@ethersphere/bee-js

Bee-JS

JavaScript SDK for the Swarm decentralised storage.

Supports Node.js 18+, Vite and Webpack.

Write your code in CJS, MJS or TypeScript.

Intended to be used with Bee version 2.5.0.

Quick start

Start a Swarm project using TypeScript:

npm init swarm-app@latest my-dapp node-ts

or using Vite and TypeScript:

npm init swarm-app@latest my-dapp vite-tsx

Supported types are node, node-esm, node-ts and vite-tsx. Replace my-dapp with your project name.

Install

npm install @ethersphere/bee-js

Import

CJS

const { Bee } = require('@ethersphere/bee-js')

MJS and TypeScript

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

Script tag

Loading this module through a script tag will make the BeeJs object available in the global namespace.

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@ethersphere/bee-js/dist/index.browser.min.js"></script>

Overview

Type interfaces

NumberString is a branded type for marking strings that represent numbers. It interops with string and bigint types. Where NumberString is present, number is disallowed in order to avoid pitfalls with unsafe large values.

Byte primitives

All the classes below extend Bytes, therefor the following methods are available on all of them: toUint8Array, toHex, toBase64, toBase32, toUtf8, toJSON, static keccak256, static fromUtf8.

The toString method uses toHex.

Bytes and its subclasses may be constructed with new from Uint8Array or hex string.

Elliptic

Name	Description	Methods
PrivateKey	32 bytes private key	publicKey, sign
PublicKey	64 bytes public key	address, toCompressedUint8Array, toCompressedHex
EthAddress	20 bytes Ethereum address	toChecksum
Signature	65 bytes signature	recoverPublicKey

Swarm

Name	Description	Methods
Reference	32/64 bytes reference (chunk, feed)	toCid
Identifier	32 bytes identifier (SOC, Feed)	-
TransactionId	32 bytes transaction ID	-
FeedIndex	8 bytes feed index (BE)	static fromBigInt, toBigInt
Topic	32 bytes topic	static fromString
PeerAddress	32 bytes peer address	-
BatchId	32 bytes batch ID	-
Span	8 bytes span (LE)	static fromBigInt, toBigInt

Tokens

Name	Description	Methods
DAI	ERC20 DAI token (18 digits)	static fromDecimalString, static fromWei, toWeiString, toWeiBigInt, toDecimalString
BZZ	ERC20 BZZ token (16 digits)	static fromDecimalString, static fromPLUR, toPLURString, toPLURBigInt, toDecimalString

Swarm chunks

Name	Description	Creation
Chunk	Span, max. 4096 bytes payload; address dervied from content	makeContentAddressedChunk
SingleOwnerChunk	Identifier, signature, span, max. 4096 bytes payload; address derived from identifier and owner	makeSingleOwnerChunk

Swarm primitives

Name	Description	Methods
MantarayNode	Compact trie with reference values and JSON metadata	addFork, removeFork, calculateSelfAddress, find, findClosest, collect, marshal, unmarshal, saveRecursively, loadRecursively
MerkleTree	Streaming BMT of chunks	append, finalize, static root

Swarm objects

Name	Description	Creation
SOCWriter	SingleOwnerChunk writer	bee.makeSOCWriter
SOCReader	SingleOwnerChunk reader	bee.makeSOCReader
FeedWriter	Feed writer	bee.makeFeedWriter
FeedReader	Feed reader	bee.makeFeedReader

Bee API

• ❌❌✅ - Full node only
• ❌✅✅ - Light node and full node
• ✅✅✅ - Ultra-light node, light node and full node

