# Using the CLI

# CLI Help

Learn to use any command:

ardrive --help

# CLI Version

You can print out the version by running any of:

ardrive --version
ardrive -V

# Wallet Operations

Browsing of ArDrive public data is possible without the need for an Arweave wallet (opens new window). However, for all write operations, or read operations without encryption/decryption keys, you'll need a wallet.

As you utilize the CLI, you can use either your wallet file or your seed phrase interchangeably. Consider the security implications of each approach for your particular use case carefully. If at any time you'd like to generate a new wallet altogether, start by generating a new seed phase. And if you'd like to use that seed phrase in the form of a wallet file, or if you'd like to recover an existing wallet via its seed phrase, use either or both of the following commands:

# Generate seed-phrase
ardrive generate-seedphrase
"this is an example twelve word seed phrase that you could use"

# Generate/recover wallet file (with example output file path)
ardrive generate-wallet -s "this is an example twelve word seed phrase that you could use" > /path/to/wallet/file.json

Public attributes of Arweave wallets can be retrieved via their 43-character Arweave wallet address. You can retrieve the wallet address associated with your wallet file or 12-word seed phrase (opens new window) (e.g. wallets generated by ArConnect (opens new window)) like so:

# Wallet file
ardrive get-address -w /path/to/wallet/file.json

# Seed Phrase (with sample output)
ardrive get-address -s "this is an example twelve word seed phrase that you could use"
HTTn8F92tR32N8wuo-NIDkjmqPknrbl10JWo5MZ9x2k

You'll need AR in your wallet for any write operations you perform in ArDrive. You can always check your wallet balance (in both AR and Winston units) by performing:

# Getting the balance for your own wallet
ardrive get-balance -w /path/to/wallet/file.json

# Getting the balance for ANY wallet (with sample output)
ardrive get-balance -a "HTTn8F92tR32N8wuo-NIDkjmqPknrbl10JWo5MZ9x2k"
1500000000000 Winston
1.5 AR

If, at any time, you need to send AR out of your wallet to another wallet address, you may perform:

# Using our previously generated wallet as the destination...
ardrive send-ar -w /path/to/wallet/file.json --dest-address "HTTn8F92tR32N8wuo-NIDkjmqPknrbl10JWo5MZ9x2k" --ar-amount 2.12345

# Working With Entities

ArDrive (opens new window)'s ArFS (opens new window) integration provides for hierarchical organization of your file and folder data on Arweave.

The fundamental entity types specified by ArFS are:

  • Drives
  • Folders
  • Files

Each instance of these entities have a Version 4 UUID entity ID that is commonly referred to by its entity type, i.e. drive ID, folder ID, and file ID.

When you execute write functions with the CLI, the JSON output will contain information about the Arweave Transaction IDs that were registered when writing your entities to the blockweave, any miner rewards or ArDrive Community (opens new window) tips that were disbursed from your wallet, and any new entity IDs and, when applicable, encryption keys that were generated in the process of creating the entities. Typically, you'll want to keep track of those and get proficient with retrieving them in order to build your drive hierarchy to your liking. See Understanding Drive and File Keys for more info.

# Dry Run

An important feature of the ArDrive CLI is the --dry-run flag. On each command that would write an ArFS entity, there is the option to run it as a "dry run". This will run all of the steps and print the outputs of a regular ArFS write, but will skip sending the actual transaction:

ardrive <my-command> <other-options> --dry-run

This can be very useful for gathering price estimations or to confirm that you've copy-pasted your entity IDs correctly before committing to an upload.

# Uploading to Turbo (BETA)

Users can optionally choose to send each ArFS entities created to ArDrive Turbo (opens new window) using the --turbo flag. Instead of using AR from an Arweave wallet, you can use Turbo Credits or take advantage of free/discounted upload promotions.

ardrive <my-command> <other-options> --turbo

This flag will skip any balance check on the CLI side. Turbo will check a user's balance and accept/reject a data item at the time of upload. The --turbo flag by default will send your files to upload.ardrive.io to be bundled. To change the Turbo destination, users can use the --turbo-url flag.

# Working With Drives

# Understanding Drive Hierarchies

At the root of every data tree is a "Drive" entity. When a drive is created, a Root Folder is also created for it. The entity IDs for both are generated and returned when you create a new drive:

# Use `tee` to keep a receipt of the full set of transactions info and `jq` to focus on the data of interest
ardrive create-drive --wallet-file /path/to/my/wallet.json --drive-name "Teenage Love Poetry" |
tee created_drive.json |
jq '[.created[] | del(.metadataTxId, .entityName, .bundledIn)]'
[
    {
        "type": "drive",
        "entityId": "6939b9e0-cc98-42cb-bae0-5888eca78885"
    }
    {
        "type": "folder",
        "entityId": "d1535126-fded-4990-809f-83a06f2a1118"
    }
]

The relationship between the drive and its root folder is clearly visible when retrieving the drive's info:

ardrive drive-info -d "6939b9e0-cc98-42cb-bae0-5888eca78885"
| jq '{driveId, rootFolderId}'
{
    "driveId": "6939b9e0-cc98-42cb-bae0-5888eca78885",
    "rootFolderId": "d1535126-fded-4990-809f-83a06f2a1118"
}

All file and folder entities in the drive will be anchored to it by a "Drive-ID" GQL Tag. And they'll each be anchored to a parent folder ID, tracked via the "Parent-Folder-ID" GQL tag, forming a tree structure whose base terminates at the Root Folder.

# Understanding Drive and File Keys

Private Drives achieve privacy via end-to-end encryption facilitated by hash-derived "Keys". Drive Keys encrypt/decrypt Drive and Folder data, and File Keys encrypt/decrypt File Data.

The relationships among your data and their keys is as follows:

  • Drive Key = functionOf(Wallet Signature, Randomly Generated Drive ID, User-specified Drive Password)
  • File Key = functionOf(Randomly Generated File ID, Drive Key)

When you create private entities, the returned JSON data from the ArDrive CLI will contain the keys needed to decrypt the encrypted representation of your entity that is now securely and permanently stored on the blockweave.

