This tutorial is based on Livepeer React version 3.9 or earlier, which is now
deprecated. Please ensure that you use Livepeer React version 4 or later, with
the new Livepeer JavaScript SDK. The integration process may appear different,
but the underlying concepts remain same.
IPFS is a decentralized peer-to-peer network that allows anyone to store and
share files. Unlike traditional centralized storage systems, IPFS stores data
across a network of distributed nodes, making it impossible to tamper with or
lose data.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to use Livepeer to upload, transcode, and
playback videos on IPFS using Livepeer.
Prerequisites
Before you start with this tutorial, make sure you have the following tools
installed on your machine:
Setting up Next.js App
First, let’s create a directory for your project and initialize a Next.js app
using the following command in your terminal:
This will create a new Next.js app in the current directory and install all the
necessary dependencies.
Next, let’s install the @livepeer/react
, library which we will use to
integrate Livepeer:
npm install @livepeer/react dotenv
Adding TailwindCSS
Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework that enables you to rapidly build
user interfaces. We will use it to style our app. First, we need to install the
tailwindcss
, postcss
, and autoprefixer
dependencies. These dependencies are
necessary for TailwindCSS to work properly in a Next.js app.
Run the following command to install them:
npm install --dev tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer
Once the dependencies are installed, we need to initiate the Tailwind CSS. This
will create the necessary configuration files and allow you to customize the
default Tailwind CSS styles. To do that, run the below code in your terminal.
The above command will generate two files named tailwind.config.js
and postcss.config.js
. These files contain the configuration for Tailwind CSS
and PostCSS, respectively. Next, open the tailwind.config.js
file in code
editor of your choice and replace its contents with the following code:
module.exports = {
content: ["./pages//*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}", "./components//*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}"],
theme: {
extend: {},
},
plugins: [],
};
The above code tells Tailwind CSS which files to process. At last, add the
tailwind directives for each of Tailwind’s layers to the ./styles/globals.css
file.
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;
You can also check if Tailwind CSS is integrated successfully by updating the
code inside of the pages/index.js
file, with below code.
<div className="flex flex-col justify-center items-center h-screen font-poppins">
<h1 className="text-9xl font-bold text-slate-900 text-transparent bg-clip-text bg-gradient-to-r from-[#00A660] to-[#28CE88]">
Livepeer x IPFS
</h1>
<h3 className="text-xl mt-6 text-slate-800 w-[50%] text-center">
Upload, stream, and transcode video on the decentralized web with Livepeer
and IPFS.
</h3>
</div>
Save the file and run npm run dev
to start the next.js app and you should see
a similar page.
Integrating Livepeer
Livepeer is a decentralized video platform that allows users to upload,
transcode, and serve video content. The Livepeer React SDK provides a set of
ready-to-use hooks that make it easy to integrate Livepeer into a project.
To get started, navigate
to https://livepeer.studio/register and
create a new account on Livepeer Studio. This will give you access to your
Livepeer dashboard, where you can manage your account and access your API keys.
Once you have created an account, in the dashboard, click on the Developers on
the sidebar.
Then, click on Create API Key, give a name to your key and then copy it as we
will need it later.
To use Livepeer React in your project, create a new directory named client
in
the root directory, and add the following code to index.js
import { createReactClient, studioProvider } from "@livepeer/react";
const LivepeerClient = createReactClient({
provider: studioProvider({ apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY" }),
});
export default LivepeerClient;
Make sure to replace the YOUR_API_KEY
with the key which you just copied from
the Livepeer dashboard. And also replace the code inside of _app.js
in the
page directory with the below code.
import { LivepeerConfig } from "@livepeer/react";
import LivepeerClient from "../client";
import "../styles/globals.css";
function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }) {
return (
<LivepeerConfig client={LivepeerClient}>
<Component {...pageProps} />
</LivepeerConfig>
);
}
export default MyApp;
And that is it, you can now use Livepeer to upload and transcode assets.
Create a components folder named and inside of it create a new file named
Button.js
. Add the below code to it.
import React from "react";
export default function Button({ children, onClick }) {
return (
<button
className="bg-slate-900 text-white py-3 px-8 rounded-full mt-4"
onClick={onClick}
>
{children}
</button>
);
}
Next, in the pages/index.js
file, import the Button component and add it below
the p
tag. This is how your file should look like
import Button from "../components/Button";
export default function Home() {
return (
<div className="flex flex-col justify-center items-center h-screen font-poppins">
<h1 className="text-9xl font-bold text-slate-900 text-transparent bg-clip-text bg-gradient-to-r from-[#00A660] to-[#28CE88]">
Livepeer x IPFS
</h1>
<h3 className="text-xl mt-6 text-slate-800 w-[50%] text-center">
Upload, stream, and transcode video on the decentralized web with
Livepeer and IPFS.
</h3>
<Button onClick={asset ? uploadAsset : ChooseAsset}>
{asset ? "Upload the asset" : "Choose an asset"}
</Button>
</div>
);
}
Add the file input with class name hidden below the Button component.
<input type="file" ref={fileInput} className="hidden" onChange={onChange} />
Next, create a useState named asset and also a reference for the file input.
