web4-deploy

Deploy static content for Web4 webapps. Supports IPFS and NEARFS.

Designed to be used together with https://github.com/vgrichina/web4.

Usage

Prerequisites

• Node.js 14 or higher
• (Optional) IPFS pinning service API key if not using NEARFS

IPFS Pinning Services

If you want to use IPFS pinning (optional, as NEARFS is the default), two services are supported:

web3.storage

1. Go to https://web3.storage and sign up for an account or login with GitHub
2. Go to https://web3.storage/docs/how-tos/generate-api-token/ and create a new token
3. Set the token as WEB3_TOKEN environment variable before running the script

Deploy to IPFS

When installed (use either npm or yarn):

web4-deploy <src-directory> <destination-account.near>

Run latest version from npm if not installed:

npx web4-deploy <src-directory> <destination-account.near>

Deploy default smart contract after uploading to IPFS:

npx web4-deploy <src-directory> <destination-account.near> --deploy-contract

This will deploy web4-min-contract to the account, so that .near account can be connected to respective IPFS hash.

Deploy custom smart contract after uploading to IPFS:

npx web4-deploy <src-directory> <destination-account.near> --deploy-contract path/to/contract.wasm

Deploy fully on-chain to NEARFS

When you want best availability guarantees and don't mind to pay for storage, you can deploy to NEARFS.

npx web4-deploy <src-directory> <destination-account.near>  --nearfs

Note that you need to either provide NEAR_SIGNER_KEY or have ~/.near-credentials/<networkId>/<destination-account.near>.json file with key. Use NEAR_ENV or NODE_ENV to specify NEAR network to use. Defaults to testnet.

Use in CI/CD pipeline like GitHub Actions

Make sure to store WEB3_TOKEN and NEAR_SIGNER_KEY as GitHub secrets.

NEAR_SIGNER_KEY allows you to pass necessary private key to the deploy script without having key storage in ~/near-credentials as usually required by near-cli.

Note that you don't have to sign using destination account, account you sign for should just be accepted as valid owner by web4_setStaticUrl method.

Means that you can have GitHub-specific account which cannot do anything else besides updating static content.

CLI Options

• --deploy-contract [contract-name]: Deploy contract to the account. If contract name is not provided, default contract will be deployed.
• --network [network]: NEAR network ID. Default: mainnet for .near accounts, testnet otherwise.
• --nearfs: Deploy to NEARFS (default storage provider)
• --web3-storage: Use web3.storage for IPFS pinning instead of NEARFS
• --yes: Skip confirmation prompt.

Environment Variables

NEAR Configuration

• NEAR_ENV – NEAR network to use, defaults to testnet (or mainnet for .near accounts)
• NODE_ENV - can be used instead of NEAR_ENV
• NEAR_SIGNER_ACCOUNT - Account to use for signing transactions. Defaults to destination account
• NEAR_SIGNER_KEY - Private key for signing (base58-encoded, starts with 'ed25519:'). Alternative to ~/.near-credentials

NEARFS Configuration (Default Storage)

• NEARFS_GATEWAY_URL - Gateway URL. Defaults to:
  • Mainnet: https://ipfs.web4.near.page
  • Testnet: https://ipfs.web4.testnet.page
• NEARFS_GATEWAY_TIMEOUT - Gateway request timeout in milliseconds (default: 2500)
• NEARFS_GATEWAY_RETRY_COUNT - Maximum gateway retry attempts (default: 3)

IPFS Configuration (Optional)

• WEB3_TOKEN - web3.storage API token
• IPFS_GATEWAY_LIST - Comma-separated list of IPFS gateways to check (default: cloudflare-ipfs.com)
• IPFS_CHECK_DELAY - Delay in milliseconds between gateway retries (default: 15000)

Testing

To run the test suite:

yarn test

The test suite includes unit tests for:

• Contract deployment
• Gateway checking
• NEARFS integration
• CLI functionality
• User confirmation handling

Development

WebAssembly Contract Diffs

The repository includes WebAssembly diff support to make contract changes more visible. To enable this feature, install the WebAssembly Binary Toolkit (WABT):

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install wabt
# macOS
brew install wabt

This allows you to see readable diffs when the default contract (data/web4-min.wasm) changes.

How it works

The deployment process consists of these steps:

1. Your static content is packaged into a CAR (Content Addressable aRchive) file
2. The content is deployed using one of these methods:
   • NEARFS (default) - stores content directly on NEAR blockchain
   • web3.storage - pins content to IPFS network
3. The smart contract's web4_setStaticUrl method is called to update the content URL

The default web4-min-contract provides these key features:

Single Page Application (SPA) Support

The contract automatically handles SPAs by redirecting paths without file extensions to index.html. For example:

• /about -> serves /index.html
• /style.css -> serves directly

Default Content

When no static URL is set (before first deployment), the contract serves default content from IPFS with getting started instructions.

Access Control

The contract can be managed by either:

• The contract account itself
• An owner account (if set via web4_setOwner)

This means you can:

• Use the contract account's full access key (stored in ~/.near-credentials)
• Use NEAR_SIGNER_KEY environment variable
• Set up a separate owner account for content management

Smart contract integration

You need to implement web4_setStaticUrl method similar to this:

function assertOwner(): void {
    // NOTE: Can change this check to alow different owners
    assert(context.sender == context.contractName);
}

const WEB4_STATIC_URL_KEY = 'web4:staticUrl';

// Updates current static content URL in smart contract storage
export function web4_setStaticUrl(url: string): void {
    assertOwner();

    storage.set(WEB4_STATIC_URL_KEY, url);
}

Then in web4_get you can return static URL to be fetched:

// Demonstrate serving content from IPFS
if (request.path == "/") {
    return bodyUrl(`${storage.getString(WEB4_STATIC_URL_KEY)!}${request.path}`);
}

This allows to update static content without redeploying smart contract, which results in faster and safer deploys.

See example smart contract: https://github.com/vgrichina/web4/blob/main/contract/assembly/index.ts

You can also use default smart contract for reference: web4-min-contract

Roadmap

• Make sure every uploaded file is hot on IPFS gateways
• Deploy default smart contract with web4_setStaticUrl method
• Allow to pass NEAR account and private key in environment variables
• More robust CLI interface with both options and environment variables support
• Deploy static website to NEAR account and NEARFS via single simple interactive command
• Automatically login without having to install near-cli
• Allow to create web4. subaccount automatically
• Support testnet for NEARFS
• Allow storing files directly on chain
• Support other storage providers?