ORDFS - Ordinals File System

HTTP gateway for accessing on-chain content (inscriptions) from BSV blockchain.

Live Gateway: https://ordfs.network Repository: https://github.com/b-open-io/1sat-stack

Quick Reference

Endpoint	Purpose
`/{txid}_{vout}`	Direct content access
`/content/{pointer}`	Content with options
`/content/{pointer}:{seq}`	Specific version
`/content/{pointer}/{file}`	File from directory
`/preview/{b64Html}`	Preview HTML code
`/v2/metadata/{outpoint}`	Metadata only

Content Access Patterns

Basic Content URL

https://ordfs.network/{txid}_{vout}

Example:

https://ordfs.network/abc123...def_0

Outpoint Formats

All formats resolve to the same content:

Format	Example
Underscore	`abc123..._0`
Period	`abc123....0`
Txid only	`abc123...` (defaults to vout 0)

Content Endpoint with Options

/content/{pointer}[:{sequence}][/{filepath}]

Query Parameters:

Param	Default	Description
`content`	true	Include content data
`map`	false	Include MAP metadata
`out`	false	Include raw output (base64)
`parent`	false	Include parent reference
`raw`	-	Return directory JSON instead of index.html

Examples:

/content/abc123..._0?map=true          # With MAP metadata
/content/abc123..._0?content=false     # Metadata only
/content/abc123..._0?raw               # Directory listing

Sequence Versioning

Track inscription updates using sequence numbers.

No Sequence (Raw Content)

/content/{pointer}         # Raw content from the outpoint, no origin resolution

Behavior: Returns content directly from the specified outpoint. No crawl is performed.

Sequence Values

Seq	Behavior
(none)	Raw content from the outpoint, no origin resolution, no crawl
-2	Origin only — backward crawl to find origin, returns origin data, no forward crawl
0	Resolve at the requested outpoint, also resolves origin to return in metadata
-1	Latest state — full forward crawl to current tip
N (positive)	Specific sequence in the ordinal's transfer chain

/content/{pointer}:-2      # Origin only
/content/{pointer}:0       # Resolve at outpoint, with origin metadata
/content/{pointer}:-1      # Latest state (full forward crawl)
/content/{pointer}:5       # 5th transfer in chain

Caching

Specific sequence (:N where N >= 0): Long TTL (30 days), immutable content
Latest (:-1): Short TTL (60s)

Response Headers

Header	Description
`X-Outpoint`	Current outpoint
`X-Origin`	Original inscription outpoint
`X-Ord-Seq`	Sequence number
`X-Map`	JSON MAP metadata
`X-Parent`	Parent inscription outpoint

Directories (ord-fs/json)

Inscriptions with content type ord-fs/json represent directories.

Directory Format

{
  "index.html": "ord://abc123..._0",
  "style.css": "abc123..._1",
  "app.js": "def456..._0"
}

Values can be:

ord://txid_vout - Full ordinal reference
txid_vout or txid - Direct reference
_N - Relative vout reference (resolved to {manifest_txid}_N)

Relative Vout Resolution (`_N`)

ORDFS natively resolves _N patterns in directory manifests. When an ord-fs/json entry has a value like _1, ORDFS resolves it to {manifest_txid}_1 — the sibling output in the same transaction.

{
  "SKILL.md": "_1",
  "README.md": "_2",
  "lib/utils.ts": "_3"
}

Clients do NOT need to parse the manifest and construct outpoint URLs. Instead, request files by path:

/content/{manifest_outpoint}/SKILL.md      → resolves _1 → {txid}_1
/content/{manifest_outpoint}/lib/utils.ts  → resolves _3 → {txid}_3

Recursive Directory Traversal

ORDFS supports nested directories. If a directory entry points to another ord-fs/json inscription, ORDFS recurses into it automatically:

{
  "SKILL.md": "_1",
  "references": "_2"
}

Where _2 is itself an ord-fs/json manifest:

{
  "api-docs.md": "_1",
  "examples.md": "_2"
}

Accessing /content/{root_manifest}/references/api-docs.md traverses both levels.

