Akavelink - Decentralized Storage API Template for Phala Cloud

A live example of this template is running here: https://842d756c5daccbc4041437eb6be544c419760b31-80.dstack-prod5.phala.network/

Akavelink Dashboard

A secure, confidential REST API wrapper for Akave decentralized storage, engineered to run within Phala Cloud's Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). This comprehensive template delivers everything you need to seamlessly integrate decentralized storage into your applications while maintaining the highest security standards through an intuitive, interactive interface.

🎯 Template Features

✅ TEE-secured deployment with confidential computing guarantees
✅ Interactive API explorer with real-time upload progress tracking
✅ Hardware-encrypted key management via Trusted Execution Environment
✅ Containerized runtime with pre-compiled akavecli binary
✅ RESTful storage interface supporting full CRUD operations
✅ Cross-origin resource sharing for seamless frontend integration
✅ Comprehensive health checks and monitoring endpoints
✅ Enterprise-grade reliability with structured logging and error handling

🚀 Deploy to Phala Cloud

Prerequisites

Akave Account: Use any EVM private key securely with our TEE.
Fund Your Wallet: Use the Akave Faucet to get test tokens
Phala Account: Sign up at cloud.phala.network

Quick Deploy (Recommended)

Click the Deploy button
Configure your deployment:
- Enter your private key when prompted
- Select your compute resources (2 vCPU, 2GB RAM recommended)
- Choose your deployment region (prod8 is recommended)
Deploy and access your API:
- Deployment URL: Your API will be available at https://<your-app-id>-80.dstack-prod8.phala.network/
- Example: https://415ddd60aadec178dd13045077c631a69bf6c4a0-80.dstack-prod8.phala.network/
- Interactive Interface: Access the full-featured UI at your root URL with:
  - 📤 Real-time upload progress tracking
  - 📂 One-click file browsing with "List Objects" button
  - 🔗 Direct download links in the API explorer
  - 📋 Complete API reference documentation
🔒 Security Verification:
- Navigate to the "Network" tab in your Phala dashboard to access your deployment link
- View worker attestation data proving your API runs in a genuine TEE environment
- Verify measurements and remote attestations at docs.phala.com/attestation
- Independent verification available at proof.t16z.com to confirm your application's integrity
Note: The -80 suffix maps to container port 80 and is required for proper HTTP routing within Phala's infrastructure.

Manual Deploy via CLI

# Install Phala CLI
npm install -g @phala/cli

# Login to Phala Cloud
phala auth login

# Deploy the template with your private key
phala cvms create \
  --template akavelink \
  --name my-akave-storage \
  --env NODE_ADDRESS=connect.akave.ai:5500 \
  --env PRIVATE_KEY=your_private_key_here

🔧 Local Testing and Deployment

For developers who prefer local development or want to customize the deployment process, you can run akavelink locally or deploy it manually.

Security Note: When deploying to Phala Cloud, your private keys and environment variables are encrypted and securely managed within the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). Phala Cloud never stores or caches your sensitive data - everything remains confidential and protected within the secure enclave.

This template gives you full control over your Akave API instance. You can add additional authentication layers, implement custom access controls, or integrate password-based security mechanisms to further protect your storage API.

Quick Start with Launch Script

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/DylanCkawalec/akavelink
cd akavelink

# Create .env file with your private key
cat > .env << EOF
NODE_ADDRESS=connect.akave.ai:5500
PRIVATE_KEY=your_private_key_here
PORT=80
CORS_ORIGIN=*
DEBUG=true
EOF

# Run the launch script (builds Docker image and starts container)
./launch.sh

The launch script will:

Build the Docker image with akavecli bundled
Start the container on port 8000
Open the interactive UI in your browser
Auto-configure the UI to use the Docker backend

Manual Docker Build

# Build the image
docker build -t akavelink:local .

# Run with your private key
docker run -d \
  --name akavelink \
  -p 8000:80 \
  -e NODE_ADDRESS=connect.akave.ai:5500 \
  -e PRIVATE_KEY=your_private_key_here \
  akavelink:local

