Communication between git-annex and a program implementing an external
special remote uses this protocol.

[[!toc]]

## starting the program

The external special remote program has a name like
`git-annex-remote-$bar`. When 
`git annex initremote foo type=external externaltype=$bar` is run,
git-annex finds the appropriate program in PATH.

The program is started by git-annex when it needs to access the special
remote, and may be left running for a long period of time. This allows
it to perform expensive setup tasks, etc. Note that git-annex may choose to
start multiple instances of the program (eg, when multiple git-annex
commands are run concurrently in a repository).

## protocol overview

Communication is via stdin and stdout. Therefore, the external special
remote must avoid doing any prompting, or outputting anything like eg,
progress to stdout. (Such stuff can be sent to stderr instead.)

The protocol is line based. Messages are sent in either direction, from
git-annex to the special remote, and from the special remote to git-annex.

In order to avoid confusing interactions, one or the other has control
at any given time, and is responsible for sending requests, while the other
only sends replies to the requests.

Each protocol line starts with a command, which is followed by the
command's parameters (a fixed number per command), each separated by a
single space. The last parameter may contain spaces. Parameters may be
empty, but the separating spaces are still required in that case.

## example session

The special remote is responsible for sending the first message, indicating
the version of the protocol it is using.

	VERSION 1

Recent versions of git-annex respond with a message indicating
protocol extensions that it supports. Older versions of
git-annex do not send this message.

	EXTENSIONS INFO ASYNC GETGITREMOTENAME

The special remote can respond to that with its own EXTENSIONS message, listing
any extensions it wants to use. 
(It's also fine to reply with UNSUPPORTED-REQUEST.)

	EXTENSIONS 

Next, git-annex will generally send a message telling the special
remote to start up. (Or it might send an INITREMOTE or EXPORTSUPPORTED or
LISTCONFIGS, or perhaps other things in the future, so don't hardcode this
order.)

	PREPARE

The special remote can now ask git-annex for its configuration, as needed,
and check that it's valid. git-annex responds with the configuration values

	GETCONFIG directory
	VALUE /media/usbdrive/repo
	GETCONFIG automount
	VALUE true

Once the special remote is satisfied with its configuration and is
ready to go, it tells git-annex that it's done with the PREPARE step:

	PREPARE-SUCCESS

Now git-annex will make a request. Let's suppose it wants to store a key. 

	TRANSFER STORE somekey tmpfile

The special remote can then start reading the tmpfile and storing it.
While it's doing that, the special remote can send messages back to 
git-annex to indicate what it's doing, or ask for other information.
It will typically send progress messages, indicating how many
bytes have been sent:

	PROGRESS 10240
	PROGRESS 20480

Once the key has been stored, the special remote tells git-annex the result:

	TRANSFER-SUCCESS STORE somekey

Now git-annex will send its next request.

Once git-annex is done with the special remote, it will close its stdin.
The special remote program can then exit.

## git-annex request messages and replies

These are messages git-annex sends to the special remote program.

Once the special remote has finished performing the request, it should
send one of the listed replies.

The following requests *must* all be supported by the special remote.

