Access Pinned Content

Pinner pins your content to IPFS. To retrieve it, use one of these options.

Pinner API

The IPFS plugin exposes an authenticated content retrieval endpoint. Send a GET request to the IPFS subdomain:

GET https://ipfs.pinner.xyz/ipfs/<CID>

This returns the raw content for the specified CID and supports streaming for large files. You can also send a HEAD request to check whether content exists without downloading it.

All requests require a valid JWT token (see API Keys).

Example with curl:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" \
  "https://ipfs.pinner.xyz/ipfs/bafybeig...example"

ipfs.pub

ipfs.pub is Pinner's own IPFS gateway. It serves content pinned or hosted through Pinner; it's not an anonymous public gateway, so it's fast and reliable for your content.

https://ipfs.pub/ipfs/<CID>

Pinner CLI

The Pinner CLI provides three content retrieval commands:

• pinner cat <CID>: stream content to stdout (like ipfs cat, but through Pinner's API)
• pinner download <CID>: save content to a file (supports CID/path for specific files, --force to overwrite, --output to set a path)
• pinner ls <CID>: list the contents of a pinned directory

All CLI commands authenticate using your stored token (set up via pinner auth login).

Examples:

# Stream a file to stdout
pinner cat bafybeig...example
 
# Download to a specific file
pinner download bafybeig...example -o myfile.txt
 
# List directory contents
pinner ls bafybeig...example

Website hosting

If you're serving content to the public, the best option is website hosting. Your content gets its own domain with automatic SSL, no CID in the URL:

https://mysite.example.com

See How Hosting Works for the full setup.

Public gateways

Community-operated public gateways let you retrieve any IPFS content over HTTP. The main surviving public gateway is:

inbrowser.link uses a service worker to fetch and verify IPFS content directly in the browser, reducing reliance on a single HTTP backend. It's the IPFS Project's recommended public gateway.

Public gateways are not affiliated with Pinner. Availability and performance vary; for production use, we recommend ipfs.pub (via website hosting) or running your own gateway.

For a live list of public gateways and their current availability and latency, see check.ipfs.pub (our deployment of check.ipfs.network) or the IPFS Public Gateway Checker.

SDK default gateway

The Pinner JS SDK uses https://inbrowser.link as its default gateway for content retrieval. You can override this by setting the gateway option in your PinnerConfig:

const pinner = new Pinner({
  jwt: "<your-token>",
  gateway: "https://ipfs.pub",  // override the default
});

The CLI falls back to https://ipfs.pinner.xyz/ipfs/ when no custom gateway is configured, or you can set gateway_endpoint in your config.

Local IPFS

If you run IPFS locally, you already have access:

• IPFS Desktop: graphical app with built-in gateway at http://localhost:8080
• IPFS Companion: browser extension that resolves IPFS addresses automatically
• ipfs-cli: ipfs cat <CID> from the terminal

Custom or private gateway

If you need guaranteed uptime, low latency, or private access, run your own gateway. Popular options include Rainbow and Kubo with the gateway enabled.

Why doesn't Pinner include a public anonymous gateway?

See Why No Public Gateway for the reasoning.