A developer-friendly client for Wallet Attached Storage (WAS) servers, with a database-driver-inspired navigational API over zcap-authorized HTTP.
- Background
- Install
- Usage
- Creating a client (signer + zcapClient)
- The handle model
- Spaces
- Collections
- Resources: JSON and binary
- Delegation and sharing
- Revoking a capability
- Public sharing and access-control policies
- Resource metadata
- Conditional writes (optimistic concurrency)
- Storage introspection: backends and quotas
- Registering a Bring-Your-Own-Storage backend
- Encrypted collections (EDV-over-WAS): pass-through encryption via the WAS client (recommended)
- Cross-replica sync
- Export and import
- The manual-request escape hatch
- Errors and the 404/null caveat
- Contribute
- License
The WAS protocol exposes a general purpose database-like container model --
SpacesRepository > Space > Collection > Resource -- over HTTP, authorized with
Authorization Capabilities (zcaps).
@interop/was-client wraps that ZcapClient and exposes the containment model
through cheap, lazy navigational handles modeled on a document store's DX
(client > db > collection), using WAS-specific verbs
(add/get/put/list/delete) rather than insertOne/findOne (WAS has
no query-by-filter yet).
| Document db driver | WAS client |
|---|---|
new Client(url) |
new WasClient({ serverUrl, zcapClient }) |
client.db('app') |
was.space(spaceId) |
db.collection('users') |
space.collection(collectionId) |
collection.insertOne(doc) |
collection.add(doc) |
collection.findOne({ _id }) |
collection.get(resourceId) |
collection.replaceOne({ _id }, d) |
collection.put(resourceId, data) |
collection.find().toArray() |
collection.list() |
collection.deleteOne({ _id }) |
collection.resource(resourceId).delete() |
See also:
- CONTRIBUTING.md -- editor setup and code style conventions
- AGENTS.md -- toolchain, tests, and conventions for coding agents
- Node.js 24+ is recommended.
pnpm install @interop/was-client
A WasClient signs every request with a key you control. The key is held by an
ezcap ZcapClient, which you build from a did:key identity. You will need two
companion packages alongside this one (this library already depends on
@interop/ed25519-signature):
pnpm install @interop/ezcap @interop/did-method-key @interop/ed25519-verification-key
The primary form wraps a ZcapClient you build yourself. The did:key driver
generates a key pair and a matching DID document, wiring the signer's
id/controller correctly:
import { ZcapClient } from '@interop/ezcap'
import * as didKey from '@interop/did-method-key'
import { Ed25519Signature2020 } from '@interop/ed25519-signature'
import { Ed25519VerificationKey } from '@interop/ed25519-verification-key'
import { WasClient } from '@interop/was-client'
// 1. Generate a did:key identity (didDocument + keyPairs).
const didKeyDriver = didKey.driver()
didKeyDriver.use({ keyPairClass: Ed25519VerificationKey })
const { didDocument, keyPairs } = await didKeyDriver.generate()
// 2. Build the ezcap ZcapClient (it holds the signer and signs every request).
const zcapClient = new ZcapClient({
didDocument,
keyPairs,
SuiteClass: Ed25519Signature2020
})
// 3. Wrap it.
const was = new WasClient({ serverUrl: 'https://was.example', zcapClient })If you already have a single signer, WasClient.fromSigner() builds the
ZcapClient internally (using the Ed25519Signature2020 suite). A signer is
any object with { id, sign() }; here we get one from a generated key. The
signer's id must be a did:key so the server can resolve and verify it:
import { Ed25519VerificationKey } from '@interop/ed25519-verification-key'
import { WasClient } from '@interop/was-client'
// Pass a 32-byte `seed` for a deterministic key, or omit it for a random one.
const keyPair = await Ed25519VerificationKey.generate({ seed })
keyPair.controller = `did:key:${keyPair.fingerprint()}`
keyPair.id = `${keyPair.controller}#${keyPair.fingerprint()}`
const was = WasClient.fromSigner({
serverUrl: 'https://was.example',
signer: keyPair.signer()
})The seed is where a passphrase-, stored-secret-, or KMS-derived key plugs in:
deriving the same 32-byte seed yields the same DID, and therefore access to the
same spaces. (Apps with user accounts often derive the signer from a passphrase
via CapabilityAgent.fromSecret() from @digitalbazaar/webkms-client -- not
required, just a common alternative.)
serverUrl is the base for both URL building and zcap invocationTargets, so
the "server URL must equal the invocation target host:port" constraint holds by
construction.
