1. Introduction

For the last few years Storj Labs has continuously strived towards producing better code and tools that are easier to use, have more functionality, security and increased performance. Currently two main CLI packages released by Storj exist which can be used to interact with the Storj network (e.g. uploading, downloading, streaming). The first package that was released was core-CLI), which is a JavaScript tool written on top of NodeJS to interact with the network. Although core-CLI is still fully functional, is has currently been surpassed by
Libstorj, a new library and CLI written in the C programming language By Braydon Fuller and Alexander Leitner. Below are some bullet points on the advantage and disadvantage of Libstorj compared to core-CLI.

Advantages

• Does not require extra disk space to upload a file.
• Low memory consumption.
• Much faster encryption and hashing speeds.
• Does not require the installation of any dependencies.
• More secure by using the seed for file and bucket encryption instead of keyring.
• All keys are encrypted.

Disadvantages

• It currently has less build-in functionality than core-CLI.

Although core-CLI has more functionality at the moment, Libstorj is still in the Alpha pre-release phase and many more functions will be added in the near future. In this guide we will walk through the process of (1) Downloading and running Libstorj, (2) Exporting an account from core-CLI and importing it into Libstorj, (3) Registering a new user with Libstorj, (4) Encryption keys path and
working with multiple bridge accounts, (5) Adding a bucket, uploading and downloading a file, (6) Deleting a buckets or files within a bucket, (7) Listing mirrors, (8) Streaming an audio or video file, (9) Exporting the decrypted keys, (10) Exploring the additional Libstorj options and commands, (11) Connecting to a different bridge, (12) Configure billing to upload/download beyond the free tier limit.

2. Downloading and running Libstorj

Libstorj can be downloaded from the Github repository at Libstorj. Under "downloads" download the latest Libstorj release for your specific system (Figure 2.1).

• After downloading extract the folder to the location of your choice.
• Depending on your system, enter the extracted directory with the command line (cd to the directory), this main directory contains a "bin", "include" and "lib"subdirectory.
• Enter the "bin" directory, this directory contains the Libstorj executable called"Storj" (Figure 2.2).

• Next call Storj by typing in "storj --help", if all goes well Libstorj should now return the list of functions, settings and options (Figure 2.3).

Libstorj is now installed and working (not configured yet though).

3. Exporting an account from core-CLI and importing it into Libstorj

If one is already using core-CLI it is possible to import the seed into Libstorj to be able to access the files uploaded with core-CLI in the following way:

3.1 Core-CLI

First it is necessary to generate and print the seed in core-CLI before it can be imported into Libstorj, this can be done in the following way:

1. Open a terminal.
2. Type in "storj generate-seed".
3. Next type in "storj print-seed".
4. Copy the super-secret seed/decryption key (Figure 3.1) and paste it into a text file that is in a safe location (e.g. USB stick, SD card, piece of paper).

3.2 Libstorj

1. CD back to the Libstorj "Bin" directory.

2. Run "storj import-keys".

3. Type in the "bridge username:" (email address) with which you registered an account on the bridge (app.storj.io).

4. Now type in the bridge account password in "Bridge Password:"corresponding to the email address in the step above.

5. In "Encryption key:" paste the seed and press enter.

6. Your super-secret seed and bride password have to be encrypted so that someone that has access to your computer can't steel your seed, which would give him or her complete access to your files. In "unlock passphrase:" type a secure password (e.g. do not include your birthday or family name) that is only known to you.

7. Next type the password again in "Again to verify:" to confirm your password matches to the password in the previous step. Press enter again to finish the importing process.

8. Libstorj should now return a message that all parameters are safely stored on your computer (Figure 3.2).

4. Registering a new user with Libstorj

If you do not already have an account on the Storj Bridge, you can easily register a new account via bridge-GUI (app.storj.io) or via the Libstorj-CLI command line in the following two ways:

4.1 Register an account via the Libstorj command line

To register a bridge account via Libstorj simply CD back to the Libstorj 'bin' directory and execute the following command:

• storj register

Now the registration process can begin:

1. In "Bridge username (email):" enter your email address and press enter.
2. In "Bridge password:" enter a password of your liking (please do not forget the password) and hit enter again. This should return the following message:

"Successfully registered <your email address>, please check your email to confirm."

