diff --git a/db.py b/db.py
index 64e9a73..886cbc7 100644
--- a/db.py
+++ b/db.py
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS assets (
     name VARCHAR(255) PRIMARY KEY,
     content_hash VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL,
+    ipfs_cid VARCHAR(128),
     asset_type VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
     tags JSONB DEFAULT '[]'::jsonb,
     metadata JSONB DEFAULT '{}'::jsonb,
@@ -248,12 +249,13 @@ async def create_asset(asset: dict) -> dict:
     """Create a new asset."""
     async with get_connection() as conn:
         row = await conn.fetchrow(
-            """INSERT INTO assets (name, content_hash, asset_type, tags, metadata,
+            """INSERT INTO assets (name, content_hash, ipfs_cid, asset_type, tags, metadata,
                                    url, provenance, description, origin, owner, created_at)
-               VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10, $11)
+               VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10, $11, $12)
                RETURNING *""",
             asset["name"],
             asset["content_hash"],
+            asset.get("ipfs_cid"),
             asset["asset_type"],
             json.dumps(asset.get("tags", [])),
             json.dumps(asset.get("metadata", {})),
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index f9863ed..3af252c 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,17 @@ services:
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 5
 
+  ipfs:
+    image: ipfs/kubo:latest
+    volumes:
+      - ipfs_data:/data/ipfs
+    networks:
+      - internal
+    deploy:
+      replicas: 1
+      restart_policy:
+        condition: on-failure
+
   l2-server:
     image: git.rose-ash.com/art-dag/l2-server:latest
     env_file:
@@ -24,6 +35,7 @@ services:
     environment:
       - ARTDAG_DATA=/data/l2
       - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://artdag:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-artdag}@postgres:5432/artdag
+      - IPFS_API=/dns/ipfs/tcp/5001
       # ARTDAG_DOMAIN, ARTDAG_USER, JWT_SECRET from .env file
     volumes:
       - l2_data:/data/l2  # Still needed for RSA keys
@@ -32,6 +44,7 @@ services:
       - externalnet
     depends_on:
       - postgres
+      - ipfs
     deploy:
       replicas: 1
       restart_policy:
@@ -40,6 +53,7 @@ services:
 volumes:
   l2_data:
   postgres_data:
+  ipfs_data:
 