The client exposes the WAS containment model
(SpacesRepository > Space > Collection > Resource) as navigational handles.
Handles are lazy and synchronous to obtain -- only the verb methods hit the
network. Lazy chains never throw: was.space(x).collection(y) does no I/O and
just accumulates URL context. Existence is checked on the first network verb.
const space = await was.createSpace({ name: 'Home' })
const collection = await space.createCollection({
name: 'Verifiable Credentials'
})
await collection.put('vc-1', {
type: ['VerifiableCredential'],
name: 'Diploma'
})
const vc = await collection.get('vc-1') // parsed JSON object, or null on a miss
await collection.resource('vc-1').delete() // delete one resource by id
await space.delete() // delete the whole space (idempotent)delete() is uniform at every level, takes no argument, and always deletes the
thing the handle points at -- so there is no "delete the collection" vs "delete
one item" footgun. The next sections cover each level in turn.
A Space is the top-level container, created from the spaces repository. The
server requires a name; controller defaults to the client's own DID, and the
server generates the id unless you pass one.
const space = await was.createSpace({ name: 'Home' }) // POST /spaces/
// Lazy handle to an existing space by id -- no I/O until a verb runs.
const same = was.space(space.id)
// Read the Space Description (null if missing or not visible to you).
const desc = await space.describe() // { id, type: ['Space'], name, controller } | null
// Upsert: merges the given fields over the current description.
await space.configure({ name: 'Home (renamed)' })
await space.delete() // idempotentList the spaces in the repository visible to your signer with
was.listSpaces(). It returns a { url, totalItems, items } listing holding
only the spaces whose controller your invocation is authorized for; an
unauthorized caller gets an empty list rather than an error. To enumerate what
is inside a space, use space.collections() (below).
const { totalItems, items } = await was.listSpaces()
// items: [{ id, url, name? }, ...]A Collection lives inside a Space and holds resources. WAS does not auto-create
parents, so createCollection throws NotFoundError if the space does not
exist. The server generates the id unless you pass one (a handful of reserved
ids are rejected).
// Create.
const collection = await space.createCollection({
name: 'Verifiable Credentials'
})
// Lazy handle to an existing collection by id.
const same = space.collection(collection.id)
// Read the Collection Description (null if missing or not visible).
const desc = await collection.describe() // { id, type: ['Collection'], name } | null
// Update (upsert; merges over the current description).
await collection.configure({ name: 'Credentials' })
// List the collections in a space.
const collections = await space.collections()
// { url, totalItems, items: [{ id, name, url }, ...] } | null
// List the resources inside this collection. Transparently follows the
// server's `next` pagination links, buffering every page into one listing.
const resources = await collection.list()
// { id, url, totalItems, items: [{ id, url, contentType }, ...], ... } | null
// For a large collection, stream one page (or item) at a time instead of
// buffering the whole thing -- follows `next` on demand, stops early on `break`.
for await (const item of collection.listItems()) {
// item: { id, url, contentType, name? }
}
// `collection.listPages()` yields whole pages if you'd rather page yourself.
await collection.delete() // deletes the whole collection; idempotentTo delete a single resource instead of the whole collection, use
collection.resource(id).delete().
A Resource is a JSON object or binary blob keyed by id within a Collection. Use
add() for a server-generated id or put(id, ...) to create-or-replace at a
known id (both throw NotFoundError if the parent collection is missing):
// Server-generated id; returns { id, url, contentType? }.
const added = await collection.add({
type: ['VerifiableCredential'],
name: 'Diploma'
})
// Create or replace at a known id (upsert).
await collection.put('vc-1', {
type: ['VerifiableCredential'],
name: 'Diploma'
})
const vc = await collection.get('vc-1') // parsed JSON object, or null on a miss
await collection.resource('vc-1').delete() // idempotentWrites detect the payload: a plain object/array is sent as JSON; a
Blob/Uint8Array/Buffer is sent as binary, with the content-type taken from
options.contentType, the Blob.type, or application/octet-stream.