1. Now check your email inbox and click on the activation link send by the Storj-Bridge to activate your account. Note that sometimes the email is moved to the 'trash' folder.
2. In "Strength" type in "256" and press enter. This will create a 256 bit encryption key.
3. The encryption key (seed) will now be printed in the command terminal:

"Encryption key: drive ghost cannon address decrease illness raw motion detail home lady mountain vehicle logic clock lunch pioneer float ivory curious scheme rice early solution"

1. Next backup the seed/decrypted encryption key to a very safe location (preferentially offline), the key is vital as all files are encrypted using the seed, if it is lost, so are all the uploaded files.
2. Now the decrypted encryption key and bridge account password have to be encrypted with a password. Libstorj will now print out the following line:

"We now need to save these settings. Please enter a passphrase to lock your settings."

1. In "Unlock passphrase:" type in a secure password of your liking and press enter.
2. Enter the password again in "again to verify:" and press enter.
3. Libstorj should now print out the following success line indicating that the settings are successfully saved to our computer (Figure 4.1):

"Successfully stored bridge username, password, and encryption key to C:\Users\USER/.storj/api.storj.io.json"

Congratulations, you are now registered to the Storj-Bridge and can begin uploading and downloading files, you can skip chapter 4.2.

4.2 Registering an account via Bridge-GUI (app.storj.io)

If you prefer to register an account using a more graphical user interface it is possible to register directly via bridge-GUI by clicking on app.storj.io or pasting (app.storj.io) into a web-browser (Figure 4.2).

Click on the "Sign Up" link (Figure 4.2). Once on the registration page enter your email address and password, click on the box to agree to the terms of service and finally click on "Sign Up" (Figure 4.3).

Now check your email inbox and click on the account activation link send by Storj. A web-page should open with the account activation confirmation. Note that sometimes the email is automatically moved to the spam/trash folder by some email providers so if the email is not in the inbox make sure to check that. Now that the bridge account is created you can login into bridge-GUI (Figure 4.2 and
4.4).

Now that you are successfully registered on the bridge it is necessary to import the bridge account into Libstorj. This can be done in the following way:

1. CD back to the Libstorj "Bin" directory.

2. Run the "storj import-keys" command.

3. In "bridge username" type in the email address with which you registered an account on the bridge (app.storj.io) and press enter.

4. In "Strength" type in "256". This will create a 256-bit encryption key (seed).

5. The encryption key will now be printed to the command terminal, e.g.:

   "Encryption key: gesture helmet spread bonus claw invest donate federal tribe better step first simple shock body sock noodle bubble buddy west cruel lounge mango rebel"

6. Next backup the decrypted encryption key to a very safe location (preferentially offline), the key is vital as all files are encrypted using this key, if it is lost, so are all the uplo aded files.

7. Now the seed/decrypted encryption key and bridge account password must be encrypted with a password. Libstorj will now print out the following line:

   "We now need to save these settings. Please enter a passphrase to lock your settings."

8. In "Unlock passphrase:" type in a secure password of your liking and press enter.

9. Enter the password again in "again to verify:"

10. Libstorj should now print out the following success line indicating that the settings are successfully saved to our computer (Figure 4.5):

"Successfully stored bridge username, password, and encryption key to C:\Users\USER/.storj/api.storj.io.json"

Congratulations, you now registered an account to Storj via app.storj.io and have successfully imported the keys into Libstorj.

