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Welcome to Estuary

Estuary is a decentralized data storage service built on key d-web protocols such as IPFS and Filecoin. Users can:

  • Store and retrieve content quickly using IPFS.
  • Use an IPFS API that adheres to the IPFS Pinning Services API Spec.
  • Store content on Filecoin with proposition receipts and successful deal receipts.

Alpha phase​

Estuary is currently in its alpha testing phase. Because of this, there are some restrictions to the service:

  • A maximum of 32 GB per upload. This limit will increase soon.
  • The service is temporarily limited to users wanting to store meaningful public data. You can apply for an invite →
  • We can not guarantee physically where your data ends up. It may be on an Estuary node in your city or on another continent. We're working on this.

How Estuary works​

Estuary uses two major decentralized data-storage protocols: the Filecoin network and IPFS. The Filecoin network allows for persistent, interoperable, verifiable, and provable decentralized storage. IPFS is used for content addressing and cached retrievals.

When you store data using Estuary, that data will go to an Estuary node. Initially, all data is stored in hot-storage using IPFS. While this data is stored, each node will look through a curated list of Filecoin storage providers and initiate storage deals to move hot-storage data into long term cold-storage.

Next steps​

There's a lot to dive into, and things can get a bit overwhelming. Your first step is to request an invite to get an API key. Once you've got that, take a look at the Upload data tutorial to get started with storing things on Estuary.