To derive the drive key again for a drive, perform the following:

# Will throw an error if the wallet or password specified can't be used to decrypt the on-chain drive
ardrive get-drive-key -w /path/to/my/wallet.json -d "6939b9e0-cc98-42cb-bae0-5888eca78885" -P

To derive the file key again for a file, perform the following:

# Will throw an error if the drive key or drive-key-derivation data specified can't be used to decrypt the on-chain file
ardrive get-file-key --file-id "bd2ce978-6ede-4b0d-8f79-2d7bc235a0e0" --drive-id "6939b9e0-cc98-42cb-bae0-5888eca78885" --drive-key "yHdCjpCK3EcuhQcKNx2d/NN5ReEjoKfZVqKunlCnPEo"

# Managing Drive Passwords

The ArDrive CLI's private drive and folder functions all require either a drive password OR a drive key. Private file functions require either the drive password or the file key. Keys and passwords are sensitive data, so manage the entry, display, storage, and transmission of them very carefully.

Drive passwords are the most portable, and fundamental, encryption facet, so a few options are available during private drive operations for supplying them:

  • Environment Variable
  • STDIN
  • Secure Prompt

# Supplying Your Password: Environment Variable

# Securely type your password into a read prompt, store it to TMP_ARDRIVE_PW, and export it for the shell session
read -rs TMP_ARDRIVE_PW
export ARDRIVE_DRIVE_PW=$(TMP_ARDRIVE_PW)
ardrive <some private command> -w /path/to/wallet.json -P

# Supplying Your Password: STDIN

# Pipe your drive password to the ArDrive CLI
cat /path/to/my/drive/password.txt | ardrive <some private command> -w /path/to/wallet.json -P

# Redirect your drive password to the ArDrive CLI
ardrive <some private command> -w /path/to/wallet.json -P < /path/to/my/drive/password.txt

# Supplying Your Password: Prompt

# When all other options fail, the CLI will prompt for your password (NOT COMPATIBLE WITH PIPES AND REDIRECTS!)
ardrive <some private command> -w /path/to/wallet.json -P
? Enter drive password: › ********

# Creating Drives

# Public drive
ardrive create-drive --wallet-file /path/to/my/wallet.json --drive-name "My Public Archive"

# Private drive
ardrive create-drive --wallet-file /path/to/my/wallet.json --drive-name "Teenage Love Poetry" -P

# Listing Drives for an Address

You can list all the drives associated with any Arweave wallet address, though the details of private drives will be obfuscated from you unless you provide the necessary decryption data.

# List all your own drives
ardrive list-all-drives -w /path/to/my/wallet.json -P

# List any address's drives
ardrive list-all-drives --address "HTTn8F92tR32N8wuo-NIDkjmqPknrbl10JWo5MZ9x2k"

# Listing Every Entity in a Drive

Useful notes on listing the contents of drives:

  • Listing a drive is effectively the same as listing its root folder.
  • You can control the tree depth of the data returned.
  • path, txPath, and entityIdPath properties on entities can provide useful handholds for other forms of data navigation
# List everything in a private drive
ardrive list-drive -d "c7f87712-b54e-4491-bc96-1c5fa7b1da50" -w /path/to/my/wallet.json -P

# List a private drive including the `fileKey` and/or `driveKey` of all listed entitites
ardrive list-drive -d "c7f87712-b54e-4491-bc96-1c5fa7b1da50" -w /path/to/my/wallet.json -P --with-keys

# List the contents of a public drive up to and including those in the grandchild folders of the root folder
ardrive list-drive -d "c7f87712-b54e-4491-bc96-1c5fa7b1da50" --max-depth 2

# List Drive Pipeline Examples

You can utilize jq and the list commands to reshape the commands' output data into useful forms and stats for many use cases. Here are a few examples:

# Get share links for a PUBLIC drive
ardrive list-drive -d a44482fd-592e-45fa-a08a-e526c31b87f1 | jq '.[] | select(.entityType == "file") | "https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/" + .entityId + "/view"'

Example output:

"https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/1337babe-f000-dead-beef-ffffffffffff/view"
"https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/cdbc9ddd-1cab-41d9-acbd-fd4328929de3/view"
"https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/f19bc712-b57a-4e0d-8e5c-b7f1786b34a1/view"
"https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/4f8e081b-42f2-442d-be41-57f6f906e1c8/view"
"https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/0e02d254-c853-4ff0-9b6e-c4d23d2a95f5/view"
"https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/c098b869-29d1-4a86-960f-a9e10433f0b0/view"
"https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/4afc8cdf-4d27-408a-bfb9-0a2ec21eebf8/view"
"https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/85fe488d-fcf7-48ca-9df8-2b39958bbf15/view"
...

# Get total size of all files within drive
ardrive list-drive -d 13c3c232-6687-4d11-8ac1-35284102c7db | jq ' map(select(.entityType == "file") | .size) | add'

# Get total number of files within drive
ardrive list-drive -d 01ea6ba3-9e58-42e7-899d-622fd110211c | jq '[ .[] | select(.entityType == "file") ] | length'

# Working With Folders

As discussed previously, all folders in a drive are linked by way of parent folder references back to the root folder of a drive. Folders can be moved into any folder in the hierarchy that's not in their own subtree.

# Creating Folders

Creating folders manually is straightforward:

ardrive create-folder --parent-folder-id "63153bb3-2ca9-4d42-9106-0ce82e793321" --folder-name "My Awesome Folder" -w /path/to/wallet.json

Example output:

{
    "created": [
        {
            "type": "folder",
            "metadataTxId": "AYFMBVmwqhbg9y5Fbj3Iasy5oxUqhauOW7PcS1sl4Dk",
            "entityId": "d1b7c514-fb12-4603-aad8-002cf63015d3",
            "key": "yHdCjpCKD2cuhQcKNx2d/XF5ReEjoKfZVqKunlCnPEk",
            "entityName": "My Awesome Folder"
        }
    ],
    "tips": [],
    "fees": {
        "AYFMBVmwqhbg9y5Fbj3Iasy5oxUqhauOW7PcS1sl4Dk": 1378052
    }
}

Note: Folders can also be created by supplying a folder as the --local-path of an upload-file command. In this case, the folder hierarchy on the local disk will be reconstructed on chain during the course of the recursive bulk upload.