5. Encryption keys path and working with multiple bridge accounts

5.1 Libstorj keys location

The encrypted keys are saved in a file called "api.storj.io.json" in the user's account (e.g. "C:\Users\User\.storj" in windows or "~/.storj" in Linux). The save path location is printed out after successfully executing the "storj import-keys" or "storj register" commands (e.g. Figures 3.2, 4.1, 4.5). The file contains the encrypted bridge password and encrypted seed/mnemonic. The contents of this file should look like this:

 { "user": "meije@storj.io", "pass": "48718fb5236407cd22b44d6cc9558933a11edbe431a76123495ac212bf346a7f531dbbd2374492fc76b521ff8425f77258d395f810a605de78", "mnemonic": "3d2c9d3dfc21d23ff937e7fa5cb97f7859037ae46b63b84b45adbd8f9caa350506438fcb4a95c9123a43ee0ab95783a94434f13f0bc6cd18c5a2db2017c5450d062168b38bc82e2456525c7c248d39776dc86aa7992e379be175eb8675fd8668433a0dc95c1cf0d61947622a0ebdc40e575f35f44263ca8921aa8a7a0069cc" }

5.2 Working with multiple bridge accounts

If one has multiple Storj bridge accounts and wants to quickly switch between the accounts it is possible to save the encryption keys file or just its content to a different location and when needed quickly substitute the file or file content of another bridge account, this prevents the necessity of having to go through the entire key import process every time. As these keys are securely encrypted the file and its content can be stored safely anywhere (do not forget the decryption key for each account though). The workflow of this process would go as follows:

1. Import the keys of the first bridge account covered in the previous chapters (if you did not do this already).

2. Copy the "api.storj.io.json" file or its content to another location.

3. Execute the "import-keys" command again for the second bridge account and say 'y' (yes) to overwrite the "api.storj.io.json" file.

4. Follow all the key import steps for the second bridge account covered in the previous chapters.

5. Once done save the "api.storj.io.json" file containing the keys of your second bridge account to the folder in step two. Note that it is advisable to temporary rename the files or place them in different sub-directories (e.g. "main bridge account" and "secondary bridge account"). Remember to rename the file back to the original name when they are placed back to the Libstorj directory.

6. Adding a bucket, uploading and downloading a file.

In the next few sub-chapters we will create a bucket, upload a file to it and finally download the file back to our computer.

6.1 Adding a bucket

A Storj bucket allows to group files together and place them is a common container (bucket), much like is the case with folders and directories on a computers, although you can't create sub-buckets as you would create a sub-directory. A Storj bucket can be filled with files by uploading to the bucket using the bucket-ID of the bucket. Storj does not support folder and directory structures so only files can be uploaded to a bucket, however, if one wants to upload a folder, the easiest solution is to create a .zip or .rararchive of the folder one wants to upload. The other advantage of this is that the files are compressed when they are converted into a zip or rar archive, this will save allot of money when uploading extensive amounts of data to the network.

We can add a bucket in one of the two following ways:

1. Adding a bucket via the Libstorj terminal

   Adding a bucket via the Libstorj terminal is straight forward, and can be done by executing the following command within the Libstorj "Bin" directory:

   • storj add-bucket <bucket name>

     e.g. "storj add-bucket myFiles"

2. Adding a bucket via bridge-GUI (app.storj.io)

   i. A bucket can also be added directly via "app.storj.io" in the following way:

   ii. On the dashboard click on the large green button called "Create bucket"
   (Figure 4.4).

   iii. Next bellow "Bucket name" enter the name you want to call your bucket.

   iv. Click on "Save bucket" (Figure 6.1).

6.2 Uploading a file

There are a few scenarios that have to be considered in this step, the first one is what exactly do you want to upload and how many files you want to upload. Examples of this include:

1. I want to upload only one or two files and I don't mind uploading one after the other having to execute a new upload command every single time.
2. I want to upload hundreds of files.
3. I want to upload video or audio files that I want to stream back to my computer later down the line.
4. I want to upload hundreds of files that I want to access very frequently.
5. I want to upload an entire folder.

In (1) it is best to upload the files directly without compressing them into a .zip or .rararchive. in (3) It is not possible to stream a file that is uploaded within a compressed .rar or .zip container, in that case it is better to compress the audio or video directly into a different codec. In the case of (2) and (5) it is definitely worth compressing the files or folder because not only will the compressed file become smaller, it also prevents having to upload hundreds of files one by one (and then downloading them one by one) which is a very tedious task if you don't have an automated script for it. In the case of (4) you will have to upload the files one by one or create an upload/download script until recursive uploading/downloading is implemented into Libstorj.