* `INITREMOTE`  
  Requests the remote to initialize itself. This is where any one-time
  setup tasks can be done, for example creating an Amazon S3 bucket.  
  Note: This may be run repeatedly over time, as a remote is initialized in
  different repositories, or as the configuration of a remote is changed.
  (Both `git annex initremote` and `git-annex enableremote` run this.)
  So any one-time setup tasks should be done idempotently.
  * `INITREMOTE-SUCCESS`  
    Indicates the INITREMOTE succeeded and the remote is ready to use.
  * `INITREMOTE-FAILURE ErrorMsg`  
    Indicates that INITREMOTE failed.
* `PREPARE`  
  Tells the remote that it's time to prepare itself to be used.  
  Only a few requests for details about the remote can come before this
  (EXTENSIONS, INITREMOTE, EXPORTSUPPORTED, and LISTCONFIGS,
  but others may be added later).
  * `PREPARE-SUCCESS`  
    Sent as a response to PREPARE once the special remote is ready for use.
  * `PREPARE-FAILURE ErrorMsg`  
    Sent as a response to PREPARE if the special remote cannot be used.
* `TRANSFER STORE|RETRIEVE Key File`  
  Requests the transfer of a key. This is the main thing a special remote
  does. For STORE, the File contains the content to upload;
  for RETRIEVE the File is where to store the content you download.  
  When retrieving, the File may already exist, if its retieval was
  interrupted before. That lets the remote resume downloading, if it's able
  to.  
  Note that the File should not influence the filename used on the remote;
  that filename should be based on the Key.  
  Note that in some cases, the File's name may include whitespace or other
  special characters.  
  While the transfer is running, the remote can send any number of
  `PROGRESS` messages to indicate its progress. It can also send any of the
  other special remote messages. Once the transfer is done, it finishes by
  sending one of these replies:
  * `TRANSFER-SUCCESS STORE|RETRIEVE Key`  
    Indicates the transfer completed successfully.
  * `TRANSFER-FAILURE STORE|RETRIEVE Key ErrorMsg`  
    Indicates the transfer failed.
* `CHECKPRESENT Key`  
  Requests the remote to check if a key is present in it.  
  It's important that, while a key is being transferred to a remote,
  `CHECKPRESENT` not indicate it's present in the remote until all
  the data has been sent.
  * `CHECKPRESENT-SUCCESS Key`  
    Indicates that a key has been positively verified to be present in the
    remote.
  * `CHECKPRESENT-FAILURE Key`  
    Indicates that a key has been positively verified to not be present in the
    remote.
  * `CHECKPRESENT-UNKNOWN Key ErrorMsg`  
    Indicates that it is not currently possible to verify if the key is
    present in the remote. (Perhaps the remote cannot be contacted.)
* `REMOVE Key`  
  Requests the remote to remove a key's contents.
  * `REMOVE-SUCCESS Key`  
    Indicates the key has been removed from the remote. May be returned if
    the remote didn't have the key at the point removal was requested.
  * `REMOVE-FAILURE Key ErrorMsg`  
    Indicates that the key was unable to be removed from the remote.

Special remotes can optionally support tree exports and imports,
which makes the [[git-annex-export]] and [[git-annex-import]] commands
work with them. See the [[export_and_import_appendix]] for
additional requests that git-annex will make when using special remotes in
this way.

The following requests can optionally be supported. If not supported,
the special remote can reply with `UNSUPPORTED-REQUEST`.

