Glossary

IPFS Glossary

Short, operational definitions for the routing and gateway terms that appear in HiDHT availability reports.

CID

A CID is the content identifier used by IPFS to address data by hash instead of by location.

A CID identifies IPFS content by what it is, not where it is hosted.

Key points

CID stands for Content Identifier. It is the address format IPFS uses to identify data by cryptographic content, codec, and multibase information.
A valid CID does not guarantee that content is currently retrievable. The content still needs reachable providers, fresh routing records, and at least one path that can serve blocks within a gateway timeout.

The DHT is a distributed lookup system used by IPFS peers to find providers for content-addressed data.

The DHT helps IPFS clients discover which peers may be able to provide content.

Key points

DHT stands for Distributed Hash Table. In IPFS, DHT-style routing helps clients find provider records for content-addressed data.
DHT and delegated routing results can vary because provider announcements expire, peers go offline, and routing indexes update over time.

An IPFS gateway exposes content-addressed IPFS data over HTTP for browsers, tools, and applications.

A gateway is an HTTP path into IPFS, but every gateway has its own cache and retrieval behavior.

Key points

An IPFS gateway lets standard HTTP clients request content by CID. Public gateways are useful for browsers and integrations that do not run their own IPFS node.
Gateways can differ by cache state, timeout policy, rate limits, content policy, and network path to providers.

IPNI and delegated routing endpoints help IPFS clients discover content providers without crawling every peer directly.

IPNI-style routing improves provider discovery for content-addressed networks.

Key points

IPNI refers to indexing and routing infrastructure that helps clients discover which providers advertise content.
Provider discovery does not prove that a full file can be retrieved right now. It only indicates that routing systems have provider information for the CID.

A provider record is a routing signal that a peer may be able to serve blocks for an IPFS CID.

Provider records connect a CID lookup to peers that advertise relevant content.

Key points

A provider record is a routing announcement that a peer may be able to serve content for a CID or related block data.
A provider can be behind NAT, overloaded, temporarily offline, or too slow for a public gateway timeout.

Retrieval latency is the time it takes for routing and gateway probes to return useful IPFS availability signals.

Latency helps separate cached gateway hits from slower network retrieval paths.

Key points

Retrieval latency in HiDHT is measured as response time for provider lookup and public gateway probes. It is not a full download benchmark.
Use timing data together with provider count and gateway status. A fast cached response and a slow uncached retrieval mean different operational things.