# Moving Folders

Moving a folder is as simple as supplying a new parent folder ID. Note that naming collisions among entities within a folder are not allowed.

ardrive move-folder --folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" --parent-folder-id "29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513921" -w /path/to/wallet.json

# Renaming Folders

In order to rename a folder you must provide a name different from its current one, and it must not create naming conflicts with its sibling entities.

ardrive rename-folder --folder-id "568d5eba-dbf3-4a49-8129-1c58f7fd35bc" --folder-name "Folder with cool stuff" -w "./wallet.json"

# Viewing Folder Metadata

To view the metadata of a folder, users can use the folder-info command:

ardrive folder-info --folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0"

# Listing Contents of a Folder

Similar to drives, the list-folder command can be used to fetch the metadata of each entity within a folder. But by default, the command will fetch only the immediate children of that folder (--max-depth 0):

# List immediate children of folder "My Public Folder"
ardrive list-folder --parent-folder-id "29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940"

Example output:

[
    {
        "appName": "ArDrive-CLI",
        "appVersion": "2.0",
        "arFS": "0.11",
        "contentType": "application/json",
        "driveId": "01ea6ba3-9e58-42e7-899d-622fd110211a",
        "entityType": "folder",
        "name": "mytestfolder",
        "txId": "HYiKyfLwY7PT9NleTQoTiM_-qPVUwf4ClDhx1sjUAEU",
        "unixTime": 1635102772,
        "parentFolderId": "29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940",
        "entityId": "03df2929-1440-4ab4-bbf0-9dc776e1ed96",
        "path": "/My Public Folder/mytestfolder",
        "txIdPath": "/09_x0X2eZ3flXXLS72WdTDq6uaa5g2LjsT-QH1m0zhU/HYiKyfLwY7PT9NleTQoTiM_-qPVUwf4ClDhx1sjUAEU",
        "entityIdPath": "/29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940/03df2929-1440-4ab4-bbf0-9dc776e1ed96"
    },
    {
        "appName": "ArDrive-CLI",
        "appVersion": "2.0",
        "arFS": "0.11",
        "contentType": "application/json",
        "driveId": "01ea6ba3-9e58-42e7-899d-622fd110211a",
        "entityType": "folder",
        "name": "Super sonic public folder",
        "txId": "VUk1B_vo1va2-EHLtqjsotzy0Rdn6lU4hQo3RD2xoTI",
        "unixTime": 1631283259,
        "parentFolderId": "29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940",
        "entityId": "452c6aec-43dc-4015-9abd-20083068d432",
        "path": "/My Public Folder/Super sonic sub folder",
        "txIdPath": "/09_x0X2eZ3flXXLS72WdTDq6uaa5g2LjsT-QH1m0zhU/VUk1B_vo1va2-EHLtqjsotzy0Rdn6lU4hQo3RD2xoTI",
        "entityIdPath": "/29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940/452c6aec-43dc-4015-9abd-20083068d432"
    },
    {
        "appName": "ArDrive-CLI",
        "appVersion": "2.0",
        "arFS": "0.11",
        "contentType": "application/json",
        "driveId": "01ea6ba3-9e58-42e7-899d-622fd110211a",
        "entityType": "file",
        "name": "test-number-twelve.txt",
        "txId": "429zBqnd7ZBNzgukaix26RYz3g5SeXCCo_oIY6CPZLg",
        "unixTime": 1631722234,
        "size": 47,
        "lastModifiedDate": 1631722217028,
        "dataTxId": "vA-BxAS7I6n90cH4Fzsk4cWS3EOPb1KOhj8yeI88dj0",
        "dataContentType": "text/plain",
        "parentFolderId": "29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940",
        "entityId": "e5948327-d6de-4acf-a6fe-e091ecf78d71",
        "path": "/My Public Folder/test-number-twelve.txt",
        "txIdPath": "/09_x0X2eZ3flXXLS72WdTDq6uaa5g2LjsT-QH1m0zhU/429zBqnd7ZBNzgukaix26RYz3g5SeXCCo_oIY6CPZLg",
        "entityIdPath": "/29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940/e5948327-d6de-4acf-a6fe-e091ecf78d71"
    },
    {
        "appName": "ArDrive-CLI",
        "appVersion": "2.0",
        "arFS": "0.11",
        "contentType": "application/json",
        "driveId": "01ea6ba3-9e58-42e7-899d-622fd110211a",
        "entityType": "file",
        "name": "wonderful-test-file.txt",
        "txId": "6CokwlzB81Fx7dq-lB654VM0XQykdU6eYohDmEJ2gk4",
        "unixTime": 1631671275,
        "size": 23,
        "lastModifiedDate": 1631283389232,
        "dataTxId": "UP8THwA_1gvyRqNRqYmTpWvU4-UzNWBN7SiX_AIihg4",
        "dataContentType": "text/plain",
        "parentFolderId": "29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940",
        "entityId": "3274dae9-3487-41eb-94d5-8d5d3d8bc343",
        "path": "/My Public Folder/wonderful-test-file.txt",
        "txIdPath": "/09_x0X2eZ3flXXLS72WdTDq6uaa5g2LjsT-QH1m0zhU/6CokwlzB81Fx7dq-lB654VM0XQykdU6eYohDmEJ2gk4",
        "entityIdPath": "/29850ab7-56d4-4e1f-a5be-cb86d5513940/3274dae9-3487-41eb-94d5-8d5d3d8bc343"
    }
]

To list further than the immediate children, you can make use of the flags: --all and --max-depth.

# List all contents of a public folder
ardrive list-folder --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" --all

# List the contents of a public folder with custom depth
ardrive list-folder --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" --max-depth 2

In the case of private entitites, the --with-keys flag will make the command to include the keys in the output.

# List all contents of a private folder including the `fileKey` and/or `driveKey` of all listed entitites
ardrive list-folder --parent-folder-id "1b027047-4cfc-4eee-88a8-9af694f660c0" -w /my/wallet.json --with-keys

# Working With Files

Similar to folders, files are linked to a parent folder which ultimately chains the file back to the root folder of its parent drive. As such, a parent folder ID is required in order to upload files. Files can be freely moved to other folders within their original drive.

The important difference for file entities is that they also hold a reference to their data transaction ID, which is the dataTxId as returned by the file-info command. This is where your uploaded data lives on the permaweb.

NOTE: The CLI currently (v1.0.0) has progress logging on uploads DISABLED for producing clean JSON outputs that can be piped in the terminal. On larger uploads, remember to be patient. You can check your system's node process to confirm the process is still uploading.