🔐 Security & Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required	Default
`NODE_ADDRESS`	Akave node endpoint	Yes	`connect.akave.ai:5500`
`PRIVATE_KEY`	Your Ethereum private key for Akave	Yes	-
`PORT`	API server port	No	`80`
`CORS_ORIGIN`	Allowed CORS origins	No	`*`
`DEBUG`	Enable debug logging	No	`true`

Security in Phala Cloud

When deployed on Phala Cloud:

TEE Protection: Runs inside Intel TDX trusted execution environment
Encrypted Secrets: Private keys are encrypted before deployment
Remote Attestation: Verify code integrity cryptographically
No Key Exposure: Private keys never leave the secure enclave

📚 Using the Akave Link API

Interactive Web Interface

Once deployed, visit your API's root URL to access a powerful web interface:

Drag & Drop Uploads - Seamlessly upload videos, audio files, CSVs, code, and more directly to Akave buckets
API Explorer - Interactive testing environment for all endpoints with full CRUD operation support
Real-time Logging - Live debugging output and request monitoring
Wallet Dashboard - Connection status and transaction monitoring for your Akave wallet

API Endpoints

Bucket Operations

Create Bucket

POST /buckets

Create a new bucket for file storage.

Request Body:

{
    "bucketName": "string"
}

Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "Name": "string",
        "Created": "timestamp"
    }
}

List Buckets

GET /buckets

Retrieve a list of all buckets.

Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "data": [
        {
            "Name": "string",
            "Created": "timestamp"
        }
    ]
}

View Bucket

GET /buckets/:bucketName

Get details of a specific bucket.

Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "Name": "string",
        "Created": "timestamp"
    }
}

File Operations

List Files

GET /buckets/:bucketName/files

List all files in a specific bucket.

Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "data": [
        {
            "Name": "string",
            "Size": "number",
            "Created": "timestamp"
        }
    ]
}

Get File Info

GET /buckets/:bucketName/files/:fileName

Get metadata about a specific file.

Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "Name": "string",
        "Size": "number",
        "Created": "timestamp"
    }
}

Upload File

POST /buckets/:bucketName/files

Upload a file to a specific bucket.

Request:

Content-Type: multipart/form-data
Body:
- file or file1: File to upload OR
- filePath: Path to file on server

Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "Name": "string",
        "Size": "number"
    }
}

Download File

GET /buckets/:bucketName/files/:fileName/download

Download a file from a specific bucket.

Usage: Access this URL directly in your browser to download the file. The file will be automatically downloaded with its original filename.

Response:

Success: File download will begin automatically
Error:

{
    "success": false,
    "error": "error message"
}

Error Responses

All endpoints will return the following format for errors:

{
    "success": false,
    "error": "error message"
}

🏗️ Architecture

This template uses a multi-stage Docker build to create a lightweight, production-ready image:

Build Stage: Compiles akavecli from source
Runtime Stage: Minimal Alpine Linux with Node.js
Bundled Binary: akavecli included in the image
Web UI: Interactive interface served from the same container

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│       Phala Cloud TEE Environment       │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │   Docker Container (akavelink)     │ │
│  │  ┌──────────────────────────────┐  │ │
│  │  │  Express.js + Web UI         │  │ │
│  │  │  ├─ REST API (port 80)       │  │ │
│  │  │  ├─ Interactive Dashboard    │  │ │
│  │  │  └─ akavecli (bundled)       │  │ │
│  │  └──────────────────────────────┘  │ │
│  └────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│         ↑ Private Key (encrypted)       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓ HTTPS
     https://your-app.phala.app

🧪 Testing Your Deployment

Via Web UI

Navigate to your deployment URL
Click "Create Bucket" to test bucket creation
Drag and drop a file to test uploads
Use the API Explorer to test other endpoints

