golib/net/ipcohort

ipcohort

A memory-efficient, fast IP cohort checker for blacklists, whitelists, and ad cohorts.

• 6 bytes per IP address (5 + 1 for alignment)
• binary search for /32 hosts, linear scan for CIDR ranges
• immutable cohorts — callers swap via atomic.Pointer for lock-free reads

Example

Check if an IP address belongs to a cohort (such as a blacklist):

cohort, err := ipcohort.LoadFile("/srv/data/inbound.txt")
if err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("load: %v", err)
}

if cohort.Contains("92.255.85.72") {
    fmt.Println("BLOCKED")
    os.Exit(1)
}
fmt.Println("allowed")

Cohort.Contains(string) parses the address each call. If you already have a netip.Addr (e.g. from netip.ParseAddr on a request peer), use Cohort.ContainsAddr(netip.Addr) to skip the parse.

Recommended: hot-swap with sync/dataset

sync/dataset wraps the atomic.Pointer + refresh-loop boilerplate so live requests see the new list without locks or restarts. Pair it with either gitshallow (best when you want incremental updates and don't mind a git binary in the runtime image) or httpcache (best for minimal images that just need a single file over HTTPS).

import (
    "context"
    "time"

    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/net/gitshallow"
    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/net/ipcohort"
    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/sync/dataset"
)

repo := gitshallow.New(
    "https://github.com/bitwire-it/ipblocklist.git",
    "/srv/data/ipblocklist", 1, "",
)
set := dataset.NewSet(repo)

view := dataset.Add(set, func(ctx context.Context) (*ipcohort.Cohort, error) {
    return ipcohort.LoadFile(repo.FilePath("tables/inbound/single_ips.txt"))
})

if err := set.Load(ctx); err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("initial load: %v", err)
}
go set.Tick(ctx, 47*time.Minute, func(err error) { log.Printf("refresh: %v", err) })

// in a request handler:
if view.Value().Contains(peerIP) {
    http.Error(w, "blocked", http.StatusForbidden)
    return
}

Manual hot-swap: git (shallow)

Without sync/dataset if you want to keep the dependency surface small:

import (
    "sync/atomic"
    "time"

    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/net/gitshallow"
    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/net/ipcohort"
)

var cohort atomic.Pointer[ipcohort.Cohort]

repo := gitshallow.New("https://github.com/bitwire-it/ipblocklist.git", "/srv/data/ipblocklist", 1, "")

// Init: clone if missing, pull, load.
if _, err := repo.Init(); err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("init: %v", err)
}
c, err := ipcohort.LoadFile(repo.FilePath("tables/inbound/single_ips.txt"))
if err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("load: %v", err)
}
cohort.Store(c)

// Background: pull and reload when HEAD changes.
go func() {
    for range time.Tick(47 * time.Minute) {
        updated, err := repo.Sync()
        if err != nil {
            log.Printf("sync: %v", err)
            continue
        }
        if !updated {
            continue
        }
        c, err := ipcohort.LoadFile(repo.FilePath("tables/inbound/single_ips.txt"))
        if err != nil {
            log.Printf("reload: %v", err)
            continue
        }
        cohort.Store(c)
        log.Printf("reloaded %d entries", c.Size())
    }
}()

Manual hot-swap: HTTP (cache)

Same pattern with httpcache for minimal runtime images that don't have git:

import (
    "sync/atomic"
    "time"

    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/net/httpcache"
    "github.com/therootcompany/golib/net/ipcohort"
)

const listURL = "https://github.com/bitwire-it/ipblocklist/raw/refs/heads/main/tables/inbound/single_ips.txt"

var cohort atomic.Pointer[ipcohort.Cohort]

cacher := httpcache.New(listURL, "/srv/data/inbound.txt")

// Init: fetch unconditionally, load.
if _, err := cacher.Fetch(); err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("fetch: %v", err)
}
c, err := ipcohort.LoadFile("/srv/data/inbound.txt")
if err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("load: %v", err)
}
cohort.Store(c)

// Background: conditional GET, reload only when content changes.
go func() {
    for range time.Tick(47 * time.Minute) {
        updated, err := cacher.Fetch()
        if err != nil {
            log.Printf("fetch: %v", err)
            continue
        }
        if !updated {
            continue
        }
        c, err := ipcohort.LoadFile("/srv/data/inbound.txt")
        if err != nil {
            log.Printf("reload: %v", err)
            continue
        }
        cohort.Store(c)
        log.Printf("reloaded %d entries", c.Size())
    }
}()