# How to check what files are pinned on an IPFS node?
**URL:** https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107
**Category:** Help
**Created:** [February 4, 2021, 1:57am UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107 "2021-02-04T01:57:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@int](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/int)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2021, 1:57am UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107/1 "2021-02-04T01:57:35Z")
Is it possible to list all files being pinned by a remote IPFS node? I’m trying to create a backup of a remote IPFS node so I’d like to know what files are being pinned by so I can clone them to my local node.
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### Author:  [@FledgeXu](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/FledgeXu)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2021, 4:59am UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107/2 "2021-02-04T04:59:39Z")
You can use Pin ls http api.
> **[HTTP API](https://docs.ipfs.io/reference/http/api/)**
>
> HTTP API reference for IPFS, the InterPlanetary File System.
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### Author:  [@int](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/int)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107/3 "2021-02-04T19:06:50Z")
Isn’t that for local use only though?
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### Author:  [@wclayf](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/wclayf)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107/4 "2021-02-04T20:17:44Z")
Yes the HTTP API has absolutely no security or auth capability. It’s up to the developer to find some way to secure it by running it inside a docker container with a private network, or using some kind of reverse-proxy to stop access on the open internet.
But to be more precise, if you do open the port, then you _can_ access it from anywhere that can see your host+port.
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### Author:  [@zacharywhitley](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/zacharywhitley)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107/5 "2021-02-05T15:13:20Z")
There’s also the pinning service api spec (different than the http api I believe) but is still being worked on.
> **[ipfs/pinning-services-api-spec](https://github.com/ipfs/pinning-services-api-spec)**
>
> New vendor-agnostic Pinning Service API for IPFS ecosystem
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### Author:  [@zacharywhitley](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/zacharywhitley)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107/6 "2021-02-05T15:17:21Z")
I’ll piggyback on this question to ask a related question. Has anyone worked on or is there a plugin interface for writing custom pinning strategies? I can think of some fun stuff you could do here. Like it would be nice LRU pinning strategy that would basically be a cache. Or a strategy that unpins stuff that’s already available on another node first. Kind of a most replicated first strategy. Or pinning with weight. Or even get crazy and write a deep learning pinning bot.
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### Author:  [@wclayf](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/u/wclayf)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2021, 3:56pm UTC](https://discuss.ipfs.tech/t/how-to-check-what-files-are-pinned-on-an-ipfs-node/10107/7 "2021-02-05T15:56:30Z")
Thanks for sharing the pinning services link! The platform I created ([https://quanta.wiki](https://quanta.wiki)) is eventually going to become a “Pinning Service Platform” so that starting a pinning service, in the future, won’t require any coding.