swarm-act

Access Control (ACT)

Guide a developer through encrypting data on Swarm and controlling who can read it. ACT (Access Control Trie) lets you define per-account read permissions using Ethereum public keys.

Formatting

When presenting to the user, use consistent labels before each code block:

• Run in your terminal: — a command the user should execute
• Expected output: — example of what a successful result looks like
• Save as filename: — file contents the user should write to disk

Add a --- horizontal rule before each labeled code block to visually separate it from surrounding text.

---

Before Starting (run immediately)

Run these checks now and narrate each one in a short line — say what you're checking, run it (don't paste the command), then report the result. Don't pause for confirmation; these are read-only checks.

1. Say "Checking your Bee node…", then run:

   curl -s http://localhost:1633/status | jq .beeMode
   

   Reachable → "✓ Node is up." | Fails → "✗ No Bee node running." and offer to walk through /swarm-setup-bee-interactive.

2. Say "Checking for a usable postage stamp…", then run:

   curl -s http://localhost:1633/stamps | jq '.stamps[] | select(.usable==true) | {batchID, depth, batchTTL}'
   

   Found → "✓ Found a usable stamp." and proceed. | None → "✗ No usable stamp." and route to /swarm-stamps.

What to Ask

1. What data are you protecting? (files, website, app data)
2. Who should have access? (specific Ethereum public keys)
3. swarm-cli or bee-js?

Prerequisites

• For swarm-cli: npm install -g @ethersphere/swarm-cli
• For bee-js: npm install @ethersphere/bee-js

How ACT Works

• Data is uploaded encrypted — only authorized accounts can decrypt
• Access is controlled via a grantee list of Ethereum public keys
• The publisher manages the list: add or revoke access at any time
• Unauthorized download attempts return "not found" — the data is invisible without access
• The publisher always has access

Via swarm-cli

Upload with ACT

swarm-cli upload test.txt --act --stamp <BATCH_ID>

First upload — omit --act-history-address to create a new history. The response returns:

• Encrypted Swarm reference
• History reference

Warning: Save the history reference securely. Losing it means permanent, irrecoverable loss of access to your encrypted data. There is no recovery mechanism.

For subsequent uploads to the same history:

swarm-cli upload test.txt --act --stamp <BATCH_ID> --act-history-address <HISTORY_REF>

Download with ACT

swarm-cli download <SWARM_HASH> output.txt \
  --act \
  --act-history-address <HISTORY_REF> \
  --act-publisher <PUBLIC_KEY>

• --act-publisher — the uploader's public key (needed for decryption). Get it from swarm-cli addresses → "Public Key:" field.
• --act-timestamp — optional, defaults to current time. Use to access a specific version.

Without the ACT flags, the download will fail with "not found".

Create a grantee list

Create a JSON file with the public keys of accounts that should have access:

{
  "grantees": [
    "03ec55e9fb2aefb8600f69142abaad79311516c232b28919d66efb4d41bce15bfa",
    "03fdcab22b455ce08a481d929a4cb9f447752545818eded1ad1785c51581e822c6"
  ]
}

swarm-cli grantee create grantees.json --stamp <BATCH_ID>

Returns a grantee reference and history reference — save both.

Update access (add/revoke)

Create a patch JSON:

{
  "add": ["03fdcab22b455ce08a481d929a4cb9f447752545818eded1ad1785c51581e822c6"],
  "revoke": ["03ec55e9fb2aefb8600f69142abaad79311516c232b28919d66efb4d41bce15bfa"]
}

swarm-cli grantee patch grantees-patch.json \
  --reference <GRANTEE_REF> \
  --history <GRANTEE_HISTORY_REF> \
  --stamp <BATCH_ID>

Note: Wait at least 1 second between grantee list updates — updating within the same second causes an error.

View grantee list

swarm-cli grantee get <GRANTEE_REF>

Via bee-js

Upload with ACT

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')

// Upload a file with ACT encryption enabled
const result = await bee.uploadFile(batchId, 'Secret data', 'secret.txt', {
  act: true
})

const historyAddress = result.historyAddress.getOrThrow()
console.log('Encrypted reference:', result.reference.toHex())
console.log('History address:', historyAddress.toHex())
// WARNING: Save both — losing the history address means permanent loss of access to encrypted data

Download with ACT

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')

// Get the publisher's public key (share this with grantees):
const publisherAddresses = await bee.getNodeAddresses()
const publisherPublicKey = publisherAddresses.publicKey  // not pssPublicKey

const file = await bee.downloadFile(encryptedReference, 'secret.txt', {
  actHistoryAddress: historyAddress,
  actPublisher: publisherPublicKey
})

console.log('Decrypted:', file.data.toUtf8())
// Without ACT parameters, this returns "not found"

swarm-cli quirk: in testing, swarm-cli download <ref> --act --act-history-address <hist> --act-publisher <pk> can return 404 even with correct values, while the equivalent Bee HTTP API call (same headers) returns 200. If the CLI download fails, retry via the API or bee-js.

Manage grantees

import { Bee } from '@ethersphere/bee-js'

const bee = new Bee('http://localhost:1633')

// Create grantee list
const granteeResult = await bee.createGrantees(batchId, [
  '03ec55e9fb2aefb8600f69142abaad79311516c232b28919d66efb4d41bce15bfa'
])
const granteeReference = granteeResult.ref
const historyReference = granteeResult.historyref
console.log('Grantee ref:', granteeReference.toHex())
console.log('History ref:', historyReference.toHex())

// Get current grantees
const granteesResult = await bee.getGrantees(granteeReference)
console.log('Grantees:', granteesResult.grantees.map(k => k.toCompressedHex()))

// Update access — add and revoke
await bee.patchGrantees(batchId, granteeReference, historyReference, {
  add: ['03fdcab22b455ce08a481d929a4cb9f447752545818eded1ad1785c51581e822c6'],
  revoke: ['03ec55e9fb2aefb8600f69142abaad79311516c232b28919d66efb4d41bce15bfa']
})

Use Cases

• Private file sharing — share documents with specific accounts
• Paid content — grant access after payment
• Subscriber-only access — manage a grantee list for subscribers
• Team collaboration — restrict project data to team members

Important Notes

• Grantees are identified by their Ethereum public keys (compressed, 33 bytes hex)
• Only the publisher (uploader) can manage the grantee list
• Revoking access prevents future decryption but doesn't delete already-downloaded data
• Invalid history addresses return "not found" errors
• Wait at least 1 second between grantee list updates

If Something Goes Wrong

Error	Fix
"not found" on download	Missing ACT flags, wrong history address, or access revoked
"act: invalid history"	Wrong history address — double-check reference
"stamp not usable"	Wait 2-3 minutes after buying
1-second update error	Wait at least 1 second between grantee list updates
Other errors	Route to /swarm-troubleshoot

Conceptual Questions

For any conceptual or technical question not covered by the steps above, invoke /swarm-docs to find the relevant authoritative source rather than answering from prior knowledge.

Reference

• ACT guide: https://docs.ethswarm.org/docs/develop/act
• ACT concepts: https://docs.ethswarm.org/docs/concepts/access-control
• bee-js docs: https://bee-js.ethswarm.org/docs/
• swarm-cli: https://github.com/ethersphere/swarm-cli