# Uploading a Single File

To upload a file, you'll need a parent folder id, the file to upload's file path, and the path to your wallet:

# Supply the parent folder ID to upload-file
ardrive upload-file --local-path /path/to/file.txt  --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json

Example output:

{
    "created": [
        {
            "type": "file",
            "entityName": "file.txt"
            "entityId": "6613395a-cf19-4420-846a-f88b7b765c05"
            "dataTxId": "l4iNWyBapfAIj7OU-nB8z9XrBhawyqzs5O9qhk-3EnI",
            "metadataTxId": "YfdDXUyerPCpBbGTm_gv_x5hR3tu5fnz8bM-jPL__JE",
            "bundledIn": "1zwdfZAIV8E26YjBs2ZQ4xjjP_1ewalvRgD_GyYw7f8",
            "sourceUri": "file:///path/to/file.txt"
        },
        {
            "type": "bundle",
            "bundleTxId": "1zwdfZAIV8E26YjBs2ZQ4xjjP_1ewalvRgD_GyYw7f8"
        }
    ],
    "tips": [
        {
            "txId": "1zwdfZAIV8E26YjBs2ZQ4xjjP_1ewalvRgD_GyYw7f8",
            "recipient": {
                "address": "3mxGJ4xLcQQNv6_TiKx0F0d5XVE0mNvONQI5GZXJXkt"
            },
            "winston": "10000000"
        }
    ],
    "fees": {
        "1zwdfZAIV8E26YjBs2ZQ4xjjP_1ewalvRgD_GyYw7f8": 42819829
    }
}

NOTE: To upload to the root of a drive, specify its root folder ID as the parent folder ID for the upload destination. You can retrieve it like so:

ardrive drive-info -d "c7f87712-b54e-4491-bc96-1c5fa7b1da50" | jq -r '.rootFolderId'

# IPFS CID Tagging

Certain nodes on the Arweave network may be running the IPFS+Arweave bridge (opens new window). Tagging your file upload transaction with its IPFS v1 CID value in the 'IPFS-Add' tag may allow you to take advantage of this system. It can also be helpful for finding data on Arweave via GQL based on its CID. To include the CID tag on your PUBLIC file uploads, you may use the '--add-ipfs-tag' flag:

ardrive upload-file --add-ipfs-tag --local-path /path/to/file.txt  --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json

# Progress Logging of Transaction Uploads

Progress logging of transaction uploads to stderr can be enabled by setting the ARDRIVE_PROGRESS_LOG environment variable to 1:

Uploading file transaction 1 of total 2 transactions...
Transaction _GKQasQX194a364Hph8Oe-oku1AdfHwxWOw9_JC1yjc Upload Progress: 0%
Transaction _GKQasQX194a364Hph8Oe-oku1AdfHwxWOw9_JC1yjc Upload Progress: 35%
Transaction _GKQasQX194a364Hph8Oe-oku1AdfHwxWOw9_JC1yjc Upload Progress: 66%
Transaction _GKQasQX194a364Hph8Oe-oku1AdfHwxWOw9_JC1yjc Upload Progress: 100%
Uploading file transaction 2 of total 2 transactions...
Transaction nA1stCdTkuf290k0qsqvmJ78isEC0bwgrAi3D8Cl1LU Upload Progress: 0%
Transaction nA1stCdTkuf290k0qsqvmJ78isEC0bwgrAi3D8Cl1LU Upload Progress: 13%
Transaction nA1stCdTkuf290k0qsqvmJ78isEC0bwgrAi3D8Cl1LU Upload Progress: 28%
Transaction nA1stCdTkuf290k0qsqvmJ78isEC0bwgrAi3D8Cl1LU Upload Progress: 42%
Transaction nA1stCdTkuf290k0qsqvmJ78isEC0bwgrAi3D8Cl1LU Upload Progress: 60%
Transaction nA1stCdTkuf290k0qsqvmJ78isEC0bwgrAi3D8Cl1LU Upload Progress: 76%
Transaction nA1stCdTkuf290k0qsqvmJ78isEC0bwgrAi3D8Cl1LU Upload Progress: 91%
Transaction nA1stCdTkuf290k0qsqvmJ78isEC0bwgrAi3D8Cl1LU Upload Progress: 100%

# Download a Single file (BETA)

By using the download-file command you can download a file on chain to a folder in your local storage specified by --local-path (or to your current working directory if not specified):

ardrive download-file -w /path/to/wallet.json --file-id "ff450770-a9cb-46a5-9234-89cbd9796610" --local-path /my_ardrive_downloads/

Specify a filename in the --local-path if you'd like to use a different name than the one that's used in your drive:

ardrive download-file -w /path/to/wallet.json --file-id "ff450770-a9cb-46a5-9234-89cbd9796610" --local-path /my_ardrive_downloads/my_pic.png

# Rename a Single File

To rename an on-chain file you can make use of the rename-file command. The required parameters are the file ID and the new name, as well as the owner wallet or seed phrase.

ardrive rename-file --file-id "290a3f9a-37b2-4f0f-a899-6fac983833b3" --file-name "My custom file name.txt" --wallet-file "wallet.json"

# Uploading a Folder with Files (Bulk Upload)

Users can perform a bulk upload by using the upload-file command on a target folder. The command will reconstruct the folder hierarchy on local disk as ArFS folders on the permaweb and upload each file into their corresponding folders:

ardrive upload-file --local-path /path/to/folder --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json

# Downloading a Folder with Files

You can download a folder from ArDrive to your local machine with the download-folder command. In the following examples, assume that a folder with ID "47f5bde9-61ba-49c7-b409-1aa4a9e250f6" exists in your drive and is named "MyArDriveFolder".

# Downloads "MyArDriveFolder" into the current working directory, i.e. ./MyArDriveFolder/
ardrive download-folder -f "47f5bde9-61ba-49c7-b409-1aa4a9e250f6"

By specifying the --local-path option, you can choose the local parent folder into which the on-chain folder will be downloaded. When the parameter is omitted, its value defaults to the current working directory (i.e. ./).

