Upload Files On-Chain

In this guide, we will learn how to upload files on-chain using Solana, Irys, and TypeScript.

Solana: A fast and cheap decentralized blockchain for payments.
Irys: A fast and cheap decentralized blockchain for storage.

System Requirements

To follow this guide, you will need to have the following installed.

curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

Install Solana CLI

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSfL https://solana-install.solana.workers.dev | bash

Setup Project

Open your terminal and navigate to the directory where you want to create your project and initialize a new project.

mkdir my-project
cd my-project
bun init

Add Dependencies

Once initialized, add the following dependencies to your project.

bun add @solana/web3.js @irys/sdk @irys/upload-solana

Update Scripts

Open the package.json that was created during initialization and add a scripts block with the following.

{
  "scripts": {
    "upload": "bun run index.ts",
    "fund": "bun run index.ts fund",
    "keypair": "solana-keygen new --outfile ./.env.keypair",
  }
}

Generate Keypair

Above we added a script that will generate a new keypair for us and write it to the file ./.env.keypair.

_Warning: Running the script again will overwrite any existing keypair._

bun keypair

Get Devnet Solana Tokens

We need SOL in our wallet to get started. For development purposes, you can get free devnet SOL from 76 Dev Discord, Solana Devnet Faucet or you can try running the following command.

solana airdrop 2 --keypair ./.env.keypair

_Note: While devnet is awesome for testing, transactions and uploads won't be permanent._

Add Upload Logic

Create an index.ts at the root of your project and copy/paste the following.

import { Uploader } from "@irys/upload";
import { Solana } from "@irys/upload-solana";
import fs from "fs";

const config = {
  // Update this RPC url to a mainnet RPC when you're ready
  // (https://app.extrnode.com/)
  rpc: "https://api.devnet.solana.com",
  keypair: "./.env.keypair",
  uploadsDirectory: "./uploads",
  outputDirectory: "./output",
};

const privateKey = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(config.keypair, "utf8"));

const getIrysUploader = async () => {
  const irysUploader = await Uploader(Solana).withWallet(privateKey).withRpc(config.rpc);
  return irysUploader;
};

const fundIrysWallet = async (amount: number) => {
  const irysUploader = await getIrysUploader();
  const fundTx = await irysUploader.fund(irysUploader.utils.toAtomic(amount));
}

const uploadFolder = async () => {
  // Will output to uploads-manifest.json and
  // uploads-manifest.csv in current directory
  console.log("Uploading files...");
  console.log(`☁️ Upload Directory: ${config.uploadsDirectory}\n`);

  const irysUploader = await getIrysUploader();

  const receipt = await irysUploader.uploadFolder(config.uploadsDirectory, {
    indexFile: "", // Optional index file (file the user will load when accessing the manifest)
    batchSize: 50, // Number of items to upload at once
    keepDeleted: false, // whether to keep now deleted items from previous uploads
  }); // Returns the manifest ID

  console.log(`Files uploaded. Manifest ID ${receipt?.id}`);

  fs.writeFileSync("uploads-manifest.json", JSON.stringify(receipt, null, 2));
}

if(process.argv[2] === "fund") {
  fundIrysWallet(0.005);
} else if(process.argv[2] === "upload") {
  uploadFolder();
}

Upload Directory

Funding Irys Account

If this is your first upload or you've done a few uploads, it's probably time to top off your storage account using your Solana wallet. You can do so by running the bun fund script we made earlier.

Start Upload

Create a new folder called uploads in the root of your project and place files to be uploaded. Run the following script to upload using the config in index.ts.

bun upload