// JSON
await collection.put('doc', { hello: 'world' })
// Binary
const bytes = new TextEncoder().encode('plain text body')
await collection.put('note.txt', bytes, { contentType: 'text/plain' })
const resource = collection.resource('note.txt')
await resource.get() // a Blob (whose .type carries the content-type)
await resource.getText() // 'plain text body'
await resource.getBytes() // Uint8ArrayReads auto-parse: get() returns a parsed object for a JSON content-type and a
Blob otherwise; getText() / getBytes() are explicit escape hatches.
A write value is a JSON object/array or binary (Blob/Uint8Array) -- the
ResourceData type. A top-level JSON primitive (a bare string, number,
boolean, or null) is not accepted; it is a compile-time error. To store
one, either wrap it in an object (put('greeting', { value: 'hello' })) or
write it as binary via a Blob:
await collection.put('greeting', new Blob(['hello'], { type: 'text/plain' }))was.grant(...) is the general delegation primitive; space.grant(...) and
collection.grant(...) are sugar that prefill the grant target with the
handle's URL. The recipient rebuilds access from the received zcap with
fromCapability().
// Alice grants Bob read access to a resource.
const added = await collection.add({ secret: 'value' })
const zcap = await was.grant({
to: bobDid,
actions: ['GET'], // HTTP verbs: 'GET' | 'PUT' | 'POST' | 'DELETE'
target: added.url
})
// Bob, holding the zcap, rebuilds a handle at the right depth.
const handle = bobWas.fromCapability(zcap) // a Resource here
await handle.get() // succeeds; a write would be denied by the GET-only grantActions are HTTP verbs (GET / PUT / POST / DELETE). The WAS server
authorizes on these case-sensitively (uppercase), but grant() also accepts the
lowercase forms and normalizes them to uppercase in the signed zcap -- so
actions: ['get'] still validates server-side.
space.revoke(zcap) undoes a grant(), so a leaked capability need not be
waited out to its expires. was.revoke(zcap) is the same operation with the
Space derived from the capability.
const zcap = await collection.grant({ to: appDid, actions: ['GET', 'PUT'] })
// ... the capability leaks ...
await space.revoke(zcap) // from now on the capability is rejectedTwo parties may revoke: the Space's controller, and any controller in the
capability's own delegation chain -- so an application can revoke the capability
it holds, without being granted anything extra. Anyone else gets a
NotFoundError, WAS's mask for "not visible to you".
Three properties are easy to get wrong:
- Revocation is Space-scoped. There is no global or cross-Space revocation;
submitting a capability rooted in another Space throws
ValidationError. - It withdraws the capability, not a policy grant. Access-control policies
are permissive, so a
PublicCanReadtarget stays world-readable after you revoke a capability naming it. What dies is the capability: on such a target the revoked zcap's read still succeeds while its write does not. - It is prospective, and not idempotent. A revoked reader of an encrypted
Collection keeps the keys for ciphertext it already fetched. And revoking an
already-revoked capability throws
ValidationError: the server reports it with the same 400 it uses for a tampered or expired capability, so the client cannot tell them apart and does not swallow any of them. CatchValidationErrorif you want revoking twice to be a no-op.
A Space, Collection, or Resource can carry an access-control policy that grants read access beyond capabilities -- most commonly making it world-readable ("share via public link"). The policy methods live on all three handles:
// Make a whole collection world-readable (the "create public link" case).
await collection.setPublic() // sugar for setPolicy({ type: 'PublicCanRead' })
// Anyone (even unauthenticated) can now read its resources.
const link = added.url // hand this URL out; a plain GET resolves it
// Inspect or revoke.
const policy = await collection.getPolicy() // { type: 'PublicCanRead' } | null
const isPublic = await collection.isPublic() // true if its own policy is PublicCanRead
await collection.clearPolicy() // revert to capability-only access (idempotent)
// setPolicy() is the generic, forward-compatible primitive; setPublic() is sugar.
await space.setPolicy({ type: 'PublicCanRead' }) // inherited by all contents
await resource.setPublic() // a single public resourcePolicies are resolved most-specific-first (Resource over Collection over Space)
and are permissive-only -- they broaden access, never restrict a valid
capability holder. Managing a policy is a controller-level operation. Discover a
policy via space.linkset() / collection.linkset() (RFC9264) or the linkset
property on a description.
isPublic() is a read-only convenience that returns true when the Space,
Collection, or Resource has a { type: 'PublicCanRead' } policy -- that is,
when it has been made public via setPublic() (or an equivalent setPolicy()
call). It's meant to drive data-browser style UI, to show a "This
space(/collection/resource) has been shared publicly" type of icon.