# Downloads "MyArDriveFolder" into /my_ardrive_downloads/MyArDriveFolder
ardrive download-folder -f "47f5bde9-61ba-49c7-b409-1aa4a9e250f6" --local-path /my_ardrive_downloads/

The --max-depth parameter lets you to choose a custom folder depth to download. When omitted, the entire subtree of the folder will be downloaded. In the following example, only the immediate children of the folder will be downloaded:

ardrive download-folder -f "47f5bde9-61ba-49c7-b409-1aa4a9e250f6" --max-depth 0

The behaviors of --local-path are similar to those of cp and mv in Unix systems, e.g.:

# folder downloaded to "/existing_folder/MyArDriveFolder"
ardrive download-folder -f "47f5bde9-61ba-49c7-b409-1aa4a9e250f6" --local-path "/existing_folder"

# folder downloaded to "/existing_folder/MyArDriveFolder/MyArDriveFolder" as "/existing_folder/MyArDriveFolder" already exists
ardrive download-folder -f "47f5bde9-61ba-49c7-b409-1aa4a9e250f6" --local-path "/existing_folder/MyArDriveFolder"

# folder downloaded to "/existing_folder/non_existent_folder"
ardrive download-folder -f "47f5bde9-61ba-49c7-b409-1aa4a9e250f6" --local-path "/existing_folder/non_existent_folder"

# ERROR!
ardrive download-folder -f "47f5bde9-61ba-49c7-b409-1aa4a9e250f6" --local-path "/non_existent_folder_1/non_existent_folder_2"

# Downloading a Drive

To download the whole drive you can use the download-drive command.

ardrive download-drive -d "c0c8ba1c-efc5-420d-a07c-a755dc67f6b2"

This is equivalent to running the download-folder command against the root folder of the drive.

# Uploading Multiple Files

To upload an arbitrary number of files or folders, pass a space-separated list of paths to --local-paths:

# Specifying a mixed set of file and folder paths
ardrive upload-file -w wallet.json -F "6939b9e0-cc98-42cb-bae0-5888eca78885" --local-paths ./image.png ~/backups/ ../another_file.txt

# Example using glob expansion to upload all .json files in the current folder
ardrive upload-file -w wallet.json -F "6939b9e0-cc98-42cb-bae0-5888eca78885" --local-paths ./*.json

# Name Conflict Resolution on Upload

By default, the upload-file command will use the upsert behavior if existing entities are encountered in the destination folder tree that would cause naming conflicts.

Expect the behaviors from the following table for each of these resolution settings:

Source Type Conflict at Dest `skip` `replace` `upsert` (default)
File None Insert Insert Insert
File Matching File Skip Update Skip
File Different File Skip Update Update
File Folder Skip Fail Fail
Folder None Insert Insert Insert
Folder File Skip Fail Fail
Folder Folder Re-use Re-use Re-use

The default upsert behavior will check the destination folder for a file with a conflicting name. If no conflicts are found, it will insert (upload) the file.

In the case that there is a FILE to FILE name conflict found, it will only update it if necessary. To determine if an update is necessary, upsert will compare the last modified dates of conflicting file and the file being uploaded. When they are matching, the upload will be skipped. Otherwise the file will be updated as a new revision.

To override the upsert behavior, use the --replace option to always make new revisions of a file or the --skip option to always skip the upload on name conflicts:

ardrive upload-file --replace --local-path /path/to/file.txt  --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json
ardrive upload-file --skip --local-path /path/to/file.txt  --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json

Alternatively, the upload-file commands now also supports the --ask conflict resolution option. This setting will always provide an interactive prompt on name conflicts that allows users to decide how to resolve each conflict found:

ardrive upload-file --ask --local-file-path /path/to/file.txt  --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json

Destination folder has a file to file name conflict!

File name: 2.png
File ID: efbc0370-b69f-44d9-812c-0d272b019027
This file has a DIFFERENT last modified date

Please select how to proceed:
 › - Use arrow-keys. Return to submit.
❯   Replace as new file revision
    Upload with a different file name
    Skip this file upload

# Understanding Bundled Transactions

The ArDrive CLI currently uses two different methods for uploading transactions to the Arweave network: standard transactions and Direct to Network (D2N) bundled transactions. By default, the CLI will send a D2N bundled transaction for any action that would result in multiple transactions. This bundling functionality is currently used on the upload-file and create-drive commands.

D2N bundled transactions come with several benefits and implications:

  • Bundling saves AR and enhances ArFS reliability by sending associated ArFS transactions up as one atomic bundle.
  • Bundled transactions are treated as a single data transaction by the Arweave network, but can be presented as separate transactions by the Arweave Gateway once they have been "unbundled".
  • Un-bundling can take anywhere from a few minutes up to an hour. During that time, the files in the bundle will neither appear in list- commands nor be downloadable. Similarly, they will not appear in the web app after syncs until un-bundling is complete. This can negatively affect the accuracy of upsert operations, so it's best to wait before retrying bulk uploads.
  • Bundling reliability on the gateway side degrades once bundles reach either 500 data items (or ~250 files) or 500 MiB, so the CLI will create and upload multiple bundles as necessary, or will send files that are simply too large for reliable bundling as unbundled txs.

While not recommended, the CLI does provide the option to forcibly send all transactions as standard transactions rather than attempting to bundle them together. To do this, simply add the --no-bundle flag to the upload-file or create-drive command:

ardrive upload-file --no-bundle --local-path /path/to/file --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json

# Fetching the Metadata of a File Entity

Simply perform the file-info command to retrieve the metadata of a file:

ardrive file-info --file-id "e5ebc14c-5b2d-4462-8f59-7f4a62e7770f"

Example output:

{
    "appName": "ArDrive-Web",
    "appVersion": "0.1.0",
    "arFS": "0.11",
    "contentType": "application/json",
    "driveId": "51062487-2e8b-4af7-bd81-4345dc28ea5d",
    "entityType": "file",
    "name": "2_depth.png",
    "txId": "CZKdjqwnmxbWchGA1hjSO5ZH--4OYodIGWzI-FmX28U",
    "unixTime": 1633625081,
    "size": 41946,
    "lastModifiedDate": 1605157729000,
    "parentFolderId": "a2c8a0cb-0ca7-4dbb-8bf8-93f75f308e63",
    "entityId": "e5ebc14c-5b2d-4462-8f59-7f4a62e7770f",
    "fileId": "e5ebc14c-5b2d-4462-8f59-7f4a62e7770f",
    "dataTxId": "Jz0WsWyAGVc0aE3UzACo-YJqG8OPrN3UucmDdt8Fbjc",
    "dataContentType": "image/png"
}

# Retrying a Failed File Data Transaction (Public Unbundled Files Only)

Arweave data upload transactions are split into two phases: transaction posting and chunks uploading. Once the transaction post phase has been completed, you've effectively "paid" the network for storage of the data chunks that you'll send in the next stage.

If your system encounters an error while posting the transaction, you can retry posting the transaction for as long as your tx_anchor is valid (learn more about tx_anchors here (opens new window)). You may retry and/or resume posting chunks at any time after your transaction has posted. The ArDrive CLI allows you to take advantage of this Arweave protocol capability.