* `EXTENSIONS List`  
  Sent to indicate protocol extensions which git-annex is capable
  of using. The list is a space-delimited list of protocol extension
  keywords. The remote can reply to this with its own EXTENSIONS list.
  See the section on extensions below for details.
  * `EXTENSIONS List`  
    Sent in response to a EXTENSIONS request, to indicate the protocol
    extensions that the special remote is using.
* `LISTCONFIGS`  
  Requests the remote to return a list of settings it uses (with
  `GETCONFIG` and `SETCONFIG`). Providing a list makes `git annex initremote`
  work better, because it can check the user's input, and can also display
  a list of settings with descriptions. Note that the user is not required
  to provided all the settings listed here. A block of responses
  can be made to this, which must always end with `CONFIGEND`.  
  (Do not include settings like "encryption" that are common to all external
  special remotes.)
  * `CONFIG Name Description`  
    Indicates the name and description of a config setting. The description
    should be reasonably short. Example:
    "CONFIG directory store data here"
  * `CONFIGEND`  
    Indicates the end of the response block.
* `GETCOST`  
  Requests the remote to return a use cost. Higher costs are more expensive.
  (See Config/Cost.hs for some standard costs.)
  * `COST Int`  
    Indicates the cost of the remote.
* `GETAVAILABILITY`  
  Asks the remote if it is locally or globally available.
  (Ie stored in the cloud vs on a local disk.)  
  If the remote replies with `UNSUPPORTED-REQUEST`, its availability
  is assumed to be global. So, only remotes that are only reachable
  locally need to worry about implementing this.
  * `AVAILABILITY GLOBAL|LOCAL`  
    Indicates if the remote is globally or only locally available.
* `CLAIMURL Url`  
  Asks the remote if it wishes to claim responsibility for downloading
  an url.
  * `CLAIMURL-SUCCESS`  
    Indicates that the CLAIMURL url will be handled by this remote.
  * `CLAIMURL-FAILURE`  
    Indicates that the CLAIMURL url wil not be handled by this remote.
* `CHECKURL Url`  
  Asks the remote to check if the url's content can currently be downloaded
  (without downloading it).
  * `CHECKURL-CONTENTS Size|UNKNOWN Filename`  
    Indicates that the requested url has been verified to exist.  
    The Size is the size in bytes, or use "UNKNOWN" if the size could not be
    determined.  
    The Filename can be empty (in which case a default is used),
    or can specify a filename that is suggested to be used for this url.
  * `CHECKURL-MULTI Url1 Size1|UNKNOWN Filename1 Url2 Size2|UNKNOWN Filename2 ...`  
    Indicates that the requested url has been verified to exist,
    and contains multiple files, which can each be accessed using
    their own url.  Each triplet of url, size, and filename should be listed,
    one after the other.
    Note that since a list is returned, neither the Url nor the Filename
    can contain spaces.
  * `CHECKURL-FAILURE ErrorMsg`  
    Indicates that the requested url could not be accessed.
* `WHEREIS Key`  
  Asks the remote to provide additional information about ways to access
  the content of a key stored in it, such as eg, public urls.
  This will be displayed to the user by eg, `git annex whereis`.
  Note that users expect `git annex whereis` to run fast, without eg,
  network access.  
  * `WHEREIS-SUCCESS String`  
    Indicates a location of a key. Typically an url, the string can
    be anything that it makes sense to display to the user about content
    stored in the special remote.
  * `WHEREIS-FAILURE`  
    Indicates that no location is known for a key.
    This is not needed when `SETURIPRESENT` is used, since such uris are
    automatically displayed by `git annex whereis`.  
* `GETINFO`  
  Requests the remote to send some information describing its
  configuration, for display by `git annex info`. A block of responses
  can be made to this, which must always end with `INFOEND`.
  * `INFOFIELD Name`  
    Gives the name of an info field. The name can be anything you want to
    be displayed to the user. Must be immediately followed by `INFOVALUE`.
  * `INFOVALUE Value`  
    Gives the value of an info field.
  * `INFOEND`  
    Indicates the end of the response block.

More optional requests may be added, without changing the protocol version,
so if an unknown request is seen, don't crash, just reply with
`UNSUPPORTED-REQUEST`.

## special remote messages

These messages may be sent by the special remote at any time that it's
handling a request.