The flip side of setPublic(): reading a PublicCanRead resource or collection
with no authorization, by its URL. These use an unsigned plain fetch (no
capability invocation), so they work for a consumer who only holds the link.
// Fetch a single public resource (auto-parses JSON, returns binary as a Blob).
const doc = await was.publicRead({
resourceUrl: 'https://was.example/space/s/c/r'
}) // Json | Blob | null
// List a public collection -- e.g. a blog published as a public-read collection.
const listing = await was.publicListCollection({
collectionUrl: 'https://was.example/space/s/c'
}) // ResourceListing | null
// Or stream a large public collection one item/page at a time:
for await (const item of was.publicListCollectionItems({
collectionUrl: 'https://was.example/space/s/c'
})) {
// item: { id, url, contentType, name? }
}
// (`was.publicListCollectionPages(...)` yields whole pages.)Both follow the read-method 404/null caveat: a missing or non-public target
resolves to null.
Each Resource has a metadata object at its reserved /meta path: server-managed
properties (contentType, size, optional createdAt / updatedAt) plus a
user-writable custom object (name and tags).
const resource = collection.resource('vc-1')
const meta = await resource.meta() // ResourceMetadata | null (null on a miss)
// setMeta() is a full replacement of `custom`; omitted properties are cleared.
await resource.setMeta({ custom: { name: 'Diploma', tags: { year: '2026' } } })
// setName() / setTags() are read-modify-write sugar that preserve the other.
await resource.setName('Renamed diploma') // keeps existing tags
await resource.setTags({ status: 'verified' }) // keeps existing nameThe custom.name is the same value surfaced as a resource's name in
collection listings; updating one updates the other.
Against a backend that advertises the conditional-writes feature (see below),
a Resource carries a strong ETag validator that changes on every write.
Use it to prevent the lost-update problem -- two clients that both read version
N and each write N+1, the second silently clobbering the first.
const { etag } = await collection.put('doc', { v: 1 }) // writes return the ETag
const meta = await collection.resource('doc').meta() // meta().etag also carries it
// Update-if-unchanged: succeeds only if `doc` is still at `etag`, else throws
// PreconditionFailedError (HTTP 412).
await collection.put('doc', { v: 2 }, { ifMatch: etag })
// Create-if-absent: succeeds only if `doc` does not yet exist (else 412).
await collection.put('new-doc', { v: 1 }, { ifNoneMatch: true })
// Delete-if-unchanged.
await collection.resource('doc').delete({ ifMatch: someEtag })Recover from a PreconditionFailedError by re-reading the current etag,
re-applying your change on top of the new version, and retrying.
On an encrypted collection this is automatic: the EDV codec advances the
document sequence and pins each write to the current ETag for you, so a stale
write surfaces as a PreconditionFailedError (the EDV sequence becomes
enforced rather than advisory). The explicit ifMatch / ifNoneMatch options
above are for plaintext collections.
A Space can report the storage backends available to it and a per-backend usage
report. Both are optional server features (a server without them surfaces a
NotImplementedError); both follow the read-method 404/null caveat.
const backends = await space.backends() // BackendDescriptor[] | null
const report = await space.quotas() // SpaceQuotaReport | null
// report.backends[i]: { id, state, usageBytes, limit, restrictedActions, ... }A Collection can likewise report the backend it is stored on and its own usage, scoped to that backend (same optional-feature and 404/null caveats).
const backend = await collection.backend() // BackendDescriptor | null
const usage = await collection.quota() // BackendUsage | null
// usage: { id, state, usageBytes, limit, restrictedActions, measuredAt, ... }A BackendDescriptor's optional features array advertises optional server
affordances -- things the backend actively does beyond the baseline read/write
API (e.g. conditional-writes, blinded-index-query, chunked-streams). An
absent token means the backend makes no claim to it, so treat it as unsupported
rather than assuming a default. (Client-side encryption is not a backend
feature -- see below.)