Using the CLI, when the transaction post has succeeded but the chunk upload step fails, the data transaction's ID could be lost. There are a few options to recover this ID. If the failed transaction is the most recent one sent from a wallet, the transaction ID can be recovered with the ardrive last-tx -w /path/to/wallet command AFTER the transaction's headers have been mined (It can take 5-10 minutes for the tx-id to become available with the last-tx approach). Other options for finding the partially uploaded transaction's ID include:

In order to re-seed the chunks for an unbundled ArFS data transaction, a user must have the data transaction ID, the original file data, and either a destination folder ID or a valid file ID for the file. Supply that information to the retry-tx command like so:

ardrive retry-tx --tx-id { Data Transaction ID } --parent-folder-id { Destination Folder ID }  --local-path /path/to/file  --wallet-file /path/to/wallet

Note: Retry feature is currently only available for PUBLIC unbundled file transactions. It is also perfectly safe to mistakenly re-seed the chunks of a healthy transaction, the transaction will remain stable and the wallet balance will not be affected.

# Moving Files

Files can be moved from one folder to another within the same drive. Moving a file is simply the process of uploading a new file metadata revision with an updated File ID <> Parent Folder ID relationship. The following command will move a file from its current location in a public drive to a new parent folder in that drive:

ardrive move-file --file-id "e5ebc14c-5b2d-4462-8f59-7f4a62e7770f" --parent-folder-id "a2c8a0cb-0ca7-4dbb-8bf8-93f75f308e63"

# Uploading Manifests

Arweave Path Manifests (opens new window) are are special .json files that instruct Arweave Gateways to map file data associated with specific, unique transaction IDs to customized, hosted paths relative to that of the manifest file itself. So if, for example, your manifest file had an arweave.net URL like:

https://arweave.net/{manifest tx id}

Then, all the mapped transactions and paths in the manifest file would be addressable at URLs like:

https://arweave.net/{manifest tx id}/foo.txt
https://arweave.net/{manifest tx id}/bar/baz.png

ArDrive supports the creation of these Arweave manifests using any of your PUBLIC folders. The generated manifest paths will be links to each of the file entities within the specified folder. The manifest file entity will be created at the root of the folder.

To create a manifest of an entire public drive, specify the root folder of that drive:

ardrive create-manifest -f "bc9af866-6421-40f1-ac89-202bddb5c487" -w "/path/to/wallet"

You can also create a manifest of a folder's file entities at a custom depth by using the --max-depth option:

# Create manifest of a folder's local file contents, excluding all sub-folders
ardrive create-manifest --max-depth 0  -f "867228d8-4413-4c0e-a499-e1decbf2ea38" -w "/path/to/wallet"

Creating a .json file of your manifest links output can be accomplished here with some jq parsing and piping to a file:

ardrive create-manifest -w /path/to/wallet -f "6c312b3e-4778-4a18-8243-f2b346f5e7cb"  | jq '{links}' > links.json

If you'd like to preview the contents of your manifest before uploading, you can perform a dry run and do some lightweight post processing to isolate the data:

ardrive create-manifest -w /path/to/wallet -f "6c312b3e-4778-4a18-8243-f2b346f5e7cb"  --dry-run | jq '{manifest}.manifest'

{
  "manifest": "arweave/paths",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "index": {
    "path": "index.html"
  },
  "paths": {
    "hello_world.txt": {
      "id": "Y7GFF8r9y0MEU_oi1aZeD87vrmai97JdRQ2L0cbGJ68"
    },
    "index.html": {
      "id": "pELonjVebHyBsdxVymvxbGTmHD96v9PuuUXj8GUHGoY"
    }
  }
}

The manifest data transaction is tagged with a unique content-type, application/x.arweave-manifest+json, which tells the gateway to treat this file as a manifest. The manifest file itself is a .json file that holds the paths (the data transaction ids) to each file within the specified folder.

When your folder is later changed by adding files or updating them with new revisions, the original manifest will NOT be updated on its own. A manifest is a permanent record of your files in their current state.

However, creating a subsequent manifest with the same manifest name will create a new revision of that manifest in its new current state. Manifests follow the same name conflict resolution as outlined for files above (upsert by default).

# Hosting a Webpage with Manifest

When creating a manifest, it is possible to host a webpage or web app. You can do this by creating a manifest on a folder that has an index.html file in its root.

Using generated build folders from popular frameworks works as well. One requirement here to note is that the href= paths from your generated index.html file must not have leading a /. This means that the manifest will not resolve a path of /dist/index.js but it will resolve dist/index.js or ./dist/index.js.

As an example, here is a flow of creating a React app and hosting it with an ArDrive Manifest. First, generate a React app:

yarn create react-app my-app

Next, add this field to the generated package.json so that the paths will resolve correctly:

"homepage": ".",

Then, create an optimized production build from within the app's directory:

yarn build

Now, we can create and upload that produced build folder on ArDrive to any of your existing ArFS folder entities:

ardrive upload-file -l "/build" -w "/path/to/wallet" --parent-folder-id "bc9af866-6421-40f1-ac89-202bddb5c487"

And finally, create the manifest using the generated Folder ID from the build folder creation:

# Create manifest using the Folder ID of the `/build` folder
ardrive create-manifest -f "41759f05-614d-45ad-846b-63f3767504a4" -w "/path/to/wallet"

In the return output, the top link will be a link to the deployed web app:

    "links": [
        "https://arweave.net/0MK68J8TqGhaaOpPe713Zn0jdpczMt2NGS2CtRYiuAg",
        "https://arweave.net/0MK68J8TqGhaaOpPe713Zn0jdpczMt2NGS2CtRYiuAg/asset-manifest.json",
        "https://arweave.net/0MK68J8TqGhaaOpPe713Zn0jdpczMt2NGS2CtRYiuAg/favicon.ico",
        "https://arweave.net/0MK68J8TqGhaaOpPe713Zn0jdpczMt2NGS2CtRYiuAg/index.html",
        # ...

This is effectively hosting a web app with ArDrive. Check out the ArDrive Price Calculator React App hosted as an ArDrive Manifest (opens new window).

# Uploading With a Custom Content Type

Each file uploaded to the Arweave network receives a "Content-Type" GraphQL tag that contains the MIME type for the file. The gateway will use this content type to determine how to serve that file's data transaction at the arweave.net/{data tx id} endpoint.