 networks:
   internal:
diff --git a/ipfs_client.py b/ipfs_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd46890
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ipfs_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+# art-activity-pub/ipfs_client.py
+"""
+IPFS client for Art DAG L2 server.
+
+Provides functions to fetch and pin content from IPFS.
+L2 uses IPFS to retrieve content from the federated network.
+"""
+
+import logging
+import os
+from typing import Optional
+
+import ipfshttpclient
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# IPFS API multiaddr - default to local, docker uses /dns/ipfs/tcp/5001
+IPFS_API = os.getenv("IPFS_API", "/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/5001")
+
+# Connection timeout in seconds
+IPFS_TIMEOUT = int(os.getenv("IPFS_TIMEOUT", "60"))
+
+
+def get_client():
+    """Get an IPFS client connection."""
+    return ipfshttpclient.connect(IPFS_API, timeout=IPFS_TIMEOUT)
+
+
+def get_bytes(cid: str) -> Optional[bytes]:
+    """
+    Retrieve content from IPFS by CID.
+
+    Args:
+        cid: IPFS CID to retrieve
+
+    Returns:
+        Content as bytes or None on failure
+    """
+    try:
+        with get_client() as client:
+            data = client.cat(cid)
+            logger.info(f"Retrieved from IPFS: {cid} ({len(data)} bytes)")
+            return data
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.error(f"Failed to get from IPFS: {e}")
+        return None
+
+
+def pin(cid: str) -> bool:
+    """
+    Pin a CID on this node.
+
+    Args:
+        cid: IPFS CID to pin
+
+    Returns:
+        True on success, False on failure
+    """
+    try:
+        with get_client() as client:
+            client.pin.add(cid)
+            logger.info(f"Pinned on IPFS: {cid}")
+            return True
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.error(f"Failed to pin on IPFS: {e}")
+        return False
+
+
+def unpin(cid: str) -> bool:
+    """
+    Unpin a CID from this node.
+
+    Args:
+        cid: IPFS CID to unpin
+
+    Returns:
+        True on success, False on failure
+    """
+    try:
+        with get_client() as client:
+            client.pin.rm(cid)
+            logger.info(f"Unpinned from IPFS: {cid}")
+            return True
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.error(f"Failed to unpin from IPFS: {e}")
+        return False
+
+
+def is_available() -> bool:
+    """
+    Check if IPFS daemon is available.
+
+    Returns:
+        True if IPFS is available, False otherwise
+    """
+    try:
+        with get_client() as client:
+            client.id()
+            return True
+    except Exception:
+        return False
+
+
+def get_node_id() -> Optional[str]:
+    """
+    Get this IPFS node's peer ID.
+
+    Returns:
+        Peer ID string or None on failure
+    """
+    try:
+        with get_client() as client:
+            info = client.id()
+            return info.get("ID")
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.error(f"Failed to get node ID: {e}")
+        return None
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index faa8463..16e3a47 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ python-jose[cryptography]>=3.3.0
 markdown>=3.5.0
 python-multipart>=0.0.6
 asyncpg>=0.29.0
+ipfshttpclient>=0.7.0
diff --git a/server.py b/server.py
index 778a893..b31fd47 100644
--- a/server.py
+++ b/server.py
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ class Asset(BaseModel):
     """An owned asset."""
     name: str
     content_hash: str
+    ipfs_cid: Optional[str] = None  # IPFS content identifier
     asset_type: str  # image, video, effect, recipe, infrastructure
     tags: list[str] = []
     metadata: dict = {}
@@ -108,6 +109,7 @@ class RegisterRequest(BaseModel):
     """Request to register an asset."""
     name: str
     content_hash: str
+    ipfs_cid: Optional[str] = None  # IPFS content identifier
     asset_type: str
     tags: list[str] = []
     metadata: dict = {}
@@ -125,6 +127,7 @@ class RecordRunRequest(BaseModel):
 class PublishCacheRequest(BaseModel):
     """Request to publish a cache item from L1."""
     content_hash: str
+    ipfs_cid: Optional[str] = None  # IPFS content identifier
     asset_name: str
     asset_type: str = "image"
     origin: dict  # {type: "self"|"external", url?: str, note?: str}
@@ -1613,11 +1616,21 @@ async def _register_asset_impl(req: RegisterRequest, owner: str):
     if await db.asset_exists(req.name):
         raise HTTPException(400, f"Asset already exists: {req.name}")
 
+    # Pin content on IPFS if CID provided
+    if req.ipfs_cid:
+        try:
+            import ipfs_client
+            if ipfs_client.is_available():
+                ipfs_client.pin(req.ipfs_cid)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning(f"Failed to pin IPFS content {req.ipfs_cid}: {e}")
+
     # Create asset
     now = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
     asset = {
         "name": req.name,
         "content_hash": req.content_hash,
+        "ipfs_cid": req.ipfs_cid,
         "asset_type": req.asset_type,
         "tags": req.tags,
         "metadata": req.metadata,
@@ -1735,11 +1748,21 @@ async def publish_cache(req: PublishCacheRequest, user: User = Depends(get_requi
     if await db.asset_exists(req.asset_name):
         raise HTTPException(400, f"Asset name already exists: {req.asset_name}")
 
+    # Pin content on IPFS if CID provided
+    if req.ipfs_cid:
+        try:
+            import ipfs_client
+            if ipfs_client.is_available():
+                ipfs_client.pin(req.ipfs_cid)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning(f"Failed to pin IPFS content {req.ipfs_cid}: {e}")
+
     # Create asset
     now = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
     asset = {
         "name": req.asset_name,
         "content_hash": req.content_hash,
+        "ipfs_cid": req.ipfs_cid,
         "asset_type": req.asset_type,
         "tags": req.tags,
         "description": req.description,