Arweave JS

Arweave JS is the JavaScript/TypeScript SDK for interacting with the Arweave network and uploading data to the permaweb. It works in latest browsers and Node JS.

Notes:

If you are planning to upload large batches of data transactions to the Arweave network, it is strongly advised that you use ArBundles instead of transactions with Arweave.js. You can read about bundles and their advantages on the Arwiki.

When working with NodeJS a minimum version of 18+ is required, with some exceptions. See these release notes for more details.

Arweave JS

Installation

NPM

npm install --save arweave

Bundles

Single bundle file (web only - use the NPM method if using Node).

<!-- Latest -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/arweave/bundles/web.bundle.js"></script>

<!-- Latest, minified-->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/arweave/bundles/web.bundle.min.js"></script>

<!-- Specific version -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/bundles/web.bundle.js"></script>

<!-- Specific version, minified -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/bundles/web.bundle.min.js"></script>

Initialisation

NPM Node

const Arweave = require('arweave');

// If you want to connect directly to a node
const arweave = Arweave.init({
    host: '127.0.0.1',
    port: 1984,
    protocol: 'http'
});

// Or to specify a gateway when running from NodeJS you might use
const arweave = Arweave.init({
  host: 'arweave.net',
  port: 443,
  protocol: 'https'
});

NPM Web

import Arweave from 'arweave';

// Since v1.5.1 you're now able to call the init function for the web version without options. The current URL path will be used by default. This is recommended when running from a gateway.
const arweave = Arweave.init({});

// Or manually specify a host
const arweave = Arweave.init({
    host: '127.0.0.1',
    port: 1984,
    protocol: 'http'
});

Web Bundles

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Hello world</title>
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/arweave/bundles/web.bundle.js"></script>
    <script>
    const arweave = Arweave.init({});
    arweave.network.getInfo().then(console.log);
    </script>
</head>
<body>

</body>
</html>

Initialisation options

{
    host: 'arweave.net',// Hostname or IP address for a Arweave host
    port: 443,          // Port
    protocol: 'https',  // Network protocol http or https
    timeout: 20000,     // Network request timeouts in milliseconds
    logging: false,     // Enable network request logging
}

Usage

Wallets and Keys

Create a new wallet and private key

Here you can generate a new wallet address and private key (JWK), don't expose private keys or make them public as anyone with the key can use the corresponding wallet.

Make sure they're stored securely as they can never be recovered if lost.

Once AR has been sent to the address for a new wallet, the key can then be used to sign outgoing transactions.

arweave.wallets.generate().then((key) => {
    console.log(key);
    // {
    //     "kty": "RSA",
    //     "n": "3WquzP5IVTIsv3XYJjfw5L-t4X34WoWHwOuxb9V8w...",
    //     "e": ...
});

Get the wallet address for a private key

arweave.wallets.jwkToAddress(key).then((address) => {
    console.log(address);
    //1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY
});

Get an address balance

Get the balance of a wallet address, all amounts by default are returned in winston.

arweave.wallets.getBalance('1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY').then((balance) => {
    let winston = balance;
    let ar = arweave.ar.winstonToAr(balance);

    console.log(winston);
    //125213858712

    console.log(ar);
    //0.125213858712
});

Get the last transaction ID from a wallet

arweave.wallets.getLastTransactionID('1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY').then((transactionId) => {
    console.log(transactionId);
    //3pXpj43Tk8QzDAoERjHE3ED7oEKLKephjnVakvkiHF8
});

Transactions

Transactions are the building blocks of the Arweave permaweb. They can send AR between wallet addresses or store data on the Arweave network.

The create transaction methods create and return an unsigned transaction object. You must sign the transaction and submit it separately using the transactions.sign and transactions.submit methods.

If you don't pass in a key argument when creating a transaction, Arweave.js will attempt to use a browser-based wallet extension, such as ArConnect or Arweave.app, to sign the transaction.

Modifying a transaction object after signing it will invalidate the signature, causing it to be rejected by the network if submitted in that state. Transaction prices are based on the size of the data field, so modifying the data field after a transaction has been created isn't recommended as you'll need to manually update the price.