By default, the CLI will attempt to derive this content type from the file extension of the provided file. In most cases, the content type that is derived will be correct and the gateway will properly serve the file.

The CLI also provides the option for users to upload files with a custom content type using the --content-type flag:

ardrive upload-file --content-type "application/json"  --local-path /path/to/file --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json

It is currently possible to set this value to any given string, but the gateway will still only serve valid content types. Check out this list of commonly used MIME types to ensure you're providing a valid content type: Common MIME types (opens new window).

Note: In the case of multi-file uploads or recursive folder uploads, setting this --content-type flag will set the provided custom content type on EVERY file entity within a given upload.

# Uploading From a Remote URL

You can upload a file from an existing url using the --remote-path flag. This must be used in conjunction with --dest-file-name.

You can use a custom content type using the --content-type flag, but if this isn't used the app will use the content type from the response header of the request for the remote data.

ardrive upload-file --remote-path "https://url/to/file" --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -d "example.jpg" -w /path/to/wallet.json

# Uploading a Custom Manifest

Using the custom content type feature, it is possible for users to upload their own custom manifests. The Arweave gateways use this special content type in order to identify an uploaded file as a manifest:

application/x.arweave-manifest+json

In addition to this content type, the manifest must also adhere to the correct JSON structure of an Arweave manifest. A user can create their own manifest from scratch, or start by piping a generated manifest to a JSON file and editing it to their specifications:

ardrive create-manifest -w /path/to/wallet -f "6c312b3e-4778-4a18-8243-f2b346f5e7cb"  --dry-run | jq '{manifest}.manifest' > my-custom-manifest.json

After editing the generated manifest, simply perform an upload-file command with the custom Arweave manifest content type to any PUBLIC folder:

ardrive upload-file --content-type "application/x.arweave-manifest+json" --local-path my-custom-manifest.json --parent-folder-id "9af694f6-4cfc-4eee-88a8-1b02704760c0" -w /path/to/wallet.json

The returned dataTxId field on the created file entity will be the endpoint that the manifest can be found on Arweave, just as explained in the manifest sections above:

https://arweave.net/{dataTxId}
https://arweave.net/{dataTxId}/custom-file-1
https://arweave.net/{dataTxId}/custom-file-2

# Uploading Files with Custom MetaData

ArDrive CLI has the capability of attaching custom metadata to ArFS File and Folder MetaData Transactions during the upload-file command. This metadata can be applied to either the GQL tags on the MetaData Transaction and/or into the MetaData Transaction's Data JSON.

All custom metadata applied must ultimately adhere to the following JSON shapes:

// GQL Tags
type CustomMetaDataGqlTags = Record<string, string | string[]>;

// Data JSON Fields
type CustomMetaDataJsonFields = Record<string, JsonSerializable>;

export type JsonSerializable =
  | string
  | number
  | boolean
  | null
  | { [member: string]: JsonSerializable }
  | JsonSerializable[];

e.g:

{ IPFS-Add: 'MY_HASH' }
# or
{ 'Custom Name': ['Val 1', 'Val 2'] }

When the custom metadata is attached to the MetaData Transaction's GQL tags, they will become visible on any Arweave GQL gateway and also third party tools that read GQL data.

When these tags are added to the MetaData Transaction's Data JSON they can be read by downloading the JSON data directly from https://arweave.net/METADATA_TX_ID.

To add this custom metadata to your file metadata transactions, CLI users can pass custom metadata these parameters:

  • --metadata-file path/to/json/schema
  • --metadata-json '{"key": "val", "key-2": true, "key-3": 420, "key-4": ["more", 1337]}'
  • --metadata-gql-tags "Tag-Name" "Tag Val"

The --metadata-file will accept a file path to JSON file containing custom metadata:

ardrive upload-file --metadata-file path/to/metadata/json # ...

This JSON schema object must contain instructions on where to put this metadata with the metaDataJson and metaDataGqlTags keys. e.g:

{
  "metaDataJson": {
    "Tag-Name": ["Value-1", "Value-2"]
  },
  "metaDataGqlTags": {
    "GQL Tag Name": "Tag Value"
  }
}

The --metadata-gql-tags parameter accepts an array of string values to be applied to the MetaData Tx GQL Tags. This method of CLI input does not support multiple tag values for a given tag name and the input must be an EVEN number of string values. (Known bug: String values starting with the "-" character are currently not supported. Use --metadata-file parameter instead.) e.g:

upload-file --metadata-gql-tags "Custom Tag Name" "Custom Value" # ...

And the --metadata-json parameter will accept a stringified JSON input. It will apply all declared JSON fields directly to the MetaData Tx's Data JSON. e.g:

 upload-file --metadata-json ' { "json field": "value", "another fields": false } ' # ...

Custom metadata applied to files and/or folders during the upload-file command will be read back through all existing read commands. e.g:

ardrive file-info -f 067c4008-9cbe-422e-b697-05442f73da2b
{
    "appName": "ArDrive-CLI",
    "appVersion": "1.17.0",
    "arFS": "0.11",
    "contentType": "application/json",
    "driveId": "967215ca-a489-494b-97ec-0dd428d7be34",
    "entityType": "file",
    "name": "unique-name-9718",
    "txId": "sxg8bNu6_bbaHkJTxAINVVoz_F-LiFe6s7OnxzoJJk4",
    "unixTime": 1657655070,
    "size": 262148,
    "lastModifiedDate": 1655409872705,
    "dataTxId": "ublZcIff77ejl3m0uEA8lXEfnTWmSBOFoz-HibqKeyk",
    "dataContentType": "text/plain",
    "parentFolderId": "97bc4fb5-aca4-4ffe-938f-1285153d98ca",
    "entityId": "067c4008-9cbe-422e-b697-05442f73da2b",
    "fileId": "067c4008-9cbe-422e-b697-05442f73da2b",
    "IPFS-Add": "MY_HASH",
    "Tag-1": "Val",
    "Tag-2": "Val",
    "Tag-3": "Val",
    "Boost": "1.05"
}

# Applying Unique Custom MetaData During Bulk Workflows

With some custom scripting and the --metadata-file parameter, the ArDrive CLI can be used to apply custom metadata to each file individually in a bulk workflow. For example, if you choose a numbered file naming pattern you can make use of a for loop:

for i in {1..5}
do
ardrive upload-file -F f0c58c11-430c-4383-8e54-4d864cc7e927 --local-path "../uploads/test-file-$i.txt" -w "/path/to/wallet.json" --metadata-file "../custom/metadata-$i.json" --dry-run > "file-result-$i.json"
done