* `VERSION Int`  
  Supported protocol version. Current version is 1. Must be sent first
  thing at startup, as until it sees this git-annex does not know how to
  talk with the special remote program!  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message, but may give up if it
  doesn't support the necessary protocol version.)
* `PROGRESS Int`  
  Indicates the current progress of the transfer. The Int is the
  number of bytes from the beginning of the file that have been
  transferred.  
  May be repeated any number of times during the transfer
  process, but it's wasteful to update the progress too frequently.
  Bear in mind that this is used both
  to display a progress meter for the user, and for annex.stalldetection.
  So, sending an update on each 1% of the file may not be frequent enough,
  as it could appear to be a stall when transferring a large file.  
  This is highly recommended for STORE.
  (It is optional but good for RETRIEVE; git-annex will fall back to
  tracking the size of the file as it grows.)  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `DIRHASH Key`  
  Gets a two level hash associated with a Key. Something like "aB/Cd".
  This is always the same for any given Key, so can be used for eg,
  creating hash directory structures to store Keys in. This is the same
  directory hash that git-annex uses inside `.git/annex/objects/`  
  (git-annex replies with VALUE followed by the value.)
* `DIRHASH-LOWER Key`  
  Gets a two level hash associated with a Key, using only lower-case.
  Something like "abc/def".
  This is always the same for any given Key, so can be used for eg,
  creating hash directory structures to store Keys in. This is the same
  directory hash that is used by eg, the directory special remote.  
  (git-annex replies with VALUE followed by the value.)  
* `SETCONFIG Setting Value`  
  Sets one of the special remote's configuration settings.  
  Normally this is sent during INITREMOTE, which allows these settings
  to be stored in the git-annex branch, so will be available if the same
  special remote is used elsewhere. (If sent after INITREMOTE, the changed
  configuration will only be available while the remote is running.)  
  See also `GETGITREMOTENAME` for a way to access git configuration of the
  remote.  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `GETCONFIG Setting`  
  Gets one of the special remote's configuration settings, which can have
  been passed by the user when running `git annex initremote`, or
  can have been set by a previous SETCONFIG. Can be run at any time.  
  It's recommended that special remotes that use this implement
  LISTCONFIGS.  
  (git-annex replies with VALUE followed by the value. If the setting is
  not set, the value will be empty.)
* `SETCREDS Setting User Password`  
  When some form of user and password is needed to access a special remote,
  this can be used to securely store them for later use.
  (Like SETCONFIG, this is normally sent only during INITREMOTE.)  
  The Setting indicates which value in a remote's configuration can be
  used to store the creds.  
  Note that creds are normally only stored in the remote's configuration
  when it's surely safe to do so; when gpg encryption is used, in which
  case the creds will be encrypted using it. If creds are not stored in
  the configuration, they'll only be stored in a local file.  
  (embedcreds can be set to yes by the user or by SETCONFIG to force
   the creds to be stored in the remote's configuration).  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `GETCREDS Setting`  
  Gets any creds that were previously stored in the remote's configuration
  or a file.
  (git-annex replies with "CREDS User Password". If no creds are found,
  User and Password are both empty.)
* `GETUUID`  
  Queries for the UUID of the special remote being used.  
  (git-annex replies with VALUE followed by the UUID.)
* `GETGITDIR`  
  Queries for the path to the git directory of the repository that
  is using the external special remote.
  (git-annex replies with VALUE followed by the path.)
* `GETGITREMOTENAME`  
  Gets the name of the git remote that represents this special remote.
  This can be used, for example, to look up git configuration belonging
  to that git remote. This name will often be the same as what is
  passed to `git-annex initremote` and `enableremote`, but it is possible
  for git remotes to be renamed, and this will provide the remote's current
  name.  
  (git-annex replies with VALUE followed by the name.)  
  This message is a protocol extension; it's only safe to send it to
  git-annex after it sent an EXTENSIONS that included GETGITREMOTENAME.
* `SETWANTED PreferredContentExpression`  
  Can be used to set the preferred content of a repository. Normally
  this is not configured by a special remote, but it may make sense
  in some situations to hint at the kind of content that should be stored
  in the special remote. Note that if a unparsable expression is set,
  git-annex will ignore it.  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `GETWANTED`  
  Gets the current preferred content setting of the repository.
  (git-annex replies with VALUE followed by the preferred content
  expression.)
* `SETSTATE Key Value`  
  Can be used to store some form of state for a Key. The state stored
  can be anything this remote needs to store, in any format.
  It is stored in the git-annex branch. Note that this means that if
  multiple repositories are using the same special remote, and store
  different state, whichever one stored the state last will win. Also,
  it's best to avoid storing much state, since this will bloat the
  git-annex branch. Most remotes will not need to store any state.  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `GETSTATE Key`  
  Gets any state that has been stored for the key.  
  (git-annex replies with VALUE followed by the state.)
* `SETURLPRESENT Key Url`  
  Records an URL where the Key can be downloaded from.  
  Note that this does not make git-annex think that the url is present on
  the web special remote.  
  Keep in mind that this stores the url in the git-annex branch. This can
  result in bloat to the branch if the url is large and/or does not delta
  pack well with other information (such as the names of keys) already
  stored in the branch.  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `SETURLMISSING Key Url`  
  Records that the key can no longer be downloaded from the specified
  URL.  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `SETURIPRESENT Key Uri`  
  Records an URI where the Key can be downloaded from. Use with uris
  that cannot be downloaded with http.
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `SETURIMISSING Key Uri`  
  Records that the key can no longer be downloaded from the specified
  URI.  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `GETURLS Key Prefix`  
  Gets the recorded urls where a Key can be downloaded from.
  Only urls that start with the Prefix will be returned. The Prefix
  may be empty to get all urls.
  (git-annex replies one or more times with VALUE for each url.
  The final VALUE has an empty value, indicating the end of the url list.)
* `DEBUG message`  
  Tells git-annex to display the message if --debug is enabled.  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)
* `INFO message`
  Tells git-annex to display the message to the user.  
  When git-annex is in --json mode, the message will be emitted immediately
  in its own json object, with an "info" field.  
  This message is a protocol extension; it's only safe to send it to
  git-annex after it sent an EXTENSIONS that included INFO.  
  (git-annex does not send a reply to this message.)  