The workflow of uploading a single file goes as follows by executing these commands:

1. "storj list-buckets", figure 6.2. This will print a list of all our created buckets with their names and ID's.

2. Next enter the password to unlock the settings and press enter (see tip in 6.2.1).

1. "storj upload-file <bucket-ID> <pathToFile>"

   e.g. "storj upload-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 C:\libstorj-1.0.0-rc1\bin\storj.exe"

2. Next enter the password to unlock the settings and press enter.

Note: Do not forget to add the file name to the path, just the directory path which contains the file will not work.

The file will now start hashing, once that is done the upload will start. The progress bar will slowly move towards 100%. Once uploaded successfully Libstorj will return an "Upload success!" message (Figure 6.3).

Warning: If the path to the file you want to upload contains a space it is necessary to put the path to the file between quotes (example: "path")

e.g. storj upload-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 "C:\libstorj1.0.0-rc1\bin\storj.exe"

Note: To get more information regarding the upload process it is possible to add the "--debug" option to the upload command as follows:

• storj --debug upload-file <bucket-ID> <pathToFile>

  e.g. "storj --debug upload-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 C:\libstorj-1.0.0-rc1\bin\storj.exe"

The log-level output in debug mode can also be changed using �--log' in the
following way:

• storj --debug --log upload-file <bucket-ID> <pathToFile>

  e.g. "storj --debug --log 3 upload-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 C:\libstorj-1.0.0-rc1\bin\storj.exe"

This is especially handy for troubleshooting purposes.

The process of uploading other files will be the same, of course the file names, extensions, Bucket-IDs and file locations will differ. Uploading a zip file, audio or video files are all done in the exact same way. You might want to create different buckets for different file types to organize your file
library.

6.2.1 Uploading to a bucket created with Core-CLI

If you followed chapter three and you imported the seed from core-CLI it will be possible to upload to this bucket even though the bucket itself is not decrypted by Libstorj and it will say "Decrypted: False". Bucket ID's and names created by Libstorj are now tied together, meaning that the hashing of the bucket-ID is done based on the bucket name. This was not yet the case with Core-CLI and thus Libstorj gets confused when seeing a Core-CLI bucket, don't worry about this, as long as you imported the seed and the bridge credentials are ok you will be fine!

6.2.2 Setting the settings password as environment variable

If you are tired of setting having to enter the decryption password every single time it is possible to set the password to an environment variable in the following two ways:

1. Permanents variable, it will be saved to the system even if one exits the command line and opens a new one later. To do this execute the following command:

   • setx STORJ_KEYPASS <your password>

     e.g. "setx STORJ_KEYPASS supersecretpassword"

2. Temporary variable, the variable is only valid within the current command line terminal. To do this execute the following command:

   • set STORJ_KEYPASS=<your password>

     e.g. "setx STORJ_KEYPASS=supersecretpassword"

This last option is the safest because once the terminal is closed the password will be gone and no one will be able to discover your password by going to the system variables menu.

Note that there are also other Libstorj variables that can be set in a similar way (Figure 6.4).

6.3 Downloading a file

Now that we uploaded a file to a specific bucket we can download the file within that bucket. We know from chapter 6.2 that the file in this example was uploaded to the bucket called "MyFiles" with ID: 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487, and thus the file will be located within that bucket. If you are not certain anymore to which bucket you uploaded the file you can easily find it by executing the
following commands:

1. storj list-buckets

2. storj list-files <bucket ID>

   e.g. "storj list-files 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487", figure 6.5.

We now know the ID of the bucket which contains the file and the file-ID. These are the two pieces of information needed to be able to download a file. We now need to know where we want to download the file to. The file can be downloaded in the following way:

• storj download-file <BucketID> <FileID> <path to save file>

  e.g. "storj download-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 b1cee94a4c949b7171598c8a C:\libstorj-1.0.0-rc1\bin\downloaded\storj.exe", figure 6.6.