JS Call	Bee Endpoint	Bee Mode
uploadFile	POST /bzz 🔗	❌✅✅
uploadFilesFromDirectory Node.js	POST /bzz 🔗	❌✅✅
uploadFiles	POST /bzz 🔗	❌✅✅
uploadCollection	POST /bzz 🔗	❌✅✅
uploadData	POST /bytes 🔗	❌✅✅
uploadChunk	POST /chunks 🔗	❌✅✅
streamDirectory Node.js	POST /chunks 🔗	❌✅✅
streamFiles Browser	POST /chunks 🔗	❌✅✅
SOCWriter.upload	POST /soc/:owner/:identifier 🔗	❌✅✅
FeedReader.download	GET /feeds/:owner/:topic 🔗	✅✅✅
FeedWriter.updateFeed	POST /soc/:owner/:identifier 🔗	❌✅✅
downloadFile	GET /bzz/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
downloadFile	GET /bzz/:reference/:path 🔗	✅✅✅
downloadReadableFile	GET /bzz/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
downloadData	GET /bytes/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
downloadReadableData	GET /bytes/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
downloadChunk	GET /chunks/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
createFeedManifest	POST /feeds/:owner/:topic 🔗	❌✅✅
isConnected	GET /	✅✅✅
getHealth	GET /health 🔗	✅✅✅
getReadiness	GET /readiness 🔗	✅✅✅
getNodeInfo	GET /node 🔗	✅✅✅
getChainState	GET /chainstate 🔗	❌✅✅
getRedistributionState	GET /redistributionstate 🔗	❌❌✅
getReserveState	GET /reservestate 🔗	❌❌✅
getStatus	GET /status 🔗	✅✅✅
getWallet	GET /wallet 🔗	❌✅✅
getTopology	GET /topology 🔗	✅✅✅
getAddresses	GET /addresses 🔗	✅✅✅
getPeers	GET /peers 🔗	✅✅✅
getAllBalances	GET /balances 🔗	❌✅✅
getPeerBalance	GET /balances/:peer 🔗	❌✅✅
getPastDueConsumptionBalances	GET /consumed 🔗	❌✅✅
getPastDueConsumptionPeerBalance	GET /consumed/:peer 🔗	❌✅✅
getAllSettlements	GET /settlements 🔗	❌✅✅
getSettlements	GET /settlements/:peer 🔗	❌✅✅
getChequebookAddress	GET /chequebook/address 🔗	❌✅✅
getChequebookBalance	GET /chequebook/balance 🔗	❌✅✅
getLastCheques	GET /chequebook/cheque 🔗	❌✅✅
getLastChequesForPeer	GET /chequebook/cheque/:peer 🔗	❌✅✅
getLastCashoutAction	GET /chequebook/cashout/:peer 🔗	❌✅✅
cashoutLastCheque	POST /chequebook/cashout/:peer 🔗	❌✅✅
depositTokens	POST /chequebook/deposit 🔗	❌✅✅
withdrawTokens	POST /chequebook/withdraw 🔗	❌✅✅
getAllPendingTransactions	GET /transactions 🔗	❌✅✅
getPendingTransaction	GET /transactions/:id 🔗	❌✅✅
rebroadcastTransaction	POST /transactions/:id 🔗	❌✅✅
cancelTransaction	DELETE /transactions/:id 🔗	❌✅✅
createTag	POST /tags 🔗	❌✅✅
retrieveTag	GET /tags/:id 🔗	❌✅✅
getAllTags	GET /tags 🔗	❌✅✅
deleteTag	DELETE /tags/:id 🔗	❌✅✅
updateTag	PATCH /tags/:id 🔗	❌✅✅
pin	POST /pins/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
getAllPins	GET /pins 🔗	✅✅✅
getPin	GET /pins/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
isReferenceRetrievable	GET /stewardship/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
reuploadPinnedData	PUT /stewardship/:reference 🔗	❌✅✅
unpin	DELETE /pins/:reference 🔗	✅✅✅
getGrantees	GET /grantee/:reference 🔗	❌✅✅
createGrantees	POST /grantee 🔗	❌✅✅
patchGrantees	PATCH /grantee/:reference 🔗	❌✅✅
pssSend	POST /pss/send/:topic/:target 🔗	❌✅✅
pssSubscribe Websocket	GET /pss/subscribe/:topic 🔗	❌❌✅
pssReceive	GET /pss/subscribe/:topic 🔗	❌❌✅
getAllPostageBatch	GET /stamps 🔗	❌✅✅
getGlobalPostageBatches	GET /batches 🔗	❌✅✅
getPostageBatch	GET /stamps/:batchId 🔗	❌✅✅
getPostageBatchBuckets	GET /stamps/:batchId/buckets 🔗	❌✅✅
createPostageBatch	POST /stamps/:amount/:depth 🔗	❌✅✅
topUpBatch	PATCH /stamps/topup/:batchId/:amount 🔗	❌✅✅
diluteBatch	PATCH /stamps/dilute/:batchId/:depth 🔗	❌✅✅
createEnvelope	POST /envelope/:reference 🔗	❌✅✅
getStake	GET /stake 🔗	❌❌✅
depositStake	POST /stake 🔗	❌❌✅