// State for the asset
const [asset, setAsset] = useState(null);
// Ref for the file input
const fileInput = useRef(null);
I have already commented on each line of the code so you can understand what is
going on.
const ChooseAsset = async () => {
// When user clicks the button, open the file input dialog
ref.current?.click();
};
const onChange = async (e) => {
// Get the file
const file = e.target.files?.[0];
// If no file, return
if (!file) return;
// If there is a file, set the asset state to the file
setAsset(file);
};
const uploadAsset = async () => {};
Save the file and now you should be able to select a file from your computer.
Next, import the useCreateAsset
from the @livepeer/react
and add the hook to
the index.js file.
const {
mutate: createAsset,
data: assets,
progress,
error,
} = useCreateAsset(
asset
? {
sources: [{ name: asset.name, file: asset }] as const,
}
: null
);
Update the uploadAsset
function and save the files. You can now choose and
upload videos to Livepeer.
const uploadAsset = async () => {
await createAsset?.();
};
You can also add the below code to check the progress of the asset
upload/transcode.
const progressFormatted = useMemo(
() =>
progress?.[0].phase === "failed"
? "Failed to process video."
: progress?.[0].phase === "waiting"
? "Waiting"
: progress?.[0].phase === "uploading"
? `Uploading: ${Math.round(progress?.[0]?.progress * 100)}%`
: progress?.[0].phase === "processing"
? `Processing: ${Math.round(progress?.[0].progress * 100)}%`
: null,
[progress]
);
Now, let’s also print the asset information once it is uploaded successfully. To
do that simply add the below code below the input tag.
{
assets?.map((asset) => (
<div key={asset.id}>
<div>
<div>Asset Name: {asset?.name}</div>
<div>Playback URL: {asset?.playbackUrl}</div>
<div>IPFS CID: {asset?.storage?.ipfs?.cid ?? "None"}</div>
</div>
</div>
));
}
Finally this is how your code should look like:
import { useCreateAsset } from "@livepeer/react";
import { useMemo, useRef, useState } from "react";
import Button from "../components/Button";
export default function Home() {
// State for the asset
const [asset, setAsset] = useState(null);
// Ref for the file input
const fileInput = useRef(null);
const {
mutate: createAsset,
data: assets,
progress,
error,
} = useCreateAsset(
asset
? {
sources: [{ name: asset.name, file: asset }],
}
: null
);
const ChooseAsset = async () => {
// When user clicks the button, open the file input dialog
fileInput.current?.click();
};
const onChange = async (e) => {
// Get the file
const file = e.target.files?.[0];
// If no file, return
if (!file) return;
// If there is a file, set the asset state to the file
setAsset(file);
};
const uploadAsset = async () => {
await createAsset?.();
};
const progressFormatted = useMemo(
() =>
progress?.[0].phase === "failed"
? "Failed to process video."
: progress?.[0].phase === "waiting"
? "Waiting"
: progress?.[0].phase === "uploading"
? `Uploading: ${Math.round(progress?.[0]?.progress * 100)}%`
: progress?.[0].phase === "processing"
? `Processing: ${Math.round(progress?.[0].progress * 100)}%`
: null,
[progress]
);
return (
<div className="flex flex-col justify-center items-center h-screen font-poppins">
<h1 className="text-9xl font-bold text-slate-900 text-transparent bg-clip-text bg-gradient-to-r from-[#00A660] to-[#28CE88]">
Livepeer x IPFS
</h1>
<h3 className="text-xl mt-6 text-slate-800 w-[50%] text-center">
Upload, stream, and transcode video on the decentralized web with
Livepeer and IPFS.
</h3>
<Button onClick={asset ? uploadAsset : ChooseAsset}>
{asset ? "Upload the asset" : "Choose an asset"}
</Button>
<input
type="file"
ref={fileInput}
className="hidden"
onChange={onChange}
/>
<p>{progressFormatted}</p>
{assets?.map((asset) => (
<div key={asset.id}>
<div>
<div>Asset Name: {asset?.name}</div>
<div>Playback URL: {asset?.playbackUrl}</div>
<div>IPFS CID: {asset?.storage?.ipfs?.cid ?? "None"}</div>
</div>
</div>
))}
</div>
);
}
Go ahead choose and upload a video and then navigate to
https://livepeer.studio/dashboard/assets
you should be able to see the video which you just uploaded.
Uploading Videos To IPFS
By default, the assets which you upload would be saved on Livepeer’ storage. If
you want to upload the videos to IPFS, you can use useUpdateAsset
hook from
Livepeer React or Livepeer Studio’s REST API. In this tutorial we will be using
the Livepeer React hooks.
Import the useUpdateAsset
hook from the livepeer.js and add it after the
useCreateAsset
const { mutate: updateAsset, status } = useUpdateAsset({
// Here we are providing the assetId of the video
assetId: assets?.[0].id,
// And choose IPFS : true to make sure the video is uploaded to IPFS
storage: { ipfs: true },
});
And also include a Button to call the updateAsset hook in the map function:
<Button onClick={() => updateAsset?.()}>Upload to IPFS</Button>
If you have saved your videos on other IPFS services like web3.storage, you can
easily playback them using Livepeer’s decentralized storage player. This player
transcodes your videos to ensure that they playback smoothly and without any
issues.
This can be useful for ensuring that your videos are of high quality and that
they are accessible to a wide range of viewers, regardless of their device or
connection speed.