IPIP-293: Add /ipld Gateway Specs

http-gateways/IPLD_GATEWAY.md

@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+# IPLD Gateway Specification
+
+**Authors**:
+
+- Mauve Signweaver ([@RangerMauve](https://github.com/RangerMauve))
+
+----
+
+**Abstract**
+
+IPLD Gateway is an extension of [PATH_GATEWAY.md](./PATH_GATEWAY.md) that enables lower level interaction with IPLD data structures under a specific path.
+
+This document describes the delta between [PATH_GATEWAY.md](./PATH_GATEWAY.md) and this gateway type.
+
+Summary:
+
+- Adds a new `/ipld/{cid}[/{segments}][?{params}]` subpath to the gateway
+- Defines a specification for parsing out extra parameters for individual path segments.
+- Describes how to map to and from `ipld://` URLs
+
+## HTTP API
+
+### `GET /ipld/{cid}[/{segments}][?{params}]`
+
+Resolve IPLD paths to some data.
+
+The path segments will be traversed with any parameters used to transform data along the way.
+
+The `format` query string parameter, or the `Accept` request header can be used to control the format which will be used to return the data.
+
+By default, data will be returned as `dag-json`
+
+<!--
+TODO: Cache control semantics?
+TODO: Add more details on how the traversal works?
+-->
+
+### `HEAD /ipld/{cid}[/{segments}][?{params}]`
+
+Resolves IPLD paths, and yields the same status code and headers as `GET`.
+
+### `POST /ipld/` and `POST /ipld/localhost/`
+
+Upload raw data to IPLD.
+The `body` of the request shall be parsed according to the `Content-Type` as IPLD data via standard encodings.
+`/localhost/` is used to support `POST ipld://localhost/` for uploading IPLD data to local nodes in web browsers that support it.
+
+The response will contain an `ipld://{cid}/` URL pointing at your data.
+
+<!--
+TODO: Only allow `/localhost/`? Get rid of `/localhost` from the spec if light clients with protocol handlers don't matter/
+-->
+
+### `PATCH /ipld/{cid}[/{segments}][?{params}]`
+
+This endpoint enables you to apply a [patch set](https://ipld.io/specs/patch/) to existing IPLD data.
+
+<!--
+TODO: Talk about content encoding
+TODO: Mention interaction with ADLs/Schemeas/Selectors
+-->
+
+The response will be an `ipld://` URL with your updated data.
+
+Note that the CID in the response URL will contain the same `segments` as in the request URL.
+e.g. if you patch data at `ipld://{cid1}/some/path/`, you will get back a URL that looks like `ipld://{updated cid}/some/path/`
+This enables you to make complex changes to a subtree in a dataset and get back a new root CID to use in your application.
+
+## HTTP Request
+
+### Request Headers
+
+#### `Accept` (request header)
+
+For `/ipld/{cid}/*` paths, the `Accept` header is used to indicate the encoding that should be used to return the data.
+This means that data initially encoded as `dag-json` will be transcoded to `dag-cbor` if the `application/vnd.ipld.dag-cbor` Accept header is used.
+
+- `application/json`: Interpret in the same way as `application/vnd.ipld.dag-json`.
+- `application/vnd.ipld.dag-json`: Return the block specified by the path encoded in `dag-json`.
+- `application/vnd.ipld.dag-cbor`: Return the block specified by the path ecnoded in `dag-cbor`.
+
+If no `Accept` header is present in the request, it will be assumed to be `application/vnd.ipld.dag-json`.
+
+#### `Content-Type` (request header)
+
+This header applies to `PUT/POST/PATCH` requests for `/ipld/*` paths on IPLD gateways which also support the [writable gateways spec](./WRITABLE_GATEWAY.md).
+Including it will hint to the writable IPLD gateway which encoding to use to parse the request body into the IPLD Data Model.
+
+- `application/json`: Interpret in the same way as `application/vnd.ipld.dag-json`.
+- `application/vnd.ipld.dag-json`: Return the block specified by the path encoded in `dag-json`.
+- `application/vnd.ipld.dag-cbor`: Return the block specified by the path ecnoded in `dag-cbor`.
+
+### Request Query Parameters
+
+#### `format` (request query parameter)
+
+Optional, `format=<format>` can be used to request specific encodings.
+
+This is a URL-friendly alternative to sending `Accept: application/vnd.ipld.<format>` header, see [Accept](#accept-request-header) for more details.
+
+### Path Segments and Path Segment Parameters
+
+Path segments are used for IPLD data model [traversal](https://ipld.io/docs/data-model/traversal/).
