The Nim implementation of the libp2p Networking Stack.

Background

libp2p is a Peer-to-Peer networking stack, with implementations in multiple languages derived from the same specifications.

Building large scale peer-to-peer systems has been complex and difficult in the last 15 years and libp2p is a way to fix that. It strives to be a modular stack with secure defaults and useful protocols, while remaining open and extensible. This is a native Nim implementation, using chronos for asynchronous execution. It's used in production by a few projects.

Learn more about libp2p at libp2p.io and follow libp2p's documentation docs.libp2p.io.

Contribute

nim-libp2p is a great place to contribute. Your contribution will help drive thousands of decentralized nodes across networks worldwide.

The best part is that nim-libp2p has good first issues that are especially suited for newcomers. Your contributions will be guided by core maintainers, just like an internship experience but decentralized.

Jump into the contributing page to get started, nim-libp2p is expecting your contribution!

Install

The currently supported Nim versions are v2.2.4 and v2.2.10.

nimble install libp2p

You'll find the nim-libp2p documentation here. See examples for simple usage patterns.

Development

See the development guide to get started with the project and testing. For more details, refer to the documentation.

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to nim-libp2p. Your support and efforts are greatly appreciated.

Join the Conversation

Connect with other contributors in our community channel. Ask questions, share ideas, get support, and stay informed about the latest updates from the maintainers.

Users

nim-libp2p is used by:

• Nimbus, an Ethereum client
• logos-delivery, a decentralized messaging protocols
• logos-storage, a decentralized storage protocols
• (open a pull request if you want to be included here)

Stability

nim-libp2p has been used in production for many years in high-stake scenarios, so its core is considered stable. Some modules are more recent and less stable.

Versioning follows Semantic Versioning:

• Releases within the same MAJOR version are backwards compatible.
• MINOR releases may introduce new features and other non-breaking changes.
• PATCH releases are reserved for backwards-compatible bug fixes.

License

Licensed under either of:

• Apache License 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHEv2)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT)

at your option.

Modules

List of packages modules implemented in nim-libp2p:

Name	Description
Libp2p
libp2p	The core Switch orchestrating transports, connections, and protocols
builders	SwitchBuilder fluent API for configuring and instantiating nodes
connmanager	Connection manager
identify / push identify	Identify protocol
ping	Ping protocol
rendezvous	Rendezvous peer discovery protocol
Transports
tcp	TCP transport
ws	WebSocket & WebSocket Secure transport
quic	QUIC transport
tor	Tor transport
memory	In-memory transport for testing
Secure Channels
noise	Noise secure channel
plaintext	Plain text for development purposes
Stream Multiplexers
mplex	MPlex multiplexer
yamux	Yamux multiplexer
Data Types
peer-id	Cryptographic peer identifiers
peer-store	Address book of known peers
multiaddress	Composable network addresses
signed-envelope	Signed generic data container
routing-record	Signed peer dialing information
discovery manager	Discovery manager
Connectivity
autonat	AutoNAT v1 - automatic NAT detection
autonat-v2	AutoNAT v2 - improved NAT detection
relay	Circuit Relay v2 for NAT traversal
dcutr	Direct Connection Upgrade through Relay (hole punching)
hole-punching service	Hole punching service coordinating AutoNAT, Relay, and DCUTR
auto-relay service	Automatic relay node discovery and management
Utilities
crypto	Cryptographic backend (RSA, Ed25519, Secp256k1, ECDSA)
crypto-secp256k1	Secp256k1 elliptic curve
multistream-select	Protocol negotiation
autotls	Automatic TLS certificate provisioning via ACME
nameresolving	DNS name resolver for multiaddresses
Pubsub
pubsub	Pub-Sub generic interface
floodsub	FloodSub implementation
gossipsub	GossipSub implementation
DHT
kademlia	Kademlia DHT for peer/value discovery
kademlia-discovery	Kademlia-based peer discovery
Performance
perf	Perf protocol for benchmarking libp2p nodes