Active Storage Overview

This guide covers how to attach files to your Active Record models.

After reading this guide, you will know:

• How to attach one or many files to a record.
• How to delete an attached file.
• How to link to an attached file.
• How to use variants to transform images.
• How to generate an image representation of a non-image file, such as a PDF or a video.
• How to send file uploads directly from browsers to a storage service, bypassing your application servers.
• How to clean up files stored during testing.
• How to implement support for additional storage services.

Chapters

1. What is Active Storage?
2. Setup
   • Disk Service
   • Amazon S3 Service
   • Microsoft Azure Storage Service
   • Google Cloud Storage Service
   • Mirror Service
3. Attaching Files to Records
   • has_one_attached
   • has_many_attached
   • Attaching File/IO Objects
4. Removing Files
5. Linking to Files
6. Downloading Files
7. Transforming Images
8. Previewing Files
9. Direct Uploads
   • Direct upload installation
   • Direct upload JavaScript events
   • Example
   • Integrating with Libraries or Frameworks
10. Discarding Files Stored During System Tests
11. Discarding Files Stored During Integration Tests
12. Implementing Support for Other Cloud Services

1 What is Active Storage?

Active Storage facilitates uploading files to a cloud storage service like Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Microsoft Azure Storage and attaching those files to Active Record objects. It comes with a local disk-based service for development and testing and supports mirroring files to subordinate services for backups and migrations.

Using Active Storage, an application can transform image uploads with ImageMagick, generate image representations of non-image uploads like PDFs and videos, and extract metadata from arbitrary files.

2 Setup

Active Storage uses two tables in your application’s database named active_storage_blobs and active_storage_attachments. After creating a new application (or upgrading your application to Rails 5.2), run rails active_storage:install to generate a migration that creates these tables. Use rails db:migrate to run the migration.

Declare Active Storage services in config/storage.yml. For each service your application uses, provide a name and the requisite configuration. The example below declares three services named local, test, and amazon:

local:
  service: Disk
  root: <%= Rails.root.join("storage") %>

test:
  service: Disk
  root: <%= Rails.root.join("tmp/storage") %>

amazon:
  service: S3
  access_key_id: ""
  secret_access_key: ""
  bucket: ""
  region: "" # e.g. 'us-east-1'

Tell Active Storage which service to use by setting Rails.application.config.active_storage.service. Because each environment will likely use a different service, it is recommended to do this on a per-environment basis. To use the disk service from the previous example in the development environment, you would add the following to config/environments/development.rb:

# Store files locally.
config.active_storage.service = :local

To use the Amazon S3 service in production, you add the following to config/environments/production.rb:

# Store files on Amazon S3.
config.active_storage.service = :amazon

To use the test service when testing, you add the following to config/environments/test.rb:

# Store uploaded files on the local file system in a temporary directory.
config.active_storage.service = :test

Continue reading for more information on the built-in service adapters (e.g. Disk and S3) and the configuration they require.

2.1 Disk Service

Declare a Disk service in config/storage.yml:

local:
  service: Disk
  root: <%= Rails.root.join("storage") %>

2.2 Amazon S3 Service

Declare an S3 service in config/storage.yml:

amazon:
  service: S3
  access_key_id: ""
  secret_access_key: ""
  region: ""
  bucket: ""

Add the aws-sdk-s3 gem to your Gemfile:

gem "aws-sdk-s3", require: false

2.3 Microsoft Azure Storage Service

Declare an Azure Storage service in config/storage.yml:

azure:
  service: AzureStorage
  storage_account_name: ""
  storage_access_key: ""
  container: ""

Add the azure-storage gem to your Gemfile:

gem "azure-storage", require: false

2.4 Google Cloud Storage Service

Declare a Google Cloud Storage service in config/storage.yml:

google:
  service: GCS
  credentials: <%= Rails.root.join("path/to/keyfile.json") %>
  project: ""
  bucket: ""

Optionally provide a Hash of credentials instead of a keyfile path:

google:
  service: GCS
  credentials:
    type: "service_account"
    project_id: ""
    private_key_id: <%= Rails.application.credentials.dig(:gcs, :private_key_id) %>
    private_key: <%= Rails.application.credentials.dig(:gcs, :private_key).dump %>
    client_email: ""
    client_id: ""
    auth_uri: "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth"
    token_uri: "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token"
    auth_provider_x509_cert_url: "https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/certs"
    client_x509_cert_url: ""
  project: ""
  bucket: ""

