`	Quick health check
`node_version`	Detailed version info
`peers_list`	Connected peers with details
`peers_count`	Simple peer count
`bandwidth_stats`	Network bandwidth metrics
`swarm_connect`	Connect to peer by multiaddr
`swarm_disconnect`	Disconnect from peer
`repo_stats`	Repository statistics
`repo_gc`	Trigger garbage collection

DHT Tools

Tool	Description
`dht_find_peer`	Find addresses for peer ID via DHT
`dht_find_providers`	Find peers providing a CID (configurable limit)
`dht_provide`	Announce content availability to the network

Job Tools

Tool	Description
`job_status`	Get status of background job
`jobs_list`	List all jobs
`job_cancel`	Cancel running job

⚙️ Configuration

Configuration File

Create mcp-ipfs.config.json in the project root:

{
  "backend": "helia",
  "persistence": {
    "enabled": true,
    "path": "./ipfs-data"
  },
  "helia": {
    "libp2p": {
      "addresses": ["/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/4002"],
      "bootstrap": true
    }
  },
  "jobs": {
    "maxConcurrent": 3,
    "defaultTimeout": 300000
  }
}

Environment Variables

Environment variables override config file settings:

Variable	Description	Default
`MCP_IPFS_BACKEND`	Backend to use	`helia`
`MCP_IPFS_PERSISTENCE_ENABLED`	Enable persistent storage	`true`
`MCP_IPFS_DATA_PATH`	Data directory path	`./ipfs-data`
`MCP_IPFS_BOOTSTRAP`	Connect to bootstrap nodes	`true`
`MCP_IPFS_JOBS_MAX_CONCURRENT`	Max concurrent jobs	`3`
`MCP_IPFS_JOBS_TIMEOUT`	Default job timeout (ms)	`300000`

Persistence Modes

Persistent (default):

Content survives server restarts
Uses LevelDB blockstore
Recommended for production

In-memory:

Content lost on restart
Faster for testing
Set persistence.enabled: false

🏗 Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   Claude                         │
└─────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                      │ MCP Protocol (JSON-RPC)
┌─────────────────────▼───────────────────────────┐
│              MCP-IPFS Server                     │
│                                                  │
│  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐  ┌─────────────┐ │
│  │  Content  │  │   Node    │  │    Job      │ │
│  │   Tools   │  │   Tools   │  │   Manager   │ │
│  └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘  └──────┬──────┘ │
│        │              │               │        │
│        └──────────────┼───────────────┘        │
│                       │                         │
│           ┌───────────▼───────────┐            │
│           │    Backend Layer      │            │
│           │   (IPFSBackend)       │            │
│           └───────────┬───────────┘            │
└───────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┘
                        │
          ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
    ┌─────▼────┐  ┌─────▼────┐  ┌─────▼────┐
    │  Helia   │  │   Kubo   │  │ Pinning  │
    │(embedded)│  │   API    │  │ Services │
    └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘
         ✓           planned      planned

Key Components

Component	Responsibility
Content Tools	IPFS add/get/pin, IPNS, MFS, DAG operations
Node Tools	Status, peers, bandwidth, repo, DHT, config
Job Manager	Queue long operations, track progress, enable polling
Backend Layer	Abstract IPFS implementation details

Backend Interface

interface IPFSBackend {
  // Lifecycle
  start(): Promise<void>;
  stop(): Promise<void>;

  // Content
  add(content: Uint8Array, options?: AddOptions): Promise<CID>;
  get(cid: CID): Promise<Uint8Array>;
  pin(cid: CID): Promise<void>;
  unpin(cid: CID): Promise<void>;

  // Node info
  id(): Promise<PeerInfo>;
  peers(): Promise<PeerConnection[]>;
  // ... etc
}

📁 Project Structure

mcp-ipfs/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts              # Entry point
│   ├── server.ts             # MCP server setup
│   ├── tools/
│   │   ├── content.ts        # Content operations
│   │   ├── node.ts           # Node monitoring
│   │   └── jobs.ts           # Job management
│   ├── backends/
│   │   ├── interface.ts      # Backend abstraction
│   │   └── helia.ts          # Helia implementation
│   ├── jobs/
│   │   └── manager.ts        # Job queue
│   └── config.ts             # Configuration
├── test/
│   ├── content.test.ts
│   ├── node.test.ts
│   └── jobs.test.ts
├── docs/
│   └── plans/                # Design documents
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
└── mcp-ipfs.config.json

🧪 Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

# Build for production
npm run build

# Lint
npm run lint

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines before submitting PRs.

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 18 Commits
docs/plans		docs/plans
src		src
test		test
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
vitest.config.ts		vitest.config.ts

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MCP-IPFS

What is MCP-IPFS?

Why MCP-IPFS?

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Installation

Add to Claude Code

Verify Installation

✨ Features

📦 Content Operations

🔭 Node Monitoring

⚡ Background Jobs

🔌 Pluggable Backends

🛠 Tools

Content Tools

IPNS Tools

MFS Tools (Mutable File System)

DAG Tools

Node Tools

DHT Tools

Job Tools

⚙️ Configuration

Configuration File

Environment Variables

Persistence Modes

🏗 Architecture

Key Components

Backend Interface

📁 Project Structure

🧪 Development

🤝 Contributing

📚 Related Resources

Learn More

Community

📜 License

🙏 Acknowledgments

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