video-worker (FFmpeg → Pinata)

A tiny API that accepts a file upload, transcodes it to MP4 (H.264/AAC) with FFmpeg, then uploads the result to Pinata (IPFS) and returns the CID.

Endpoints

• GET /healthz — health check
• POST /transcode — multipart/form-data with a single field named video

Response

{ "cid": "bafy...", "gatewayUrl": "https://gateway.pinata.cloud/ipfs/bafy..." }

Quickstart (Docker)

# 1) Clone this project
# 2) Create .env with your PINATA_JWT
cp .env.example .env
# edit .env and paste your Pinata JWT

# 3) Build & run
docker build -t video-worker .
docker run --env-file .env -p 8080:8080 --name video-worker video-worker

# 4) Test
curl -F "video=@/path/to/input.mov" http://localhost:8080/transcode

Environment

• PINATA_JWT (required) — Create in Pinata Dashboard → API Keys (JWT).
• PINATA_GATEWAY (optional) — Defaults to https://gateway.pinata.cloud/ipfs.
• MAX_UPLOAD_MB (optional) — Upload limit, default 512.
• X264_PRESET, X264_CRF, AAC_BITRATE — FFmpeg tuning knobs.

Deploy Options

Option A: Oracle Cloud "Always Free" VM (recommended free worker)

1. Create an Always Free tenancy and launch an Ampere A1 or E2 Micro VM.
2. SSH in and install Docker:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y docker.io
   sudo usermod -aG docker $USER && newgrp docker

3. Copy this repo to the VM (git clone or scp the zip), then:

   docker build -t video-worker .
   docker run -d --restart=unless-stopped --env-file .env -p 80:8080 --name video-worker video-worker

4. Open port 80 in the instance's VCN security list if needed.

Option B: Render (free web service)

1. Push this repo to GitHub.
2. In Render, create New Web Service from your repo.
3. Use Docker build, set environment variables (PINATA_JWT, etc.).
4. Choose a Free instance. Note: free instances may sleep and have limits.
5. Deploy and use the generated URL for /transcode.

Notes

• This service does a full transcode to ensure device compatibility. If you know your .mov files are already H.264/AAC, you can switch to a fast remux:

  ffmpeg -i input.mov -c copy -movflags +faststart output.mp4

  (Integrate by changing the ffmpeg args in server.js.)

• For heavier workloads, consider running this behind a queue (e.g., Upstash QStash or Redis) and moving uploads to object storage (S3/R2).

License

MIT