Key Operations | IPFS

Private key material is never emitted. None of these operations place private key bytes into config, output, ToDictionary(), or logs — generate's result record has no field capable of holding private bytes, and import's incoming key material lives only in a short-scoped local variable.

generate

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`keyName`	text	✓ Yes	—	Local name to assign to the new key.
`keyType`	select	No	`ed25519`	`rsa` \| `ed25519`.
`keySize`	int	No	—	Bit length; only meaningful when `keyType` is `rsa`.
`ipnsBase`	text	No	`base36`	Multibase encoding used to render the returned `Id`.

Missing keyName → CFG_MISSING_KEY_NAME. Response: { keyName, keyID } — public identity only.

list

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`long`	bool	No	`false`	"Long" listing — include each key's type.
`ipnsBase`	text	No	`base36`	Multibase encoding for each key's `Id`.

Response: array of { name, id, type? } (includes the implicit self key), plus count.

remove

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`keyName`	text	✓ Yes	—	Local name of the key to remove.
`showExtraInfo`	bool	No	`false`	Show extra info (type/size) about the removed key.
`ipnsBase`	text	No	`base36`	Multibase encoding for the returned `Id`.

Missing keyName → CFG_MISSING_KEY_NAME. Response: { keyName, keyID }.

Irreversible: removal permanently deletes the key from the local keystore. Any IPNS name previously published under it can no longer be updated — the last-published record simply expires per its lifetime.

rename

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`oldKeyName`	text	✓ Yes	—	Current key name.
`newKeyName`	text	✓ Yes	—	Desired new key name.
`force`	bool	No	`false`	Overwrite (and permanently destroy) an existing key already at `newKeyName`.

Missing fields → CFG_MISSING_OLD_KEY_NAME, then CFG_MISSING_NEW_KEY_NAME. Renaming does not change the underlying keypair or its Id — only the local label.

import

Binary input — the key material itself is never a config key.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`keyName`	text	✓ Yes	—	Local name to assign to the imported key.
`inputDataKey`	text	No	`data`	InputData key under which the upstream node's key material is expected.
`dataMode`	select	No	`base64`	`base64` \| `text`.
`inlineContent`	text	No	—	Inline fallback key material — never re-emitted anywhere.
`format`	select	No	`libp2p-key`	`libp2p-key` \| `pem-pkcs8-cleartext`.
`allowAnyKeyType`	bool	No	`false`	Relax Kubo's importable-key-type restriction.

Missing keyName → CFG_MISSING_KEY_NAME. Response: { keyName, keyID }.