Warning: If the path to which you want to download the file contains a space it is necessary to put the download path between parentheses ("path").

e.g."storj download-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 b1cee94a4c949b7171598c8a "C:\libstorj-1.0.0 rc1\bin\downloaded\storj.exe" "

Note: Do not forget to add the filename to the path you want to download the file to, if you don't add the filename Libstorj will report that it can't perform the download task at it is trying to create a directory from a file, which will not work.

To get more information regarding the download process it is possible to add the "--debug" option to the download command as follows:

• storj --debug download-file <Bucket ID> <File ID> <path to save file>

  e.g. "storj --debug download-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 1cee94a4c949b7171598c8a C:\libstorj-1.0.0-rc1\bin\downloaded\storj.exe"

The log-level output in debug mode can also be changed using "--log" in the following way:

• storj --debug --log download-file <Bucket ID> <File ID> <path to save file>

  e.g. "storj --debug --log 3 download-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 b1cee94a4c949b7171598c8a C:\libstorj-1.0.0-rc1\bin\downloaded\storj.exe"

The process of downloading other files will be exactly the same, of course the file names, extensions, file-IDs, Bucket-IDs and download locations will differ.

7. Deleting a buckets or files within a bucket

Buckets or files within buckets can be deleted with a single simple command. First we should list all buckets to know which bucket we want to delete, this can be done by executing the following command (Figure 7.1):

• storj list-buckets

If you want to directly remove this bucket you can execute the following command:

• storj remove-bucket <Bucket ID>

  e.g. "storj remove-bucket 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487"

If you instead want to just delete a file within a bucket this can be done in the following way:

1. storj list-files <Bucket ID>

   e.g. "storj list-files 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487"

2. storj remove-file <Bucket ID> <File ID>

   e.g. "storj remove-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 b1cee94a4c949b7171598c8a", figure 7.2.

8. Listing mirrors

Every file that you upload is split into encrypted chunks called shards, each shard that is uploaded to the network is copied/mirrored by other farmers to ensure a high enough redundancy so that in the case a farmer drops offline or his database becomes corrupted for some reason you don't lose your file. The number of copies that are made for each shard can be listed using a libstorj command. This is especially handy to check if your file is healthy or not, if say there are no mirrors for a specific shard chances are that the farmer fell offline before he was able to mirror the shard to another farmer. Although Storj tries to ensure this almost never happens, exceptions can occur.

Say you are trying to download a file but it always hangs or exits with an error code every single time, in that case listing all the mirrors for a file is a handy way to check if maybe the file is failing because a certain shard is not available on the network anymore, and thus the file is lost.

This can be done by executing the following command:

1. storj list-mirrors <Bucket ID> <file ID>

e.g. "storj list-mirrors 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 b1cee94a4c949b7171598c8a"

The output of this command is illustrated below in figure 8.1.

• From the terminal output we can see that the file uploaded in this example has two shards (0 and 1).
• Shard 0 has a total of three established mirrors on the network, which is acceptable.
• Shard 1 has a total of five established mirrors on the network which is much better.

This tells us that our file is safe and that we can download it without a problem because the chance that three farmers drop offline at the same time for the first node or five for the second node is astronomically small (unless a comet hits earth or we have an alien invasion). With this command it is thus possible to track the health of the file over time, as over time farmers can drop offline which will trigger the mirroring to another farmer.

Over time different mirroring strategies will be implemented by Storj Labs to ensure the maximum safety of your uploaded files, this will change the mirroring magnitude and distribution on the network.

Note: Tech savvy people can build tools that track the number of mirrors over time and the geographical location of each of the mirrors by IP/DDNS-tracing each of the farmers which have one of their shards. In this way graphs and even spatial maps can be constructed, replication warning systems can be implemented and much more, the possibilities are endless!

9. Streaming an audio or video file

(Streaming has not yet been implemented in libstorj-2.0.0-beta.)

In order to stream a file it is first necessary to have a media program that can read the input stream. In this example VLC will be used for streaming a small video clip.

