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+# IPFS nodes speak Graphsync
+
+Authors: @willscott
+
+Initial PR: TBD <!-- Reference the PR first proposing this document. Oooh, self-reference! -->
+
+<!--
+This template is for a proposal/brief/pitch for a significant project to be undertaken by a Web3 Dev project team.
+The goal of project proposals is to help us decide which work to take on, which things are more valuable than other things.
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+A proposal should contain enough detail for others to understand how this project contributes to our team’s mission of product-market fit
+for our unified stack of protocols, what is included in scope of the project, where to get started if a project team were to take this on,
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+-->
+<!--
+For ease of discussion in PRs, consider breaking lines after every sentence or long phrase.
+-->
+
+## Purpose &amp; impact 
+#### Background &amp; intent
+
+Currently, ipfs nodes speak [bitswap](https://docs.ipfs.io/concepts/bitswap/) for exchanging blocks of data. bitswap works at a block layer where you ask for a CID, and get back the block that hashes to that cid.
+
+[graphsync](https://github.com/ipfs/go-graphsync) is a protocol for synchronizing graphs of data across peers. It allows a host to make a single request to a remote peer for all of the results of traversing an IPLD selector on the remote peer's local IPLD graph. It is what filecoin uses.
+
+#### Assumptions &amp; hypotheses
+
+* There are cases where users will want to retrieve a piece of structured data they can efficiently describe with a selector, but which would be expensive to retrieve with bitswap.
+* There are cases where it would be valuable for an IPFS node and a filecoin node to exchange data.
+
+#### User workflow example
+
+* A user would ask for data using a selector in e.g. the [go-fetcher](https://github.com/ipfs/go-fetcher) interface within IPFS (from a plugin)
+* An API is built such that dag exploration of ipld nodes from a client built on IPFS is translated into selectors
+* a client builds a car of data to store, creates a filecoin deal for it, and the miner fetches the data from an IPFS client with graphsync
+
+#### Impact
+
+High. we invision cases where we want IPFS and filecoin nodes to be able to communicate
+
+#### Leverage
+
+High. we have other projects that are enabled by IPFS and filecoin nodes being able to communicate
+
+#### Confidence
+
+Two. We haven't heard direct requests for this flow, but it's our best guess at what's practical.
+
+
+## Project definition
+#### Brief plan of attack
+
+[go-merkledag](https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag) currently takes a [blockservice](https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/blob/bf51443272bb98cff071eb44ed9ce6c940e82f1f/merkledag.go#L32).  It should also be able to be created from a graphsync provider, or both. We can initially enable graphsync as an opt-in option, and need to design a transition (e.g. do we have merkledag make requests to both graphsync and to blockservice when present? do we make this code somewhat peer-aware, so we know based on provider which one to use?)
+
+#### What does done look like?
+
+* IPFS nodes advertise support for the graphsync multiprotocol
+* When an IPFS node at the go-merkledag level receives a request including a selector, it attempts a graphsync session if the other node also advertises support for graphsync.
+
+####  What does success look like?
+
+* observation of increased use of graphsync 
+
+#### Counterpoints &amp; pre-mortem
+
+* graphsync wasn't as ready as we expected
+* merkledag / blockservice needed a re-factor to become peer-aware before we added graphsync
+
+#### Alternatives
+
+* we live with bitswap
+
+#### Dependencies/prerequisites
+
+* [ipld in ipfs](https://github.com/protocol/web3-dev-team/pull/25)
+
+#### Future opportunities
+
+moves us a step closer to ipfs and filecoin nodes being able to exchange data
+
+## Required resources
+
+#### Effort estimate
+Medium
+
+#### Roles / skills needed
+
+* Understanding of bitswap
+* Understanding of IPFS
+* Understanding of merkledag
+* Understanding of graphsync
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