@multiformats/multiaddr

What is @multiformats/multiaddr?

@multiformats/multiaddr is a JavaScript implementation of the multiaddr format, which is a self-describing network address format. It is used to represent addresses in a way that is protocol-agnostic and can be easily extended to support new protocols.

What are @multiformats/multiaddr's main functionalities?

Create a Multiaddr

This feature allows you to create a new multiaddr instance from a string. The example demonstrates creating a multiaddr for an IPv4 address with a TCP port.

const multiaddr = require('@multiformats/multiaddr');
const addr = multiaddr('/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/4001');
console.log(addr.toString());

Parse a Multiaddr

This feature allows you to parse a multiaddr and extract protocol names. The example shows how to get the protocol names from a multiaddr.

const multiaddr = require('@multiformats/multiaddr');
const addr = multiaddr('/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/4001');
console.log(addr.protoNames());

Encapsulate and Decapsulate

This feature allows you to encapsulate and decapsulate addresses. The example demonstrates adding a UDP layer to an existing address and then removing it.

const multiaddr = require('@multiformats/multiaddr');
const addr = multiaddr('/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/4001');
const encapsulated = addr.encapsulate('/udp/1234');
console.log(encapsulated.toString());
const decapsulated = encapsulated.decapsulate('/udp');
console.log(decapsulated.toString());

Other packages similar to @multiformats/multiaddr

ip

The 'ip' package provides utilities for IP address manipulation, including parsing and formatting. While it focuses on IP addresses specifically, @multiformats/multiaddr is more versatile, supporting a wider range of protocols and encapsulation.

netaddr

The 'netaddr' package is used for network address manipulation, including IP and CIDR operations. It is similar in functionality to 'ip', but @multiformats/multiaddr offers a more comprehensive approach to handling multi-protocol addresses.

README

@multiformats/multiaddr

multiaddr implementation (binary + string representation of network addresses)

About

A standard way to represent addresses that

• support any standard network protocol
• are self-describing
• have a binary packed format
• have a nice string representation
• encapsulate well

Example

import { multiaddr } from '@multiformats/multiaddr'

const addr = multiaddr('/ip4/127.0.0.1/udp/1234')
// Multiaddr(/ip4/127.0.0.1/udp/1234)

addr.bytes
// <Uint8Array 04 7f 00 00 01 11 04 d2>

addr.toString()
// '/ip4/127.0.0.1/udp/1234'

addr.protos()
// [
//   {code: 4, name: 'ip4', size: 32},
//   {code: 273, name: 'udp', size: 16}
// ]

// gives you an object that is friendly with what Node.js core modules expect for addresses
addr.nodeAddress()
// {
//   family: 4,
//   port: 1234,
//   address: "127.0.0.1"
// }

addr.encapsulate('/sctp/5678')
// Multiaddr(/ip4/127.0.0.1/udp/1234/sctp/5678)

Resolving DNSADDR addresses

DNSADDR is a spec that allows storing a TXT DNS record that contains a Multiaddr.

To resolve DNSADDR addresses, call the .resolve() function the multiaddr, optionally passing a DNS resolver.

DNSADDR addresses can resolve to multiple multiaddrs, since there is no limit to the number of TXT records that can be stored.

Example - Resolving DNSADDR Multiaddrs

import { multiaddr, resolvers } from '@multiformats/multiaddr'
import { dnsaddrResolver } from '@multiformats/multiaddr/resolvers'

resolvers.set('dnsaddr', dnsaddrResolver)

const ma = multiaddr('/dnsaddr/bootstrap.libp2p.io')

// resolve with a 5s timeout
const resolved = await ma.resolve({
  signal: AbortSignal.timeout(5000)
})

console.info(resolved)
// [Multiaddr('/ip4/147.75...'), Multiaddr('/ip4/147.75...'), Multiaddr('/ip4/147.75...')...]

Example - Using a custom DNS resolver to resolve DNSADDR Multiaddrs

See the docs for @multiformats/dns for a full breakdown of how to specify multiple resolvers or resolvers that can be used for specific TLDs.

import { multiaddr } from '@multiformats/multiaddr'
import { dns } from '@multiformats/dns'
import { dnsJsonOverHttps } from '@multiformats/dns/resolvers'

const resolver = dns({
  resolvers: {
    '.': dnsJsonOverHttps('https://cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query')
  }
})

const ma = multiaddr('/dnsaddr/bootstrap.libp2p.io')
const resolved = await ma.resolve({
 dns: resolver
})

console.info(resolved)
// [Multiaddr('/ip4/147.75...'), Multiaddr('/ip4/147.75...'), Multiaddr('/ip4/147.75...')...]

Install

$ npm i @multiformats/multiaddr

Browser <script> tag

Loading this module through a script tag will make it's exports available as MultiformatsMultiaddr in the global namespace.

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@multiformats/multiaddr/dist/index.min.js"></script>

API Docs

• https://multiformats.github.io/js-multiaddr

License

Licensed under either of

• Apache 2.0, (LICENSE-APACHE / http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT (LICENSE-MIT / http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.

Changelog

12.3.4 (2024-12-03)

Bug Fixes

• handle valid CIDR ranges for IPv4 and IPv6 (#394) (1513768)