const backend = await collection.backend()
if (backend?.features?.includes('conditional-writes')) {
// backend enforces If-Match / If-None-Match write preconditions
}Beyond the server's built-in default backend, the Space controller can
register an external ("Bring Your Own Storage") backend -- e.g. a wallet
connecting a user's own Google Drive. Registration is a controller-authorized
write: the body carries the secret-bearing connection material (an OAuth
authorization code or refresh token), and the server stores it and returns the
sanitized descriptor (never the secrets).
const descriptor = await space.registerBackend({
id: 'gdrive-personal', // unique within the Space
name: 'My Google Drive',
provider: 'google-drive', // selects the server-side adapter
storageMode: ['document', 'blob'],
connection: {
kind: 'oauth2-google',
authorizationCode: '4/0Ab...', // one-time PKCE code (or a refreshToken)
redirectUri: 'https://wallet.example/oauth/callback'
}
})
// descriptor.connection: { kind, status: 'registered', account?, scope?, ... }Once registered, select it on a Collection by id; reads of the backend reflect
its connection status (registered | connected | expired | revoked |
unreachable), which a storage-management UI uses to prompt re-consent:
await space.createCollection({
id: 'photos',
backend: { id: 'gdrive-personal' }
})
const [, gdrive] = (await space.backends()) ?? []
if (gdrive?.connection?.status === 'expired') {
// re-consent: swap in fresh connection material (create-or-replace by id)
await space.updateBackend({
id: 'gdrive-personal',
provider: 'google-drive',
connection: { kind: 'oauth2-google', authorizationCode: '4/0Cd...' }
})
}
// Deregister (idempotent): forgets the record and its stored connection.
await space.deregisterBackend('gdrive-personal')registerBackend() throws a ConflictError if the id already exists or the
server does not permit the provider; updateBackend() returns the descriptor
when it created a record and null when it replaced one in place (the server
sends no body on an in-place replace).
A registered backend's record exists immediately, but whether its connection can actually serve bytes depends on the server having a live provider adapter for it. Until then it is registered but inert (
status: 'registered').
This is the recommended way to use encrypted collections. For the low-level
alternative -- driving an EdvClientCore directly via WasTransport -- see
docs/edv-client-core-usage.md.
Client-side end-to-end encryption is a per-collection concern -- not a backend feature (an encrypted document is opaque JSON any document backend stores faithfully). Two things drive it, kept separate:
- Policy (is this collection encrypted?) is declared on the collection
itself:
createCollection({ encryption: { scheme: 'edv' } })writes a non-secretencryptiondescriptor to the Collection Description. Any authorized reader -- including a delegated consumer that did not create the collection -- discovers it by reading the Description, so it knows to decrypt. - Keys come from an
encryptionprovider you pass toWasClient(built from the opt-in@interop/was-client/edvsubpath, so plaintext consumers never pull the crypto graph). It is a pure keystore:resolveKeysreturns the collection's keys, which live in your wallet. The server only ever stores opaque JWE envelopes.
The ordinary Collection/Resource handles then transparently encrypt on write
and decrypt on read for any collection the descriptor (or an override) declares
encrypted.
import { WasClient } from '@interop/was-client'
import { createEdvEncryption } from '@interop/was-client/edv'
const encryption = createEdvEncryption({
// The keystore: return the collection's keys (from your wallet).
async resolveKeys({ spaceId, collectionId }) {
return { keyAgreementKey, keyResolver }
}
})
const was = WasClient.fromSigner({ serverUrl, signer, encryption })
// Declare the collection encrypted (writes the descriptor). The returned handle is
// pre-seeded, so the first write encrypts with no extra round-trip.
const vault = await was
.space(spaceId)
.createCollection({ id: 'vault', encryption: { scheme: 'edv' } })
const { id } = await vault.add({ secret: 'hello' }) // encrypted; id is an EDV id
const back = await vault.get(id) // { secret: 'hello' } -- decrypted
// A consumer that did not create it discovers the descriptor and decrypts with its
// own keys -- no override needed; one cached read of the Description:
const same = was.space(spaceId).collection('vault')
await same.get(id) // reads the descriptor, then decryptsThe switch is the descriptor: a handle encrypts a collection when its
Description declares encryption (resolution reads the Description once, then
caches -- no round-trip for plaintext-only clients or when an override is set).
