Iroh

lastmod 2026-04-20created 2026-04-201 edits

Open-source, public-key-based, ultra-fast P2P network connection library

About

p2p that just works: provides an API where you say "connect me to that phone" and it keeps the fastest network connection regardless of location
Provides an API that connects to target nodes by public key (Public Key, dial keys) rather than by network address or IP
Finds the optimal path and always keeps the fastest connection, either via direct connection (Hole-punching) or through public relay servers
Based on QUIC (using Quinn), it provides encryption, concurrent streams, datagrams, and delay-free communication out of the box, with no head-of-line blocking
- head-of-line-blocking: in network communication, when some data at the front of a single data (packet) flow is delayed, all data behind it also waits, delaying the whole transfer
Enables data transfer between devices running anywhere, regardless of size or environment: cloud servers, tablets, embedded systems, and more
- Runs on ESP32, Raspberry Pi, and Linux with the same API, and devices discover each other automatically - no broker or gateway needed
Easily combine prebuilt extension protocols such as iroh-blobs, iroh-gossip, iroh-docs, and iroh-willow to build various distributed network applications: large content blob transfer, publish-subscribe, eventual-consistent key-value stores, and more
Easy to integrate as a Rust library, with support for other languages through FFI bindings
Open source (dual license: MIT/Apache 2.0), so anyone can freely modify and distribute it and run their own relays

author Zer0 sitemap