The transaction ID is a hash of the transaction signature, so a transaction ID can't be known until its contents are finalised and it has been signed.

Create a data transaction

Note: If you are planning to upload large batches of data transactions to the Arweave network, it is strongly advised that you use ArBundles instead of transactions with Arweave.js. You can read about bundles and their advantages on the Arwiki.

Data transactions are used to store data on the Arweave permaweb. They can contain HTML or any arbitrary data and are served like webpages.

let key = await arweave.wallets.generate();

// Plain text
let transactionA = await arweave.createTransaction({
    data: '<html><head><meta charset="UTF-8"><title>Hello world!</title></head><body></body></html>'
}, key);

// Buffer
let transactionB = await arweave.createTransaction({
    data: Buffer.from('Some data', 'utf8')
}, key);


console.log(transactionA);
// Transaction {
//   format: 2,
//   id: 'ReUohI9tEmXQ6EN9H9IkRjY9bSdgql_OdLUCOeMEte0',
//   last_tx: 'Tk-0c7260Ya5zjfjzl4f6-W-vRO94qiqZMAScKBcYXc68v1Pd8bYfTbKWi7pepUF',
//   owner: 'kmM4O08BJB85RbxfQ2nkka9VNO6Czm2Tc_IGQNYCTSXRzO...',
//   tags: [],
//   target: '',
//   quantity: '0',
//   data: 'c29tZSBkYXRh',
//   data_size: '9',
//   data_root: 'qwKZUl7qWpCEmB3cpONKTYOcSmnmhb-_s8ggMTZwCU4',
//   data_tree: [],
//   reward: '7489274',
//   signature: 'JYdFPblDuT95ky7_wVss3Ax9e4Qygcd_lEcB07sDPUD_wNslOk...'
// }

Create a wallet to wallet transaction

Wallet to wallet transactions can facilitate payments from one wallet to another, given a target wallet and AR token quantity in Winston.

let key = await arweave.wallets.generate();

// Send 10.5 AR to 1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY
let transaction = await arweave.createTransaction({
    target: '1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY',
    quantity: arweave.ar.arToWinston('10.5')
}, key);

console.log(transaction);
// Transaction {
//   format: 2,
//   id: 'v-n7hAc7cubeXSClh0beaOs1RjYFagyvpl2TkUOfbRg',
//   last_tx: 'Tk-0c7260Ya5zjfjzl4f6-W-vRO94qiqZMAScKBcYXc68v1Pd8bYfTbKWi7pepUF',
//   owner: 'kmM4O08BJB85RbxfQ2nkka9VNO6Czm2Tc_IGQNYCTSXRzOc6W9b...',
//   tags: [],
//   target: '1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY',
//   quantity: '10500000000000',
//   data: '',
//   data_size: '0',
//   data_root: '',
//   data_tree: [],
//   reward: '7468335',
//   signature: 'DnUOYbRSkhI4ZXg5fpYDCwPv8yvM5toAneSx4Jlg0zjIocqPs8giPP...'
// }

Add tags to a transaction

Metadata can be added to transactions through tags, these are simple key/value attributes that can be used to document the contents of a transaction or provide related data.

GraphQL uses tags when searching for transactions.

The Content-Type is a reserved tag and is used to set the data content type. For example, a transaction with HTML data and a content type tag of text/html will be served as a HTML page and render correctly in browsers, if the content type is set to text/plain then it will be served as a plain text document and not render in browsers.

let key = await arweave.wallets.generate();

let transaction = await arweave.createTransaction({
    data: '<html><head><meta charset="UTF-8"><title>Hello world!</title></head><body></body></html>',
}, key);

transaction.addTag('Content-Type', 'text/html');
transaction.addTag('key2', 'value2');