Utils

General

• getCollectionSize
• getFolderSize

PSS

• makeMaxTarget

Erasure Coding

• approximateOverheadForRedundancyLevel
• getRedundancyStat
• getRedundancyStats

Stamps

• getAmountForTtl
• getDepthForCapacity
• getStampCost
• getStampEffectiveBytes
• getStampMaximumCapacityBytes
• getStampTtlSeconds
• getStampUsage

Usage

Upload via Swarm Gateway

import { Bee, NULL_STAMP, SWARM_GATEWAY_URL } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

main()

async function main() {
  const bee = new Bee(SWARM_GATEWAY_URL)
  const { reference } = await bee.uploadData(NULL_STAMP, 'Hello, World!')
  console.log(reference.toHex())
}

Create or select an existing postage batch

Swarm incentivizes nodes in the network to store content, therefor all uploads require a paid postage batch.

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

async function getOrCreatePostageBatch() {
  const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')
  let batchId

  const batches = await bee.getAllPostageBatch()
  const usable = batches.find(x => x.usable)

  if (usable) {
    batchId = usable.batchID
  } else {
    batchId = await bee.buyStorage(Size.fromGigabytes(1), Duration.fromDays(7))
  }
}

The following examples all assume an existing batchId.

Upload simple data (Browser + Node.js)

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')

const uploadResult = await bee.uploadData(batchId, 'Bee is awesome!')
const data = await bee.downloadData(uploadResult.reference)

console.log(data.toUtf8()) // prints 'Bee is awesome!'

Upload data from a file input (React)

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')
const result = await bee.uploadFile(batchId, file)

Upload multiple files or a directory (React)

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')
const result = await bee.uploadFiles(batchId, fileList)

Upload arbitrary large file (Node.js)

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'
import { createReadStream } from 'fs'

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')
const readable = createReadStream('./path/to/large.bin')
const uploadResult = await bee.uploadFile(batchId, readable)

Upload arbitrary large directories (Node.js)

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'
import { createReadStream } from 'fs'

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')
const uploadResult = await bee.uploadFilesFromDirectory(batchId, './path/to/gallery/')

Customize http/https agent and headers

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633', {
  httpAgent: new http.Agent({ keepAlive: true }),
  httpsAgent: new https.Agent({ keepAlive: true }),
  headers: {
    Authorization: 'Basic ' + Buffer.from('username:password').toString('base64'),
  },
})

Contribute

Stay up to date by joining the official Discord and by keeping an eye on the releases tab.

We are using Conventional Commits for our commit messages and pull requests, following the Semantic Versioning rules.

There are some ways you can make this module better:

• Consult our open issues and take on one of them
• Help our tests reach 100% coverage!
• Join us in our Discord chat in the #develop-on-swarm channel if you have questions or want to give feedback

Setup

Install project dependencies:

npm install

Build the project:

npm run build

After making changes, link the package to your project by running npm link in the Bee-JS project root, and npm link @ethersphere/bee-js in your project root.

Test

Code coverage

Tests are currently run against a mainnet Bee nodes. This is temporary and this section will be revised in the future.

License

BSD-3-Clause

Changelog

9.8.1 (2025-08-11)

Bug Fixes

• fix reference length bug in manifest unmarshalling (#1065) (4a5d2b8)