Add the google-cloud-storage gem to your Gemfile:

gem "google-cloud-storage", "~> 1.11", require: false

2.5 Mirror Service

You can keep multiple services in sync by defining a mirror service. When a file is uploaded or deleted, it's done across all the mirrored services. Mirrored services can be used to facilitate a migration between services in production. You can start mirroring to the new service, copy existing files from the old service to the new, then go all-in on the new service. Define each of the services you'd like to use as described above and reference them from a mirrored service.

s3_west_coast:
  service: S3
  access_key_id: ""
  secret_access_key: ""
  region: ""
  bucket: ""

s3_east_coast:
  service: S3
  access_key_id: ""
  secret_access_key: ""
  region: ""
  bucket: ""

production:
  service: Mirror
  primary: s3_east_coast
  mirrors:
    - s3_west_coast

3 Attaching Files to Records

3.1 has_one_attached

The has_one_attached macro sets up a one-to-one mapping between records and files. Each record can have one file attached to it.

For example, suppose your application has a User model. If you want each user to have an avatar, define the User model like this:

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_one_attached :avatar
end

You can create a user with an avatar:

<%= form.file_field :avatar %>

class SignupController < ApplicationController
  def create
    user = User.create!(user_params)
    session[:user_id] = user.id
    redirect_to root_path
  end

  private
    def user_params
      params.require(:user).permit(:email_address, :password, :avatar)
    end
end

Call avatar.attach to attach an avatar to an existing user:

user.avatar.attach(params[:avatar])

Call avatar.attached? to determine whether a particular user has an avatar:

user.avatar.attached?

3.2 has_many_attached

The has_many_attached macro sets up a one-to-many relationship between records and files. Each record can have many files attached to it.

For example, suppose your application has a Message model. If you want each message to have many images, define the Message model like this:

class Message < ApplicationRecord
  has_many_attached :images
end

You can create a message with images:

class MessagesController < ApplicationController
  def create
    message = Message.create!(message_params)
    redirect_to message
  end

  private
    def message_params
      params.require(:message).permit(:title, :content, images: [])
    end
end

Call images.attach to add new images to an existing message:

@message.images.attach(params[:images])

Call images.attached? to determine whether a particular message has any images:

@message.images.attached?

3.3 Attaching File/IO Objects

Sometimes you need to attach a file that doesn’t arrive via an HTTP request. For example, you may want to attach a file you generated on disk or downloaded from a user-submitted URL. You may also want to attach a fixture file in a model test. To do that, provide a Hash containing at least an open IO object and a filename:

@message.image.attach(io: File.open('/path/to/file'), filename: 'file.pdf')

When possible, provide a content type as well. Active Storage attempts to determine a file’s content type from its data. It falls back to the content type you provide if it can’t do that.

@message.image.attach(io: File.open('/path/to/file'), filename: 'file.pdf', content_type: 'application/pdf')

You can bypass the content type inference from the data by passing in identify: false along with the content_type.

@message.image.attach(
  io: File.open('/path/to/file'),
  filename: 'file.pdf',
  content_type: 'application/pdf',
  identify: false
)

If you don’t provide a content type and Active Storage can’t determine the file’s content type automatically, it defaults to application/octet-stream.

4 Removing Files

To remove an attachment from a model, call purge on the attachment. Removal can be done in the background if your application is setup to use Active Job. Purging deletes the blob and the file from the storage service.

# Synchronously destroy the avatar and actual resource files.
user.avatar.purge

# Destroy the associated models and actual resource files async, via Active Job.
user.avatar.purge_later

5 Linking to Files

Generate a permanent URL for the blob that points to the application. Upon access, a redirect to the actual service endpoint is returned. This indirection decouples the public URL from the actual one, and allows, for example, mirroring attachments in different services for high-availability. The redirection has an HTTP expiration of 5 min.

url_for(user.avatar)

To create a download link, use the rails_blob_{path|url} helper. Using this helper allows you to set the disposition.

rails_blob_path(user.avatar, disposition: "attachment")

If you need to create a link from outside of controller/view context (Background jobs, Cronjobs, etc.), you can access the rails_blob_path like this:

Rails.application.routes.url_helpers.rails_blob_path(user.avatar, only_path: true)

6 Downloading Files

Sometimes you need to process a blob after it’s uploaded—for example, to convert it to a different format. Use ActiveStorage::Blob#download to read a blob’s binary data into memory:

binary = user.avatar.download

You might want to download a blob to a file on disk so an external program (e.g. a virus scanner or media transcoder) can operate on it. Use ActiveStorage::Blob#open to download a blob to a tempfile on disk:

message.video.open do |file|
  system '/path/to/virus/scanner', file.path
  # ...
end

7 Transforming Images

To create a variation of the image, call variant on the Blob. You can pass any transformation to the method supported by the processor. The default processor is MiniMagick, but you can also use Vips.