• VLC can be downloaded here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
• Once downloaded install VLC and all its components.

There are two ways to access VLC directly via the command line:

1. Open a terminal and CD to the installation directory, this is explained
   here: https://wiki.videolan.org/Command_line/. This requires Libstorj to
   be set as an global environment variable as you have to CD out of the
   Libstorj directory.
2. Set VLC as a global environment variable, this allows you to call VLC
   anywhere within the terminal without having to CD to the VLC installation
   directory, this is explained here:
   https://www.vlchelp.com/add-vlc-command-prompt-windows/ at вЂ�Making VLC
   Work from Anywhere in the Command Prompt'.

Once you followed one of the two steps above test it out by calling VLC in the command line (Figure 9.1).

We can now stream the file by running the following command:

• storj stream-file <bucket-id> <file-id> | vlc -

A VLC window should now appear and the progress bar should start to move within a few seconds.

Note: streaming will depend on your download speed, if you have a very slow download speeds it may take allot longer before the stream starts.*

Note: Not all media files can be streamed, the codec stream support mostly depends on the media-player you are streaming to. There are also other media players like mplayer with which files can be streamed, in that case ensure that the specific media-player can be called within a terminal and don't forget to substitute "| vlc -" to "| <media-player> -" ,*

e.g. "storj stream-file <bucket-id> <file-id> |mplayer -"

10. Exporting the decrypted keys

Although chapter five explains how to work with multiple bridge account by moving the file containing the encrypted keys around, it does not explain how to get back your decrypted keys. If you want to view the decrypted keys for a specific account it is necessary to use the settings encryption password to decrypt the keys. This can be done by executing the following command (Figure
10.1):

• storj export-keys

11. Exploring the additional Libstorj options and commands

When executing "storj -h" or "storj --help" a list of options is printed in
the terminal (Figure 11.1).

Although options such as "-l/--log" and "-d/--debug" have already been explored in the previous chapters, there are a few other options that have not been covered yet.

11.1 Check Libstorj version

• One very handy one is "storj -v" or "storj --version", which prints out our current Libstorj version, which is especially useful to check if you are running the latest release (Figure 11.2).

11.2 Check to which bridge you are connected to

Libstorj talks to the Storj-Bridge via something called an API, which is a handy way of ensuring easy server-client communication. The Bridge server runs software which is updated through time as new versions are released. Also, as we will see in the next chapter it is possible to connect to different bridge serves that do not belong to Storj Labs, executing the following command will give us insight to which bridge server we are connected and which firmware release it is running (Figure 11.3):

• storj get-info

This command can also be combined with the "-u/--url" command also covered in the next chapter. If you want to get the information of another bridge sever this can be easily done by executing the following command:

• storj -u <Bridge address> get-info , or, storj --url <Bridge address> get-info

  e.g. "storj -u https://api.staging.storj.io/ get-info"

  which will print the following information in figure 11.4.

Note: If you type the bridge address directly into a web-browser you will get the full API and also the current version the bridge is running.

12. Connecting to a different bridge

As mentioned earlier the Storj Bridge is not the only one around, there are people running their own bridge server in both a closed and open environments. Say you have created your own closed test-net, the bridge is all set-up, your farmers are pointed at the bridge and you now want to use Libstorj to talk to your bridge to negotiate contracts to be able to upload data to your farmers, or even simpler, you want to help test new bridge releases on the official Storj staging bridge, what should you do?, we are glad you asked.

In this example we will use all the knowledge acquired in the previous chapters to register an account on the staging bridge.

In the previous chapter we used the "--url" or "-u" options to get information from another bridge, we can now use that same option to register an account on the staging bridge in the following way (Figure 12.1 and 12.2):

• storj -u <bridge address> register

  e.g. "storj -u https://api.staging.storj.io/ register"

You can now follow the same steps are covered in chapter 4.

We can now see that a new settings file is created (Figure 12.3).