console.log(transaction);
// Transaction {
//   format: 2,
//   id: '',
//   last_tx: 'Tk-0c7260Ya5zjfjzl4f6-W-vRO94qiqZMAScKBcYXc68v1Pd8bYfTbKWi7pepUF',
//   owner: 'kmM4O08BJB85RbxfQ2nkka9VNO6Czm2Tc_IGQNYC...',
//   tags: [
//     Tag { name: 'Q29udGVudC1UeXBl', value: 'dGV4dC9odG1s' },
//     Tag { name: 'a2V5Mg', value: 'dmFsdWUy' }
//   ],
//   target: '',
//   quantity: '0',
//   data: 'PGh0bWw-PGhlYWQ-PG1ldGEgY2hhcnNldD0iVVRGLTgiPjx0aXRsZT5IZWxsbyB3b3JsZCE8L3RpdGxlPjwvaGVhZD48Ym9keT48L2JvZHk-PC9odG1sPg',
//   data_size: '88',
//   data_root: 'GQunzmbwk2_JPU7oJOmLrTMvj8v_7BJaF0weyjVn5Nc',
//   data_tree: [],
//   reward: '7673074',
//   signature: ''
// }

Sign a transaction

let key = await arweave.wallets.generate();

let transaction = await arweave.createTransaction({
    target: '1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY',
    quantity: arweave.ar.arToWinston('10.5')
}, key);

await arweave.transactions.sign(transaction, key);

console.log(transaction);
// Transaction {
//   format: 2,
//   id: 'v-n7hAc7cubeXSClh0beaOs1RjYFagyvpl2TkUOfbRg',
//   last_tx: 'Tk-0c7260Ya5zjfjzl4f6-W-vRO94qiqZMAScKBcYXc68v1Pd8bYfTbKWi7pepUF',
//   owner: 'kmM4O08BJB85RbxfQ2nkka9VNO6Czm2Tc_IGQNYCTSXRzOc6W9b...',
//   tags: [],
//   target: '1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY',
//   quantity: '10500000000000',
//   data: '',
//   data_size: '0',
//   data_root: '',
//   data_tree: [],
//   reward: '7468335',
//   signature: 'DnUOYbRSkhI4ZXg5fpYDCwPv8yvM5toAneSx4Jlg0zjIocqPs8giPP...'
// }

Submit a transaction

The preferred method of submitting a data transaction is to use chunk uploading. This method will allow larger transaction sizes, resuming a transaction upload if it's interrupted and give progress updates while uploading.

Simple example:

let data = fs.readFileSync('path/to/file.pdf');

let transaction = await arweave.createTransaction({ data: data }, key);
transaction.addTag('Content-Type', 'application/pdf');

await arweave.transactions.sign(transaction, key);

let uploader = await arweave.transactions.getUploader(transaction);

while (!uploader.isComplete) {
  await uploader.uploadChunk();
  console.log(`${uploader.pctComplete}% complete, ${uploader.uploadedChunks}/${uploader.totalChunks}`);
}

N.B. The above code has been simplified and ignores potential errors.

You can also submit transactions using transactions.post() which is suitable for small transactions or token transfers:

let key = await arweave.wallets.generate();

let transaction = await arweave.createTransaction({
    target: '1seRanklLU_1VTGkEk7P0xAwMJfA7owA1JHW5KyZKlY',
    quantity: arweave.ar.arToWinston('10.5')
}, key);

await arweave.transactions.sign(transaction, key);

const response = await arweave.transactions.post(transaction);

console.log(response.status);
// 200 : not to be confused with getStatus === 200, see note below**

// HTTP response codes (200 - server received the transaction, 4XX - invalid transaction, 5XX - error)

N.B. This 200 response does not mean that the transaction has mined & confirmed, and that a txid can be used as if it's immutable. It just means that a node has received your transaction. See Get a transaction status for more detail on how to correctly determine that your transaction has been mined & confirmed. This also applies to the uploader method.

Chunked uploading advanced options

You can resume an upload from a saved uploader object, that you have persisted in storage some using JSON.stringify(uploader) at any stage of the upload. To resume, parse it back into an object and pass it to getUploader() along with the transactions data:

let data = fs.readFileSync('path/to/file.pdf'); // get the same data
let resumeObject = JSON.parse(savedUploader); // get uploader object from where you stored it.

let uploader = await arweave.transactions.getUploader(resumeObject, data);
while (!uploader.isComplete) {
  await uploader.uploadChunk();
}

When resuming the upload, you must provide the same data as the original upload. When you serialize the uploader object with JSON.stringify() to save it somewhere, it will not include the data.

