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Access controllers

orbitdb-relay supports the following OrbitDB Access Controller types when opening databases:

  • orbitdb — the built-in OrbitDB access controller.
  • orbitdb-deferred — a custom deferred OrbitDB ACL registered by this package (src/access/deferred-orbitdb-access-controller.ts).
  • todo-delegation — delegated todo writes (same rules as the app; see below).

Notes:

  • Existing databases are opened using the manifest's accessController.type.
  • Creating a new database without explicitly passing an AccessController still defaults to orbitdb.

Why the relay needs the app's access controller​

The relay verifies oplog entries as part of replication. To evaluate canAppend the same way the browser does, it must register the same access controller the application uses. If the relay's access-controller package version drifts from the app's, verification of a custom AC's own store can fail — see Version compatibility.

The todo-delegation package​

The delegated todo access controller lives in @le-space/orbitdb-access-controller-delegated-todo (shared with simple-todo) so pinning uses the same canAppend and verifyDelegationWriterIdentity behavior as the browser. This relay depends on ^0.1.0 of that package.

If npm install cannot resolve it yet, install from a local checkout of simple-todo:

npm install ../path/to/simple-todo/packages/orbitdb-access-controller-delegated-todo

Choosing a controller​

  • Use orbitdb for a standard shared database where the write set is the set of known identities.
  • Use orbitdb-deferred when you need the deferred OrbitDB ACL semantics this package registers.
  • Use todo-delegation when your app already uses the delegated-todo controller and you want the relay to enforce the identical delegation rules while it pins.

The relay does not decide the controller — the database manifest does. Your application picks the access controller when it creates the database; the relay simply opens the manifest and registers the matching controller so it can verify entries.

See also​