Accessing Directory Files

/content/{directory_pointer}/index.html
/content/{directory_pointer}/style.css
/content/{directory_pointer}/app.js

SPA Routing

For SPAs, unknown paths fall back to index.html:

/content/{pointer}/unknown/path  → Returns index.html

Raw Directory JSON

Add ?raw to get the directory listing instead of index.html:

/content/{pointer}?raw

Preview Endpoint

Test HTML inscriptions before broadcasting.

Base64 HTML Preview

/preview/{base64EncodedHtml}

Example:

const html = "<html><body>Hello!</body></html>";
const b64 = btoa(html);
const previewUrl = `https://ordfs.network/preview/${b64}`;

POST Preview

curl -X POST https://ordfs.network/preview \
  -H "Content-Type: text/html" \
  -d "<html><body>Hello!</body></html>"

Recursive Inscriptions

Reference other inscriptions from HTML/JS content.

Pattern

<script src="/content/abc123..._0"></script>
<img src="/def456..._0" />
<link href="/content/style123..._0/main.css" rel="stylesheet">

Base Path Handling

ORDFS sets up base paths for recursive content to resolve correctly.

API Endpoints

V1 Endpoints

Endpoint	Purpose
`/v1/bsv/block/latest`	Latest block info
`/v1/bsv/block/height/{h}`	Block by height
`/v1/bsv/block/hash/{hash}`	Block by hash
`/v1/bsv/tx/{txid}`	Raw transaction

V2 Endpoints

Endpoint	Purpose
`/v2/tx/{txid}`	Raw transaction
`/v2/tx/{txid}/proof`	Merkle proof
`/v2/tx/{txid}/beef`	BEEF format proof
`/v2/tx/{txid}/{vout}`	Specific output
`/v2/block/tip`	Latest block header
`/v2/chain/height`	Current height
`/v2/metadata/{outpoint}`	Inscription metadata
`/v2/stream/{outpoint}`	Streaming content

DNS-Based Access

Map custom domains to inscriptions.

DNS TXT Record

Create _ordfs.yourdomain.com:

_ordfs.yourdomain.com IN TXT "ordfs=abc123..._0:5"

Format: ordfs={pointer}[:{sequence}]

How It Works

User visits yourdomain.com/path/to/file
ORDFS resolves DNS TXT record
Returns content from inscription directory

Common Usage Patterns

Image Display

// Using bitcoin-image for normalization
import { getDisplayUrl } from "bitcoin-image";

const imageUrl = await getDisplayUrl("ord://abc123..._0");
// Returns: https://ordfs.network/abc123..._0

// Direct construction
const url = `https://ordfs.network/${txid}_${vout}`;

Fetch Content

// Get inscription content
const response = await fetch(`https://ordfs.network/${origin}`);
const content = await response.text();

// Get with metadata
const metaResponse = await fetch(
  `https://ordfs.network/content/${origin}?map=true`
);
const mapData = metaResponse.headers.get("X-Map");

Check Latest Version

// Get latest sequence
const response = await fetch(`https://ordfs.network/content/${origin}`);
const sequence = response.headers.get("X-Ord-Seq");
const currentOutpoint = response.headers.get("X-Outpoint");

Caching Behavior

Request Type	Cache TTL
Specific sequence (`:N`)	30 days
Latest sequence (default)	60 seconds
Block headers (depth 100+)	30 days
Block headers (depth 4-99)	1 hour
Block tip	No cache

Additional Resources

Reference Files

references/api-reference.md - Complete API documentation
references/advanced-features.md - DNS, streaming, directories

Examples

examples/fetch-content.ts - Content fetching patterns
examples/recursive-inscription.html - Recursive inscription example

Related Packages

bitcoin-image - URL normalization for ordfs.network
@1sat/actions - Create inscriptions
@1sat/templates - Inscription templates

ordfs