OrbitDB is a serverless, distributed, peer-to-peer database. OrbitDB uses IPFS as its data storage and Libp2p Pubsub to automatically sync databases with peers. It's an eventually consistent database that uses Merkle-CRDTs for conflict-free database writes and merges making OrbitDB an excellent choice for p2p and decentralized apps, blockchain applications and local-first web applications.
Test it live at Live demo 1, Live demo 2, or P2P TodoMVC app!
OrbitDB provides various types of databases for different data models and use cases:
All databases are implemented on top of ipfs-log, an immutable, cryptographically verifiable, operation-based conflict-free replicated data structure (CRDT) for distributed systems. ipfs-log is formalized in the paper Merkle-CRDTs. You can also easily extend OrbitDB by implementing and using a custom data model benefitting from the same properties as the default data models provided by the underlying Merkle-CRDTs.
NOTE! OrbitDB is alpha-stage software. It means OrbitDB hasn't been security audited and programming APIs and data formats can still change. We encourage you to reach out to the maintainers if you plan to use OrbitDB in mission critical systems.
This is the Javascript implementation and it works both in Browsers and Node.js with support for Linux, OS X, and Windows. Node version 16 is supported.
A Go implementation is developed and maintained by the Berty project at berty/go-orbit-db.
Read the GETTING STARTED guide for a quick tutorial on how to use OrbitDB.
For a more in-depth tutorial and exploration of OrbitDB's architecture, please check out the OrbitDB Field Manual.
If you're using orbit-db to develop browser or Node.js applications, use it as a module with the javascript instance of IPFS
Install dependencies:
npm install orbit-db ipfs
import IPFS from 'ipfs'
import OrbitDB from 'orbit-db'
;(async function () {
const ipfs = await IPFS.create()
const orbitdb = await OrbitDB.createInstance(ipfs)
// Create / Open a database
const db = await orbitdb.log("hello")
await db.load()
// Listen for updates from peers
db.events.on("replicated", address => {
console.log(db.iterator({ limit: -1 }).collect())
})
// Add an entry
const hash = await db.add("world")
console.log(hash)
// Query
const result = db.iterator({ limit: -1 }).collect()
console.log(JSON.stringify(result, null, 2))
})()
Alternatively, you can use ipfs-http-client to use orbit-db with a locally running IPFS daemon. Use this method if you're using orbitd-db to develop backend or desktop applications, eg. with Electron.
Install dependencies:
npm install orbit-db ipfs-http-client
import { create } from 'ipfs-http-client'
import OrbitDB from 'orbit-db'
const ipfs = create(new URL('http://localhost:5001'))
const orbitdb = await OrbitDB.createInstance(ipfs)
const db = await orbitdb.log('hello')
// Do something with your db.
// Of course, you may want to wrap these in an async function.
See API.md for the full documentation.
OrbitDB databases can easily be managed using a web UI, see OrbitDB Control Center.
Install and run it locally:
git clone https://github.com/orbitdb/orbit-db-control-center.git
cd orbit-db-control-center/
npm i && npm start
git clone https://github.com/orbitdb/orbit-db.git
cd orbit-db
npm install
Some dependencies depend on native addon modules, so you'll also need to meet node-gyp's installation prerequisites. Therefore, Linux users may need to
make clean-dependencies && make deps
to redo the local package-lock.json with working native dependencies.
npm install # if not yet installed
make build
npm run examples:browser # if browser isn't opening, open examples/browser/browser.html in your browser
Using Webpack:
npm install # if not yet installed
make build
npm run examples:browser-webpack # if browser isn't opening, open examples/browser/browser-webpack-example/index.html in your browser
Check the code in examples/browser/browser.html and try the live example.
npm run examples:node
Eventlog
See the code in examples/eventlog.js and run it with:
node examples/eventlog.js
We have a field manual which has much more detailed examples and a run-through of how to understand OrbitDB, at orbitdb/field-manual. There is also a workshop you can follow, which shows how to build an app, at orbit-db/web3-workshop.
More examples at examples.
OrbitDB uses the following modules:
Community-maintained Typescript typings are available here: https://github.com/orbitdb/orbit-db-types
npm test
npm run build
node benchmarks/benchmark-add.js
See benchmarks/ for more benchmarks.
To enable OrbitDB's logging output, set a global ENV variable called LOG to debug,warn or error:
LOG=debug node <file>
We have an FAQ! Go take a look at it. If a question isn't there, open an issue and suggest adding it. We can work on the best answer together.
Yes! Take a look at these implementations:
The best place to find out what is out there and what is being actively worked on is likely by asking in the Matrix. If you know of any other repos that ought to be included in this section, please open a PR and add them.
Take a look at our organization-wide Contributing Guide. You'll find most of your questions answered there. Some questions may be answered in the FAQ, as well.
If you want to code but don't know where to start, check out the issues labelled "help wanted".
The development of OrbitDB has been sponsored by:
If you want to sponsor developers to work on OrbitDB, please reach out to @haadcode.
MIT © 2015-2023 Protocol Labs Inc., Haja Networks Oy, OrbitDB Community
FAQs
Distributed p2p database on IPFS
The npm package orbit-db receives a total of 54 weekly downloads. As such, orbit-db popularity was classified as not popular.
We found that orbit-db demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 4 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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