You can also resume an upload from just the transaction ID and data, once it has been mined into a block. This can be useful if you didn't save the uploader somewhere but the upload got interrupted. This will re-upload all of the data from the beginning, since we don't know which parts have been uploaded:

let data = fs.readFileSync('path/to/file.pdf'); // get the same data
let resumeTxId = 'mytxid' // a transaction id for a mined transaction that didn't complete the upload.

let uploader = await arweave.transactions.getUploader(resumeTxId, data);
while (!uploader.isComplete) {
  await uploader.uploadChunk();
  console.log(`${uploader.pctComplete}% complete`);
}

alternatively

// example of tx being accepted and mined, but the network is missing the data
const Arweave = require("./node/index.js"); // assumed locally built nodejs target
const ArweaveTransaction = require("./node/lib/transaction.js");
const fs = require("fs");

// initialize a gateway connection
const arweave = Arweave.init({
  host: "arweave.net",
  port: 443,
  protocol: "https",
});

// the data that you paid for but is missing in the network
let missingData = fs.readFileSync(
  "./myfile.mov"
);

// get the tx headers from arweave.net/tx/{txid}
let txHeaders = require("./txheaders.json");

(async () => {
  const tx = new ArweaveTransaction.default(txHeaders);
  let uploader = await arweave.transactions.getUploader(tx, missingData);
  while (!uploader.isComplete) {
    await uploader.uploadChunk();
  }
})();

There is also an async iterator interface to chunk uploading, but this method means you'll need to ensure you are using a transpiler and polyfill for the asyncIterator symbol for some environments. (Safari on iOS in particular). This method takes the same arguments for uploading/resuming a transaction as getUploader() and just has a slightly shorter syntax:

for await (const uploader of arweave.transactions.upload(tx)) {
  console.log(`${uploader.pctComplete}% Complete`);
}
// done.

Get a transaction status

Remember: Just like other blockchain-style systems (like Bitcoin and Ethereum), you should always ensure that your transaction has received a number of confirmations in blocks before you assume that the transaction has been fully accepted by the network.

arweave.transactions.getStatus('bNbA3TEQVL60xlgCcqdz4ZPHFZ711cZ3hmkpGttDt_U').then(res => {
    console.log(res);
    // {
    //  status: 200,
    //  confirmed: {
    //    block_height: 140151,
    //    block_indep_hash: 'OR1wue3oBSg3XWvH0GBlauAtAjBICVs2F_8YLYQ3aoAR7q6_3fFeuBOw7d-JTEdR',
    //    number_of_confirmations: 20
    //  }
    //}
})

N.B. We strongly advise that you check the status and number of confirmations for a given txid before integrating it elsewhere (for example, if you plan to integrate a txid into an NFT contract), even if you have received a ‘200’ status response.

Get a transaction

Fetch a transaction from the connected arweave node. The data and tags are base64 encoded, these can be decoded using the built in helper methods.

Update since v1.9.0 Due to how the API has evolved over time and with larger transaction support, the data field is no longer guaranteed to be returned from the network as part of the transaction json, therefore, it is not recommended that you use this function for fetching data anymore. You should update your applications to use arweave.transactions.getData() instead, this will handle small transactions, as well as the reassembling of chunks for larger ones, it can also benefit from gateway optimisations.

const transaction = arweave.transactions.get('hKMMPNh_emBf8v_at1tFzNYACisyMQNcKzeeE1QE9p8').then(transaction => {
  console.log(transaction);
    // Transaction {
    //   'format': 1,
    //   'id': 'hKMMPNh_emBf8v_at1tFzNYACisyMQNcKzeeE1QE9p8',
    //   'last_tx': 'GW7p6NoGJ495tAoUjU5GLxIH52gqOgk5j78gQv3j0ebvldAlw6VgIUv_lrMNGI72',
    //   'owner': 'warLaSbicZm1nx9ucf-_5i91CWgmNOcnFJfyJdloCtsbenBhLrcGH472kKTZyuEAp2lSKlZ0NFCT2r2z-0...',
    //   'tags': [
    //     {
    //       'name': 'QXBwLU5hbWU',
    //       'value': 'd2VpYm90LXNlYXJjaC13ZWlicw'
    //     }
    //   ],
    //   'target': ',
    //   'quantity': '0',
    //   'data': 'iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAArIAAADGCAYAAAAuVWN-AAAACXBIWXMAAAsSAAA...'
    //   'data_size': '36795',
    //   'data_tree': [],
    //   'data_root': ',
    //   'reward': '93077980',
    //   'signature': 'RpohCHVl5vzGlG4R5ybeEuhs556Jv7rWOGaZCT69cpIei_j9b9sAetBlr0...'
    // }
});

