xlm.sh

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Key concepts ​

dWebsites ​

A dWebsite (decentralized website) is a site whose name and content are not controlled by a single server or company. On xlm.sh:

  • the name is a Soroban Domain such as example.xlm, owned through a Stellar account rather than rented from a registrar;
  • the content lives on IPFS, where it can be served by any node that has a copy.

Browsers understand neither, so xlm.sh connects them: it serves the content behind example.xlm at https://example.xlm.sh. Nothing ties the site to xlm.sh: any IPFS gateway can still serve the same content by its CID.

IPFS and CIDs ​

IPFS stores and finds files by their content rather than their location. Every file or folder gets a CID, a fingerprint computed from its content, such as bafybeifq2rzpqnqrsdupncmkmhs3ckxxjhuvdcbvydkgvch3ms24k5lo7q. The same content always has the same CID, and any change produces a new one, so the content behind a CID cannot be altered.

Content stays available as long as at least one IPFS node keeps a copy, which is called pinning it.

Because a CID never changes, every new version of a site has a new CID. Two ways give a site a stable pointer instead:

  • IPNS: a name (a key such as k51qzi5uqu5d...) that its owner can point at a new CID at any time. Only the holder of the IPNS private key can update it.
  • DNSLink: a TXT record at _dnslink.<domain> containing dnslink=/ipfs/<cid> (or /ipns/<key>) points an ordinary domain name at content.

Which one to use with xlm.sh ​

  • An IPFS CID is the simplest. To publish a new version, put the new CID in your Stellar data entry, which takes one transaction.
  • An IPNS key or a DNSLink domain is set in your data entry once. New versions are then published by updating the IPNS record or the DNS TXT record, with no Stellar transaction.

Record specification has the exact formats.