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

1. User visits yourdomain.com/path/to/file
2. ORDFS resolves DNS TXT record
3. 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