--- title: IPFS Companion description: The IPFS Companion browser extension allows you to interact with your IPFS node and the extended IPFS network through your browser. Learn how to install it here. --- # Install the IPFS Companion Browser Extension IPFS Companion allows you to interact with your IPFS node and the extended IPFS network through your browser. The add-on is available for Brave, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera. It enables support for `ipfs://` addresses, automatically loads websites and file paths from an IPFS gateway, allows you to easily import and share a file with IPFS, and more. ## Prerequisites For its full functionality to be enabled, IPFS Companion requires a local IPFS node. As such, it is recommended that you have an IPFS node installed and running on your computer. Any one of the following will satisfy the requirement: - [Install IPFS Desktop](../install/ipfs-desktop.md) - [Install IPFS Kubo for Go](../install/command-line.md) - [Install IPFS for JavaScript](../install/js-ipfs.md) You can still use IPFS Companion without a local node running, although you will lose some functionality, such as the ability to load websites with DNSLink via a gateway. ## Install The easiest way to install IPFS Companion is through your browser's specific extensions and add-ons store: | [Firefox](https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/new/) \| [Firefox for Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox) | [Chrome](https://www.google.com/chrome/) \| [Brave](https://brave.com/) \| [Opera](https://www.opera.com/) \| [Edge](https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/) | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [![Install From AMO](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmWNa64XjA78QvK3zG2593bSMizkDXXcubDHjnRDYUivqt)](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ipfs-companion/) | [![Install from Chrome Store](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmU4Qm5YEKy5yHmdAgU2fD7PjZLgrYTUUbxTydqG2QK3TT)](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ipfs-companion/nibjojkomfdiaoajekhjakgkdhaomnch) | ## Features IPFS Companion supercharges your browser for the DWeb with features including the following: ### Detect URLs with IPFS paths IPFS Companion detects and tests requests for IPFS-like paths, such as `/ipfs/{cid}` or `/ipns/{peerid_or_host-with-dnslink}`, on any website. If a path is a valid IPFS address, it is redirected to load from your local gateway, which converts data from one protocol to another. The gateway at `localhost` will also automatically switch to a subdomain to provide a unique origin for each website. Providing a unique origin accommodates operations that are restricted to content that shares the same protocol, domain, and port, also known as [same-origin content](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-origin_policy#:~:text=In%20computing%2C%20the%20same%2Dorigin,pages%20have%20the%20same%20origin). > `https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmbWqxBEKC3P8tqsKc98xmWNzrzDtRLMiMPL8wBuTGsMnR` > → `http://localhost:8080/ipfs/QmbWqxBEKC3P8tqsKc98xmWNzrzDtRLMiMPL8wBuTGsMnR` > → `http://bafybeigdyrzt5sfp7udm7hu76uh7y26nf3efuylqabf3oclgtqy55fbzdi.ipfs.localhost:8080` ### Detect DNSLink-enabled URLs IPFS Companion detects DNSLink info in the DNS records of websites. DNSLink is a simple protocol that links content and serviceability from DNS and leverages the DNS distributed architecture. See [Glossary > DNSLink](../concepts/glossary.md#dnslink). If a site uses DNSLink, IPFS Companion redirects the HTTP request to your local gateway: > `http://docs.ipfs.tech` > → `http://localhost:8080/ipns/docs.ipfs.tech` → `http://docs.ipfs.tech.ipns.localhost:8080/` ### Detect pages with `x-ipfs-path` headers IPFS Companion also upgrades transport to IPFS if it finds the `x-ipfs-path` in any HTTP response headers. This acts as a fallback for cases when an IPFS path is not present in the URL. ### Toggle redirects globally or per site You can disable and re-enable local gateway redirects in several ways: - Suspend redirects globally in IPFS Companion's preferences. - Suspend redirects per site using the toggle under the _current tab_ or in IPFS Companion's preferences. - Add `x-ipfs-companion-no-redirect` to the URL itself as a hash ([example](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmbWqxBEKC3P8tqsKc98xmWNzrzDtRLMiMPL8wBuTGsMnR#x-ipfs-companion-no-redirect)) or query parameter ([example](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmbWqxBEKC3P8tqsKc98xmWNzrzDtRLMiMPL8wBuTGsMnR?x-ipfs-companion-no-redirect)). ### Access frequently-used IPFS actions from your browser bar IPFS Companion enables you to quickly and easily access common actions from your browser bar with just a few clicks: - See how many peers you're connected with a glance at the cube icon in your browser bar. - Check your IPFS API and gateway status by clicking the cube icon to reveal the main menu. - Right-click images and other page assets to easily add them to IPFS, including the option to preserve file names. - Choose the _Quick Import/Share..._ option in the main menu for quick drag-and-drop import from a browser tab. - Pin or unpin IPFS resources directly from the main menu. - Copy shareable public gateway links, IPFS content paths, or CIDs of IPFS resources directly from the main menu. - Launch the [IPFS Web UI dashboard](https://github.com/ipfs-shipyard/ipfs-webui) from the main menu with a single click. - Toggle gateway redirects or switch all IPFS Companion features on or off quickly and easily from the main menu. ## Further documentation If you want to delve deeper into IPFS Companion, check out the project's documentation at [github.com/ipfs-shipyard/ipfs-companion →](https://github.com/ipfs-shipyard/ipfs-companion)