Via Command Line

# Replace with your deployment URL
API_URL="https://your-app.phala.app"

# Create a bucket
curl -X POST $API_URL/buckets \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"bucketName":"test-bucket"}'

# List buckets
curl $API_URL/buckets

# Check health
curl $API_URL/health

💡 Common Issues & Solutions

"Insufficient funds" Error

Solution: Fund your wallet using the Akave Faucet

"akavecli not found" Error

Solution: Use the Docker image which includes akavecli bundled

Cannot Connect to Akave

Solution: Ensure your private key is correctly formatted (with or without 0x prefix)

CORS Issues

Solution: Set CORS_ORIGIN environment variable to your frontend domain

Phala/dstack compose and env preflight (Highly recommended)

Set PORT=80 in your .env. Phala gateway maps <appId>.<domain> to container port 80.
Ensure compose maps port 80 explicitly and uses an environment mapping (key: value), not a list.

Example docker-compose.yml:

version: '3.8'
services:
  app:
    image: dylanckawalec/akavelink:latest
    container_name: app
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/tappd.sock:/var/run/tappd.sock
      - ./downloads:/app/downloads
    environment:
      NODE_ADDRESS: ${NODE_ADDRESS}
      PRIVATE_KEY: ${PRIVATE_KEY}
      PORT: ${PORT}
      CORS_ORIGIN: ${CORS_ORIGIN}
      DEBUG: ${DEBUG}
    restart: always

Build and push a multi-arch image (linux/amd64 included) to avoid no matching manifest for linux/amd64:

docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t <you>/akavelink:latest --push .

Keep CVM names ≤ 20 chars or the API will reject the request.
Gateway URL forms:
- https://<appId>.<base_domain> → container port 80
- https://<appId>-<port>.<base_domain> → container port <port>
- If base domain returns an empty reply while booting, try the -80 form.
Always pass env via --env-file ./.env; the Phala CLI encrypts values into the TEE.

📦 Customizing the Template

Fork and Modify

Fork this repository
Modify the code to add your features
Update the Docker image in docker-compose.yml
Build and push your custom image:

docker build -t your-username/akavelink:custom .
docker push your-username/akavelink:custom

Deploy your custom version to Phala Cloud

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on:

Submitting bug fixes
Adding new features
Improving documentation
Submitting this as a Phala Cloud template

📄 License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

🔗 Resources

📊 Resource Requirements

Minimum (Development/Testing)

vCPU: 1
Memory: 1GB
Disk: 10GB

Recommended (Production)

vCPU: 2
Memory: 2GB
Disk: 20GB

🏷️ Template Metadata

Template ID: akavelink
Category: Storage
Docker Image: dylanckawalec/akavelink:latest
Port: 80 (mapped by Phala gateway)
Health Check: /health endpoint

Akave Link (Confidential Storage API)

Akavelink - Decentralized Storage API Template for Phala Cloud

🎯 Template Features

🚀 Deploy to Phala Cloud

Prerequisites

Quick Deploy (Recommended)

Manual Deploy via CLI

🔧 Local Testing and Deployment

Quick Start with Launch Script

Manual Docker Build

🔐 Security & Configuration

Environment Variables

Security in Phala Cloud

📚 Using the Akave Link API

Interactive Web Interface

API Endpoints

Bucket Operations

Create Bucket

List Buckets

View Bucket

File Operations

List Files

Get File Info

Upload File

Download File

Error Responses

🏗️ Architecture

🧪 Testing Your Deployment

Via Web UI

Via Command Line

💡 Common Issues & Solutions

"Insufficient funds" Error

"akavecli not found" Error

Cannot Connect to Akave

CORS Issues

Phala/dstack compose and env preflight (Highly recommended)

📦 Customizing the Template

Fork and Modify

🤝 Contributing

📄 License

🔗 Resources

📊 Resource Requirements

Minimum (Development/Testing)

Recommended (Production)

🏷️ Template Metadata