+Each segment is separated by a `/` and contains a utf8 `name` followed by an optional set of parameters using the [Matrix URI format](https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/MatrixURIs.html).
+
+Example:
+
+```
+/ipld/bafywhatever/foo/bar;extra=thing;whatever=here/
+```
+
+Path segments can have additional parameters added to them by separating them using semicolons (`;`) and having key-value pairs separated by an `=`.
+This format is based on the [Matrix URI proposal from the w3c](https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/MatrixURIs.html).
+Note that these parameters are stripped from the segment name when passed to any underlying traversal code.
+
+This spec only perscribes two reserved parameter names: `ADL` for specifying [Advanced Data Layouts](https://ipld.io/docs/advanced-data-layouts/) to process the data with, and `schema` to specify an [IPLD schema](https://ipld.io/docs/schemas/intro/) to use to interpret the data.
+Other names may be specified in future specs that build upon this one.
+
+#### ADL (segment parameter)
+
+Segments may contain an `adl` key which points to a name of an [Advanced Data Layout](https://ipld.io/docs/advanced-data-layouts/intro/) to process the node with.
+
+The supported ADL names will vary based on gateway.
+
+An example value would be `;adl=hamt` to specify the [HAMT](https://ipld.io/specs/advanced-data-layouts/hamt/) ADL that's used to represent large maps.
+
+For example `/ipld/bafyreic672jz6huur4c2yekd3uycswe2xfqhjlmtmm5dorb6yoytgflova;adl=hamt/yes` (taken from the HAMT examples), should resolve to the following:
+
+```
+[
+  {
+    "line": 9,
+    "column": 501
+  }
+]
+```
+
+#### Schema (segment parameter)
+
+Segments may contain a `schema` key which points to the `CID` of an [IPLD Schema](https://ipld.io/docs/schemas/) in its [DMT](https://ipld.io/specs/schemas/#dsl-vs-dmt) form.
+If a `schema` key is provided, there must also be a `type` parameter which references one of the named Types within the IPLD Schema.
+
+The node at that point in the traversal will then be transformed by the schema, and any typed nodes it links to will also be transformed by their respective schemas.
+
+For example, given the following schema (note it is written in DSL form, but must be converted to the DMT in order to be refernced):
+
+```ipldschema
+type Example struct {
+  Hello String
+  Goodbye &NestedExample
+} representation tuple
+
+type NestedExample struct {
+  region String
+} representation tuple
+```
+
+The CID for the DMT of this schema is `bafyreibvheoym4avfsjfw63yhsymovm7o54ftcnxwxovqf5xxcbjddanze`
+
+A raw node of type `NestedExample`, whose CID is `bafyreia5mssvef4owvyols2bduwxl6csvlb35oigyj4gc7wm6wzg44udtq`:
+
+```json
+['Cyberspace']
+```
+
+A raw node of type `Example` which references the first node and whose CID is `bafyreifuyjaq3u3izc7qaf4shh76lk6565e72njgjxtava7q4s7bxheyxa`:
+
+```json
+['Hello', {'/': 'bafyreia5mssvef4owvyols2bduwxl6csvlb35oigyj4gc7wm6wzg44udtq'}]
+```
+
+We can construct the path `/ipld/bafyreifuyjaq3u3izc7qaf4shh76lk6565e72njgjxtava7q4s7bxheyxa/Goodbye?schema=bafyreibvheoym4avfsjfw63yhsymovm7o54ftcnxwxovqf5xxcbjddanze&type=Example`, or more succinctly `ipld://${cid2}/Goodbye?schema=${schemaCID}&type=Example`.
+
+The resolved node should look like:
+
+```JSON
+{
+	"region": "Cyberspace"
+}
+```
+
+#### Escaping / Encoding
+
+IPLD path segments and path segment keys/values may use [escape sequences that follow RFC1738](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1738) to represent raw values like `/` which would otherwise be interpreted by URL parsers as being structurally significant.
+
+Specifically, any values in path segments that are part of the "reserved" list of characters `";" | "/" | "?" | ":" | "@" | "&" | "="`, or are non-ascii characters, must be escaped when encoding to the path.
+
+For example, path segment name `escape;this` should be escaped to `escape%3Bthis` so that `this` doesn't get accidentally parsed as a parameter.
+
+Similarly, the path segment name `😁` should be escaped to `%F0%9F%98%81`.
+
+## Interaction with URLs
+
+`/ipld/` HTTP paths map directly to `ipld://` URLs.
+Similarly, `ipld://` URLs can be mapped back to `/ipld/` paths on the gateway.
+This gives us an easy way to convert between URLs within applications and paths on gateways running either locally or remotely.