A distributed and persistent web archive replay system that uses IPFS to store and serve WARC files.
InterPlanetary Wayback (ipwb) is an open-source web archival replay system that stores and serves web archives using the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). It solves the problem of centralized, fragile web archives by distributing WARC file contents across a peer-to-peer network, enabling deduplication, persistence, and collaborative preservation.
Web archivists, digital preservationists, and researchers who need to store, replay, and share web archives in a decentralized and durable manner.
Developers choose ipwb for its unique integration with IPFS, which provides inherent deduplication, opt-in replication, and a distributed architecture that ensures archives remain accessible even if centralized servers fail.
InterPlanetary Wayback: A distributed and persistent archive replay system using IPFS
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Splits WARC records into IPFS, leveraging IPFS's inherent deduplication to significantly reduce storage redundancy across archives, as described in the README.
Uses the Reconstructive library with Service Workers to reroute requests on the client-side, effectively preventing live leakage without server-side rewiring, handling JavaScript-generated URIs.
Implements a <reconstructive-banner> custom HTML element that identifies mementos without causing style leakage, as highlighted in the README's feature list.
Provides a pre-built Docker image with sample data for easy deployment and testing, lowering the barrier to entry for new users, as shown in the setup instructions.
Requires a running IPFS daemon (kubo) for both indexing and replay, adding operational complexity and a potential single point of failure if not managed properly.
Service Workers require HTTPS for non-localhost domains, necessitating reverse proxy setup with TLS certificates, which can be cumbersome for deployment, as admitted in the README.
Compared to established tools like Wayback Machine, ipwb has a smaller community and fewer integrations, which might limit support and feature availability for complex use cases.