🧑‍💻 Getting Started with py-libp2p: Full-Stack Developer Tasks

[seetadev]

Welcome to the py-libp2p project! The Python implementation now includes core modules aligned with go-libp2p, and we’re inviting contributors to gain confidence across the entire libp2p stack, not just Ping.

Your mission is to explore, understand, and contribute to transport, security, multiplexing, peer routing, NAT traversal, and more — just like you'd find in go-libp2p.

Start here: 📘 https://py-libp2p.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

🔰 Phase 1 – Understand the Core Architecture

Familiarize yourself with how a libp2p node is constructed:

• Understand the Node lifecycle: start, stop, dial, listen
• Review the Host abstraction and how it ties transports, muxers, and crypto
• Map how the Python code parallels go-libp2p's modular architecture

📁 Suggested modules to read:

• libp2p.network
• libp2p.transport
• libp2p.crypto
• libp2p.peer
• libp2p.stream_muxer
• libp2p.security

---

🔧 Phase 2 – Run and Experiment with Modules

Start using and modifying actual components:

• Spin up a simple Python libp2p node that listens on a TCP multiaddr
• Dial another node (can be a second Python instance)
• Register a basic stream protocol (e.g., /echo/1.0.0)
• Experiment with multiplexer settings (mplex/yamux)
• Replace Noise/TLS security modules and test negotiation

---

🧪 Phase 3 – Test and Extend Protocols

• Try the Ping protocol: understand framing, timeouts, and stream reuse
• Explore the Identify protocol (used for announcing peer info)
• Understand how the DHT is implemented: test basic key/value lookup
• Run a Relay connection through a middle node
• Use mDNS or AutoNAT for peer discovery behind NATs

---

📘 Phase 4 – Reference the libp2p Specs & go-libp2p

Use the official specs and Go implementation as references:

• 📄 https://github.com/libp2p/specs
• 📄 https://github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p

Ask yourself:

• Does py-libp2p conform to protocol negotiation flow like in Go?
• Is message framing and handshake logic spec-compliant?

---

✍️ Phase 5 – Document, Demo, and Contribute

• Write up what you learned (docs, diagrams, README additions)
• Build reproducible test examples: echo server, ping responder, DHT CLI
• File issues or submit fixes for unhandled edge cases or inconsistencies
• Help others review PRs and understand interop work (e.g., with dotnet-libp2p)

---

🚀 You're Now a Full-Stack py-libp2p Developer

This effort will:

• Make you fluent across the libp2p stack in Python
• Prepare you to contribute to interop testing (dotnet ↔ python, go ↔ python)
• Set you up to build protocol extensions, test harnesses, or apps on top of libp2p

[manny-uncharted]

Thank you for sharing this @seetadev, very much useful for me