## general messages

These messages can be sent at any time by either git-annex or the special
remote.

* `ERROR ErrorMsg`  
  Generic error. Can be sent at any time if things get too messed up
  to continue. When possible, use a more specific reply from the list above.  
  The special remote program should exit after sending this, as
  git-annex will not talk to it any further. If the program receives
  an ERROR from git-annex, it can exit with its own ERROR.

## extensions

These protocol extensions are currently supported.

* `INFO`  
  This makes the `INFO` message available to use.
* `ASYNC`  
  This lets multiple actions be performed at the same time by
  a single external special remote program, rather than starting multiple
  programs. See the [[async_appendix]] for details.
* `GETGITREMOTENAME`  
  This makes the `GETGITREMOTENAME` message available to use.

## signals

The external special remote program should not block SIGINT, or SIGTERM.
Doing so may cause git-annex to hang waiting on it to exit.
Of course it's ok to catch those signals and do some necessary cleanup
before exiting.

## long running network connections

Since an external special remote is started only when git-annex needs to
access the remote, and then left running, it's ok to open a network
connection in the PREPARE stage, and continue to use that network
connection as requests are made.

If you're unable to open a network connection, or the connection closes,
perhaps because the network is down, it's ok to fail to perform any
requests. Or you can try to reconnect when a new request is made.

Note that the external special remote program may be left running for
quite a long time, especially when the git-annex assistant is using it.
The assistant will detect when the system connects to a network, and will
start a new process the next time it needs to use a remote.

## claiming custom uri schemes for use with git-annex addurl

If a special remote has its own uri scheme, or some other way to identify a
particular url as being content that is stored in the special remote,
and can be downloaded by it, it can implement CLAIMURL and CHECKURL.
This lets git-annex addurl be used with such urls.

For example, the ipfs special remote implements CLAIMURL and CHECKURL
for "ipfs:ADDRESS" uris. And the bittorrent special remote implements them
for http urls ending in ".torrent".

When a special remote has claimed an url, commands like git-annex addurl
will use TRANSFER RETRIEVE to request it download the content of a key.
To find out what url to download, the special remote can use GETURLS
to find out what urls are recorded for the key.

For example, the ipfs special remote sends "GETURLS $KEY ipfs:",
in order to get only the "ipfs:" uris.

The special remote can also use SETURIPRESENT or SETURLPRESENT,
eg after transferring content to the remote it might know the uri or url
that can be used to download it. And SETURIMISSING or SETURLMISSING
can be used after removing content from the remote. This information can
then be looked up using GETURLS. But it's not necessary to do this in order
to simply claim an url, because git-annex addurl takes care of it.

For example, the ipfs special remote sends "SETURIPRESENT $KEY ipfs:ADDRESS"
after storing each key in ipfs. It can later look up that uri when
downloading the key, and the ipfs uri is also displayed by git-annex
whereis.

## readonly mode for http downloads

Some storage services allow downloading the content of a file using a
regular http connection, with no authentication. An external special remote
for such a storage service can support a readonly mode of operation.

It works like this:

* When a key's content is stored on the remote, use SETURLPRESENT to
  tell git-annex the public url from which it can be downloaded.
* When a key's content is removed from the remote, use SETURLMISSING.
* Document that this external special remote can be used in readonly mode.

  The user doesn't even need to install your external special remote
  program to use such a remote! All they need to do is run:
  `git annex enableremote $remotename readonly=true`

* The readonly=true parameter makes git-annex download content from the
  urls recorded earlier by SETURLPRESENT.

## TODO

* When storing encrypted files stream the file up/down the pipe, rather
  than using a temp file. Will probably involve less space and disk IO, 
  and makes the progress display better, since the encryption can happen
  concurrently with the transfer. Also, no need to use PROGRESS in this
  scenario, since git-annex can see how much data it has sent/received from
  the remote. However, \n and probably \0 need to be escaped somehow in the
  file data, which adds complication.
* uuid discovery during INITREMOTE.
* Hook into webapp. Needs a way to provide some kind of prompt to the user
  in the webapp, etc.