# Other Utility Operations

# Monitoring Transactions

Block time on Arweave is typically between 2-3 minutes in duration, so transactions can be mined within that time frame when network congestion is low. Transactions, in the general case, proceed through the following set of states:

  • Pending: the transaction is waiting the "mempool" to be mined
  • Confirming: the transaction was mined on an Arweave Node, but has not yet been confirmed by at least 15 total nodes on the network
  • Confirmed: the transaction was mined on an Arweave Node and confirmed by at least 15 total nodes on the network
  • Not Found: the transaction is not available for any of the following reasons:
    • Insufficient reward to join the mempool
    • Insufficient reward to be mined within 50 blocks during a period of network congestion
    • Transaction is transitioning between states
    • Transaction ID is invalid

Monitor any Arweave transaction's status via its transaction ID by performing:

# Peek at the status:
ardrive tx-status -t "ekSMckikdRJ8RGIkFa-X3xq3427tvM7J9adv8HP3Bzs"

Example output:

ekSMckikdRJ8RGIkFa-X3xq3427tvM7J9adv8HP3Bzs: Mined at block height 775810 with 22439 confirmations
# Reprint the status every 10 seconds:
watch -n 10 ardrive tx-status -t "ekSMckikdRJ8RGIkFa-X3xq3427tvM7J9adv8HP3Bzs"

# Dealing With Network Congestion

Currently, Arweave blocks hold up to 1000 transactions per block. The "mempool", where pending transactions reside until they've been included into a block, will only hold a transaction for 50 blocks (~100-150 minutes) before it's discarded by the network resulting in no fees or data being transacted. During periods of network congestion (i.e. those where the mempool contains 1000 or more pending transactions), it may make sense to either:

a) wait for congestion to dissipate before attempting your transactions.

b) apply the fee boost multiplier to your transactions rewards with the --boost parameter during write operations in order to front-run some of the congestion.

# Check for network congestion before uploading

# See all the transactions in the mempool
ardrive get-mempool

# Return the count of the transactions in the mempool
ardrive get-mempool | jq 'length'

# Front-run Congestion By Boosting Miner Rewards

# Increase the miner reward on your transactions by 50%
ardrive upload-file --wallet-file /path/to/my/wallet.json --parent-folder-id "f0c58c11-430c-4383-8e54-4d864cc7e927" --local-path ./helloworld.txt --boost 1.5

# Send AR Transactions From a Cold Wallet

The best cold wallet storage never exposes your seed phrase and/or private keys to the Internet or a compromised system interface. You can use the ArDrive CLI to facilitate cold storage and transfer of AR.

If you need a new cold AR wallet, generate one from an air-gapped machine capable of running the ArDrive CLI by following the instructions in the Wallet Operations section. Fund your cold wallet from whatever external sources you'd like. NOTE: Your cold wallet won't appear on chain until it has received AR.

The workflow to send the AR out from your cold wallet requires you to generate a signed transaction with your cold wallet on your air-gapped machine via the ArDrive CLI, and then to transfer the signed transaction (e.g. by a file on a clean thumb drive) to an Internet-connected machine and send the transaction to the network via the ArDrive CLI. You'll need two inputs from the Internet-connected machine:

  • the last transaction sent OUT from the cold wallet (or an empty string if none has ever been sent out)
  • the base fee for an Arweave transaction (i.e. a zero bye transaction). Note that this value could change if a sufficient amount of time passes between the time you fetch this value, create the transaction, and send the transaction.

To get the last transaction sent from your cold wallet, use the last-tx command and specify your wallet address e.g.:

ardrive last-tx -a <Arweave address of cold wallet>

To get the base transaction reward required for an AR transaction, use the base-reward function, optionally applying a reward boost multiple if you're looking to front-run network congestion:

ardrive base-reward --boost 1.5

Write down or securely copy the values you derived from the Internet-connected machine and run the following commands on the airgapped machine, piping the outputted signed transaction data to a file in the process, e.g. sendme.json (if that's your signed transaction transfer medium preference):

ardrive create-tx -w /path/to/wallet/file.json -d <dest Arweave address> -a <AR amount to send> --last-tx <from previous steps> --reward "<from previous steps>" > sendme.json

Transport your signed transaction to the Internet-connected machine and run the following command to send your transaction to the Arweave network:

ardrive send-tx -x /path/to/sendme.json

# Using a Custom Arweave Gateway

On each command that uses a gateway, it is possible to supply your own custom Arweave gateway using the flag --gateway or by setting an environment variable named ARWEAVE_GATEWAY.

For example, you could test out that your ArFS transactions are working as expected on a local test network such as ArLocal (opens new window) with this flow:

# Setup ArLocal instance on port 1984
npx arlocal

# In another terminal, fund your wallet with AR
curl http://localhost:1984/mint/{ your public wallet address }/99999999999999

# Create drive and root folder on ArLocal using `--gateway` flag
ardrive create-drive --gateway http://127.0.0.1:1984 -w /path/to/wallet -n 'my-test-drive'

# Setup ARWEAVE_GATEWAY as ENV variable
export ARWEAVE_GATEWAY="http://localhost:1984"

# Mine block with drive + root folder transactions
curl "$ARWEAVE_GATEWAY/mine"

# Upload file to ArLocal with ENV var
ardrive upload-file -F { root folder id from create drive } -l /path/to/file -w /path/to/wallet

# Mine block with file transaction
curl "$ARWEAVE_GATEWAY/mine"

# Inspect meta data of created entities
ardrive list-drive -d { drive id from create drive }

# Download file to verify integrity
ardrive download-file -f { file id from upload file }

# Persistent Caching of ArFS Entity Metadata

To avoid redundant requests to the Arweave network for immutable ArFS entity metadata, a persistent file cache is created and maintained at:

Windows: <os.homedir()>/ardrive-caches/metadata
Non-Windows: <os.homedir()>/.ardrive/caches/metadata

The XDG_CACHE_HOME environment variable is honored, where applicable, and will be used in place of os.homedir() in the scenarios described above.

Metadata cache logging to stderr can be enabled by setting the ARDRIVE_CACHE_LOG environment variable to 1.

Cache performance is UNDEFINED for multi-process scenarios, but is presumed to be generally usable.

The cache can be manually cleared safely at any time that any integrating app is not in operation.