IPFS File Upload — using Moralis

A guide on IPFS file upload using Moralis Server as well as Cloud Functions

If you have no account on Moralis yet, get a free account as follows:

Go to Moralis Login

Create a new server

Select the chains to work with

Copy Server Details(Server URL, Application ID and Master Key)

Start Moralis Server

require(“dotenv”).config();
const express = require(“express”);
const Moralis = require(“moralis/node”);
const app = express();
const {
   PORT,
   MORALIS_SERVER_URL,
   MORALIS_APP_ID,
   MORALIS_MASTER_KEY,
} = process.env;
const port = PORT || 8000;
const upload = multer({ dest: __dirname + “/public/uploads/” });
app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(express.static(“public”));
app.listen(port, async () => {
   await Moralis.start({
      serverUrl: MORALIS_SERVER_URL,
      appId: MORALIS_APP_ID,
      masterKey: MORALIS_MASTER_KEY,
   });
});

.env file should be like below:

MORALIS_SERVER_URL = `moralis server url`
MORALIS_APP_ID = `moralis application Id`
MORALIS_MASTER_KEY = `moralis master key`

Moralis provides two ways of approach to upload files to IPFS:

1. Using saveIPFS() method of Moralis server
2. Using Cloud Functions

1. Using saveIPFS() method of Moralis server

File Upload

const uploadFile = async (req, res, next) => {
    const { originalname: name, mimetype } = req.file;        
    fs.readFile(req.file.path, async (err, buffer) => { 
       const data = Array.from(Buffer.from(buffer, “binary”));
       const file = new Moralis.File(name, data, mimetype);
       await file.saveIPFS({ useMasterKey: true });
       return file.ipfs();
    });
}
---------------------------------You will get a response of ipfs url like below:
https://ipfs.moralis.io:2053/ipfs/QmdPcF1r86v28PeJMxdxHbKQA17qBhW3W5s6DHGvxukdPv

Json Upload

const uploadJson = async (req, res, next) => {
    const jsonMetadata = {
        name: "Female Bust",
        description: "Female Bust 3D model",
        image:  
"https://ipfs.moralis.io:2053/ipfs/QmdPcF1r86v28PeJMxdxHbKQA17qBhW3W5s6DHGvxukdPv"}
   const toBtoa =      
       Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(jsonMetadata)).toString("base64"); 
   const file = new Moralis.File("FemaleBust.json", 
                { base64: toBtoa });
   await file.saveIPFS({ useMasterKey: true });
   return file.ipfs();
}
---------------------------------You will get a response of ipfs url like below:
https://ipfs.moralis.io:2053/ipfs/QmdPcF1r86v28PeJMxdxHbKQA17qBhW3W5s6DHGvxukdPv

2. Using Cloud Functions

Format of a normal cloud function should be as below:

Function Definition
-----------------------------Moralis.Cloud.define(function_name, async (request) => {});You can access the params like request.params.[key]
Function call
------------------------------
const params = {"key": "value"};await Moralis.Cloud.run(function_name, params);

Create a folder /cloud and a file cloud.js inside it.

Write your cloud functions on that file.

Moralis.Cloud.define(“ipfsbinary”, async (request) => {    const result = await Moralis.Cloud.define(“ipfsbinary”, async (request) => {
    const result = await Moralis.Cloud.toIpfs({
       sourceType: “base64Binary”,
       source: request.params.image,
    });
    return result;
});
Moralis.Cloud.define(“ipfsjson”, async (request) => {
    const result = await Moralis.Cloud.toIpfs({
       sourceType: “object”,
       source: request.params.metadata,
    });
    return result;
});

Now we can call the cloud functions from our file.

File Upload

const uploadFile = async (req, res, next) => {
const uploadFile = async (req, res, next) => {
    fs.readFile(req.file.path, async (err, buffer) => {
        const image = buffer.toString(“base64”);
        const ipfsImagePath = await Moralis.Cloud.run(“ipfsbinary”,    
                              { image });
        return ipfsImagePath;
    });
}
------------------------------------------
You will get a response like below:
{
   path: "https://ipfs.moralis.io:2053/ipfs/QmdPcF1r86v28PeJMxdxHbKQA17qBhW3W5s6DHGvxukdPv"
}

Json Upload

const uploadJson = async (req, res, next) => {
      const metadata = {
        name: "Female Bust",
        description: "Female Bust 3D model",
        image:  
"https://ipfs.moralis.io:2053/ipfs/QmdPcF1r86v28PeJMxdxHbKQA17qBhW3W5s6DHGvxukdPv"
      };
      const ipfsJsonPath = await Moralis.Cloud.run(“ipfsjson”,  
                           { metadata});
      return ipfsJsonPath;
}
------------------------------------------
You will get a response like below:
{
   path: "https://ipfs.moralis.io:2053/ipfs/QmdPcF1r86v28PeJMxdxHbKQA17qBhW3W5s6DHGvxukdPv"
}