# ipfs/specs

Technical specifications for the IPFS protocol stack

Repository: https://github.com/ipfs/specs
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ipfs-specs
Homepage: https://specs.ipfs.tech
Language: HTML
License Family: other
Topics: specifications, specs, standards, ipfs, p2p, protocol
Last push: 2026-08-25T15:22:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4193, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1238, forks 249 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:05.505966+00:00)

## What it is
The official repository of technical specifications for the IPFS protocol stack and its subsystems, published at specs.ipfs.tech. It defines interoperable standards for content routing, data exchange, HTTP gateways, and data formats so independent implementations can work together.

## Use cases
- implement an IPFS client that interoperates with other implementations
- understand how the IPFS Kademlia DHT routing works
- build an HTTP gateway for content-addressed data
- learn the Bitswap block exchange protocol
- propose a change to the IPFS protocol via the IPIP process
- check the lifecycle status of an IPFS subsystem spec

## When to choose
- you are implementing or integrating with the IPFS protocol and need normative specifications
- you want to verify interoperability requirements for gateways, routing, or data formats
- you are researching peer-to-peer content-addressed networking design

## When to avoid
- you need user documentation or tutorials for using IPFS rather than protocol specs
- you want ready-to-use IPFS software rather than standards documents
- you need a finalized, guaranteed-stable standard - most specs are still draft or reliable

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: active
- function: documentation, p2p, networking, file-system
- domain: networking, microservices, developer-tools, documentation
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: ipfs, specifications, standards, content-addressing, peer-to-peer, protocol-design

## Member repositories
- ipfs/specs (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:05.505966+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:10:03.966731+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ipfs/specs (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:05.505966+00:00, sha d6725497f047)
  - homepage: https://specs.ipfs.tech (fetched 2026-08-29T12:20:51.132657+00:00, sha f24e52102fc4)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.