Detect IPFS Desktop and Provide Additional Node Controls

Some of user journeys introduce presence of IPFS Desktop (previously known as Station). It is a standalone Electron app that can do a lot more than we can do in WebExtension.

WebExtensions provide Native messaging API, which may be used for communication with external executable installed on user's system.

TL;DR

The idea is to detect presence of IPFS Desktop and provide user with additional controls.

MVP: show controls for starting/stopping go-ipfs daemon

Tasks

• Research if APIs in Chrome and Firefox are close enough that we can maintain single codebase 🤞
• Add necessary files to IPFS Desktop installer
• Add native messaging support to Companion
• Add controls for starting / stopping daemon installed with IPFS Desktop (aka "Ability to Launch IPFS" )
• Documentation explaining how to add other hooks/controls over Native messaging bridge

References

• ipfs/in-web-browsers: IPFS node info and node controls
• PoC @ https://github.com/whyrusleeping/ipfs-webext
• Native messaging API Docs @ Mozilla