Get transaction data

You can get the transaction data from a transaction ID without having to get the entire transaction

// Get the base64url encoded string
arweave.transactions.getData('bNbA3TEQVL60xlgCcqdz4ZPHFZ711cZ3hmkpGttDt_U').then(data => {
  console.log(data);
  // CjwhRE9DVFlQRSBodG1sPgo...
});

// Get the data decoded to a Uint8Array for binary data
arweave.transactions.getData('bNbA3TEQVL60xlgCcqdz4ZPHFZ711cZ3hmkpGttDt_U', {decode: true}).then(data => {
  console.log(data);
  // Uint8Array [10, 60, 33, 68, ...]
});

// Get the data decode as string data
arweave.transactions.getData('bNbA3TEQVL60xlgCcqdz4ZPHFZ711cZ3hmkpGttDt_U', {decode: true, string: true}).then(data => {
  console.log(data);
  // <!DOCTYPE HTML>...
});

Decode tags from transactions

const transaction = arweave.transactions.get('bNbA3TEQVL60xlgCcqdz4ZPHFZ711cZ3hmkpGttDt_U').then(transaction => {

  transaction['tags'].forEach(tag => {
    let key = tag.get('name', {decode: true, string: true});
    let value = tag.get('value', {decode: true, string: true});
    console.log(`${key} : ${value}`);
  });
  // Content-Type : text/html
  // User-Agent : ArweaveDeploy/1.1.0
});

Blocks

Blocks are base elements of Arweave's blockweave data structure. Each block is linked to two prior blocks: the previous block in the "chain" (as with traditional blockchain protocols), and a block from the previous history of the blockchain (the "recall block"). Each block contains a list of zero to many transactions.

Get a block by indep_hash

Gets block data for given independent hash (see page 63. of yellow-paper for details).

const result = await arweave.blocks.get("zbUPQFA4ybnd8h99KI9Iqh4mogXJibr0syEwuJPrFHhOhld7XBMOUDeXfsIGvYDp"); 
console.log(result)
// {
//   "nonce": "6jdzO4FzS4EVaQVcLBEmxm6uN5-1tqBXW24Pzp6JsRQ",
//   "previous_block": "iNgEv6vf9nIrxLWeEu-vPNHFftEh0kfOnx0qd6NKUOc8Z3WeMeOmAmdOHwSUFAGn",
//   "timestamp": 1624183433,
//   "last_retarget": 1624183433,
//   "diff": "115792089220940710686296942055695413965527953310049630981189590430430626054144",
//   "height": 711150,
//   "hash": "_____8V8BkM8Cyja5ZFJcc7HfX33eM4BKDAvcEBn22s",
//   "indep_hash": "zbUPQFA4ybnd8h99KI9Iqh4mogXJibr0syEwuJPrFHhOhld7XBMOUDeXfsIGvYDp",
//   "txs": [ ...

Get current block

Gets a block data for current block, i.e., block with indep_hash:

const {current} = await arweave.network.getInfo();

const result = await arweave.blocks.getCurrent(); 
console.log(result)
// {
//   "indep_hash": "qoJwHSpzl6Ouo140HW2DTv1rGOrgfBEnHi5sHv-fJt_TsK7xA70F2QbjMCopLiMd",
//   ...

GraphQL

Find your transation ids and tags by searching their metadata. GraphQL (GQL) provides flexible querying and allows you to search for transactions by tags, wallet address, block height, etc.

Please see the GQL Guide for further details.

License

This software is released under MIT license. See LICENSE.md for full license details.

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