Keys are then required: if the collection is declared encrypted but your
keystore returns no keys, reads/writes throw EncryptionError (fail-closed) --
they never silently fall back to plaintext.
Per-handle override (escape hatch). Pass encryption in the handle options
to force the decision and skip the Description read -- { scheme: 'edv' } (keys
from the keystore), { scheme: 'edv', keys } (keys inline), or 'plaintext':
const vault = was.space(spaceId).collection('vault', {
encryption: { scheme: 'edv' }
})Migrating a pre-descriptor vault (created before the descriptor existed,
keys-only): re-declare it once with
collection.configure({ encryption: { scheme: 'edv' } }) (the descriptor is
set-once: declaring it on a collection that lacks one is allowed, changing or
clearing an existing one is rejected). Until then, a per-handle override reads
it correctly.
Encrypted collections are a stricter contract, not a drop-in (documents-only scope for now):
- Ids.
add()mints an EDV id (az-prefixed multibase value used verbatim as the WAS resource id).put(id, ...)accepts only an EDV-format id; a human-readable id is rejected (it would leak onto the URL) -- carry a human-readable label inside the encrypted content instead. By default the minted id is random (the classic mutable-document model); passcreateEdvEncryption({ idDerivation: 'content' })to derive it from the envelope's JWE ciphertext instead, making documents content-addressed -- the id is then stable across replicas (no mapping table), at the cost of immutability (an "update" is delete-old + add-new). - Metadata.
resource.setName()/setTags()/setMeta()work on an encrypted collection: the user-writablecustom(name/tags) is encrypted into an envelope before it is sent, so the server never sees the plaintext, andmeta()decrypts it back for a keyed reader. The/metaendpoint has its own ETag (metaVersion), independent of the content ETag. - Binary. A small
Blob/Uint8Arrayis encrypted as a single document; larger binaries are rejected until chunked encrypted blobs land. - Raw reads.
get()decrypts; thegetText()/getBytes()escape hatches do not (they return the stored representation).
The opt-in @interop/was-client/sync subpath supplies everything a wallet needs
to replicate one Space + Collection across devices, with WAS as the primary
copy. It is not a sync engine itself -- it provides the seams a change engine
plugs into:
createWasSyncPort({ was, spaceId, collectionId })builds aWasSyncPort: paged pulls over the collection'schangesfeed (resumable via an opaque server-side checkpoint) and conditional pushes (putContent/deleteContent/putMeta) guarded by the server's contentETag. The port moves stored bodies verbatim -- for an encrypted collection that means the opaque EDV envelope, never plaintext, and the port itself never touches keys. A rejected precondition throwsWasSyncConflictError(412); a delete of an already-gone resource throwsWasSyncNotFoundError(404) -- both catchable subtypes of the corePreconditionFailedError/NotFoundError.DocCipheris the per-collection encrypt/decrypt seam sitting above the port: it turns a JSON document into its stored body (minting the resource id) and back.createPlaintextDocCipher(...)is the crypto-free identity implementation for a plaintext content-addressed collection;createEdvDocCipher(...)(from@interop/was-client/edv) is the encrypting one, built from the collection's key-epoch descriptor (every encrypted collection carries one from birth; install epoch[0] at provision time withensureFirstEpoch).contentCid(doc)andderiveSpaceId(controllerDid)derive content-addressed ids --base64url(SHA-256(utf8(JCS-canonicalized JSON))), unpadded -- so the same logical document (and the same controller) lands on the same id on every replica, with no coordination or mapping table.ensureSpaceAndCollection(...)is idempotent provisioning: upsert the Space, configure the collection (edvorplaintext, optionally world-readable). Safe to re-run on every connect.
import {
createWasSyncPort,
createPlaintextDocCipher,
deriveSpaceId,
ensureSpaceAndCollection,
WasSyncConflictError
} from '@interop/was-client/sync'
const spaceId = deriveSpaceId(controllerDid) // same Space on every device
await ensureSpaceAndCollection({
was,
spaceId,
controllerDid,
collectionId: 'notes',
encryption: 'plaintext'
})
const port = createWasSyncPort({ was, spaceId, collectionId: 'notes' })
const cipher = createPlaintextDocCipher({ collectionId: 'notes' })
// Push: encrypt (mints the id), then write the stored body verbatim.