Caution: If you do not add the "-u" or "--url" option to every storj command, Libstorj will execute the command on the main bridge account (not staging). You can add the new bridge to the environment variables in order to prevent having to add the bridge URL option with every command in the following two ways:

1. Permanent variable, it will be saved to the system even if one exits the command line and opens a new one later. To do this execute the following command:

   • setx STORJ_BRIDGE <bridge address>

     e.g. "setx STORJ_BRIDGE https://api.staging.storj.io"

2. Temporary variable, the variable is only valid within the current command line terminal. To do this execute the following command:

   • set STORJ_BRIDGE =<bridge address>

     e.g. "setx STORJ_BRIDGE https://api.staging.storj.io"

Note: If you change the bridge environment variable you will have to call
the main Storj bridge using the URL option or if you change the environment
variable back to the original bridge.

Note: Do not forget to change the "STORJ_KEYPASS" environment variable if
you have set it globally with setx in chapter 6.2.2.

You can execute all the normal commands covered in the previous chapters. Do
note however that this bridge is for testing purposes only, do NOT upload any
important files to it.

13. Using a Proxy to interact with the Storj network

Libstorj allows you to connect to the Storj network via a proxy. This is especially handy in countries with extensive censorship policies or even in general if you want to hide your identity as much as possible. There are extensive lists with free proxy's that can be found online.

A proxy can be used in the following way:

• storj --proxy <socks>://<host>:<port> upload-file...

  e.g. "storj --proxy socks5://176.115.73.8:1080 upload-file 37be365e5d28fa9450ef0487 C:\libstorj-1.0.0-rc1\bin\storj.exe",
  figure 13.1.

14. Configure billing to upload/download beyond the free tier limit

Currently the free tier is structured as follows:

• Uploading limit: 3GB/hour, 10GB/week and 25GB/month.
• Downloading limit: 9GB/hour, 30GB/week and 180GB/month.

Data from: bridge

If you want to upload or download more than the allowed free tier you can add your credit card to the billing section of your account on app.storj.io, figure 14.1.

Once your credit card information is added the free tier limit will be lifted and you will now be able to upload and download as much as you want/can afford!

These are the current storage and bandwidth prices on Storj:

• Storage -> $0.015 GB/month
• Bandwidth -> $0.05 GB/month

This information was extracted from pricing.

Important things to note regarding the billing structure:

• You only pay as long as your data is stored on the network, if you delete
  your files today you will not pay for them tomorrow, you will stop paying
  directly after you delete the files.
• You storage usage is added to "Current Usage" in the billing section once
  a day (day usage), however, your credit card is only billed once a month.
• The free tier is subtracted from your payed tier every month, thus if you
  upload 100GB this month you will only pay for 75GB (100GB – 25GB free tier).

14.1 Referrals

Storj has a referral system which can be used to refer other people to sign up to the service, in return Storj will give you 50GB of storage and 50GB of bandwidth for three months once they spend $10 on Storj. They will also get 50GB of storage and 50GB of bandwidth once they sign up with your referral link. As you can see in figure 14.2, you can share your referral link using the direct link or by sending your friend an email which contains the referral with the link.

15. Conclusion

In this guide we walked through all the Libstorj-CLI options and commands and gained a deep understanding on how to use this amazing tool to interact with the Storj network. We looked at how to upload, download, stream, add-buckets, remove files, remove buckets using Libstorj, how to view file mirror details, how to connect to different bridges and manage different bridge account , how to
register an account on the bridge and how to migrate over from core-CLI to libstorj by first exporting and then importing the seed into Libstorj. We then looked at how to add billing information to be able to upload and download beyond the free tier and how to use the referral system to refer other friends.

Even though Libstorj is still an Alpha release (very early release) at the moment it has clearly demonstrated its power and usefulness to interact with the Storj network. This guide will be updates as new functions and options are added through time.

We hope you enjoyed and learned allot by walking through this guide, if you have any more questions or suggestions feel free to join our forum.

If you are a developer and are interested in contributing to this open source project feel free to have a look at our Storj Github page.

If you have any amazing ideas related to Storj, you can add your ideas to our ideas portal, if enough people up-vote your idea Storj may turn your idea into a reality!