const { id, envelope } = await cipher.encrypt({ data: { note: 'hello' } })
try {
await port.putContent({ id, data: envelope, ifNoneMatch: true })
} catch (err) {
if (!(err instanceof WasSyncConflictError)) {
throw err
}
// 412 on a content-addressed insert: another replica already wrote this
// exact document (same content id) -- a settled outcome, nothing to merge.
}
// Pull: page through the change feed, resuming from the last checkpoint.
let checkpoint
do {
const page = await port.query({ checkpoint, limit: 100 })
for (const doc of page.documents) {
if (doc._deleted) continue // tombstone
const data = await cipher.decrypt({ envelope: doc.data })
// apply to the local replica, recording doc.version for later pushes
}
checkpoint = page.checkpoint // null when the page was empty (caught up)
} while (checkpoint)The subpath is crypto-free: importing it never pulls the ./edv dependency
graph. To sync an encrypted collection, keep the same port and swap in
createEdvDocCipher -- the change feed and the port ship the envelope bytes
unchanged either way, so the server never sees plaintext.
const archive = await space.export() // Uint8Array (application/x-tar)
const stats = await otherSpace.import(archive)
// { collectionsCreated, collectionsSkipped, resourcesCreated, resourcesSkipped,
// policiesCreated, policiesSkipped }export() buffers the whole tar archive into memory, which is the simplest
shape for small spaces. Two additive companions cover the large-space and
container cases:
// Constant memory: pipe the archive straight to a file / upload / compressor,
// without buffering the whole space into RAM. The stream must be consumed or
// cancelled (an abandoned stream holds the connection open).
const stream = await space.exportStream() // ReadableStream<Uint8Array>
// A Blob typed `application/x-tar`, the direct companion to import(). Copying a
// space is a one-liner:
const stats = await otherSpace.import(await space.exportBlob())Pick by size: exportStream() for a large space, exportBlob() when you want
the import() companion or a browser download, and export() for a small space
or when you need the bytes anyway. (In Node a Blob is memory-backed, so
exportBlob() does not lower peak memory versus export(); browsers may spill
large Blobs to disk.)
was.request(...) mirrors ezcap's generic request() for hand-built calls. As
a deliberate escape hatch it returns the raw HttpResponse and throws raw
ezcap/ky errors -- it does not apply the null-on-404 or typed-error
conveniences.
const response = await was.request({ path: `/space/${spaceId}`, method: 'GET' })Read methods (describe/get/list) return null on a 404, following
MongoDB's findOne semantics. WAS returns 404 for both not-found and
unauthorized, so null means "not visible to you" rather than strictly "does
not exist". Write/delete methods throw a typed error instead.
| Status | Read methods | Write / delete methods |
|---|---|---|
| 404 | null |
NotFoundError |
| 400 | ValidationError |
ValidationError |
| 401 | AuthRequiredError |
AuthRequiredError |
| 409 | ConflictError |
ConflictError |
| 413 | PayloadTooLargeError |
PayloadTooLargeError |
| 501 | NotImplementedError |
NotImplementedError |
| 507 | QuotaExceededError |
QuotaExceededError |
| 5xx | WasServerError |
WasServerError |
All error classes extend WasError (carrying status, the problem-kind type
URI, title, details, and requestUrl). When the server sends a
problem+json type (the spec's Error Type Registry), mapError() dispatches
on that kind first and falls back to the HTTP status -- so, for example, a 409
id-conflict from createSpace({ id }) is catchable as a ConflictError, and
a 507 quota-exceeded (a client-actionable storage-full condition, not a server
fault) as a QuotaExceededError. delete() additionally treats a 404 as
success, so it is idempotent.
Spec endpoints a given server has not yet implemented surface as
NotImplementedError (the server's 501).
PRs accepted. See CONTRIBUTING.md for editor setup (Prettier, ESLint, and EditorConfig) and how it maps to CI.
MIT License © 2026 Interop Alliance.