To enable variants, add the image_processing gem to your Gemfile:

gem 'image_processing', '~> 1.2'

When the browser hits the variant URL, Active Storage will lazily transform the original blob into the specified format and redirect to its new service location.

<%= image_tag user.avatar.variant(resize_to_limit: [100, 100]) %>

To switch to the Vips processor, you would add the following to config/application.rb:

# Use Vips for processing variants.
config.active_storage.variant_processor = :vips

8 Previewing Files

Some non-image files can be previewed: that is, they can be presented as images. For example, a video file can be previewed by extracting its first frame. Out of the box, Active Storage supports previewing videos and PDF documents.

<ul>
  <% @message.files.each do |file| %>
    <li>
      <%= image_tag file.preview(resize_to_limit: [100, 100]) %>
    </li>
  <% end %>
</ul>

9 Direct Uploads

Active Storage, with its included JavaScript library, supports uploading directly from the client to the cloud.

9.1 Direct upload installation

1. Include activestorage.js in your application's JavaScript bundle.

   Using the asset pipeline:

   //= require activestorage

   Using the npm package:

   require("@rails/activestorage").start()

2. Annotate file inputs with the direct upload URL.

   <%= form.file_field :attachments, multiple: true, direct_upload: true %>

3. That's it! Uploads begin upon form submission.

9.2 Direct upload JavaScript events

Event name	Event target	Event data (event.detail)	Description
direct-uploads:start	<form>	None	A form containing files for direct upload fields was submitted.
direct-upload:initialize	<input>	{id, file}	Dispatched for every file after form submission.
direct-upload:start	<input>	{id, file}	A direct upload is starting.
direct-upload:before-blob-request	<input>	{id, file, xhr}	Before making a request to your application for direct upload metadata.
direct-upload:before-storage-request	<input>	{id, file, xhr}	Before making a request to store a file.
direct-upload:progress	<input>	{id, file, progress}	As requests to store files progress.
direct-upload:error	<input>	{id, file, error}	An error occurred. An alert will display unless this event is canceled.
direct-upload:end	<input>	{id, file}	A direct upload has ended.
direct-uploads:end	<form>	None	All direct uploads have ended.

9.3 Example

You can use these events to show the progress of an upload.

To show the uploaded files in a form:

// direct_uploads.js

addEventListener("direct-upload:initialize", event => {
  const { target, detail } = event
  const { id, file } = detail
  target.insertAdjacentHTML("beforebegin", `
    <div id="direct-upload-${id}" class="direct-upload direct-upload--pending">
      <div id="direct-upload-progress-${id}" class="direct-upload__progress" style="width: 0%"></div>
      <span class="direct-upload__filename">${file.name}</span>
    </div>
  `)
})

addEventListener("direct-upload:start", event => {
  const { id } = event.detail
  const element = document.getElementById(`direct-upload-${id}`)
  element.classList.remove("direct-upload--pending")
})

addEventListener("direct-upload:progress", event => {
  const { id, progress } = event.detail
  const progressElement = document.getElementById(`direct-upload-progress-${id}`)
  progressElement.style.width = `${progress}%`
})

addEventListener("direct-upload:error", event => {
  event.preventDefault()
  const { id, error } = event.detail
  const element = document.getElementById(`direct-upload-${id}`)
  element.classList.add("direct-upload--error")
  element.setAttribute("title", error)
})

addEventListener("direct-upload:end", event => {
  const { id } = event.detail
  const element = document.getElementById(`direct-upload-${id}`)
  element.classList.add("direct-upload--complete")
})

Add styles:

/* direct_uploads.css */

.direct-upload {
  display: inline-block;
  position: relative;
  padding: 2px 4px;
  margin: 0 3px 3px 0;
  border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
  border-radius: 3px;
  font-size: 11px;
  line-height: 13px;
}

.direct-upload--pending {
  opacity: 0.6;
}

.direct-upload__progress {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  opacity: 0.2;
  background: #0076ff;
  transition: width 120ms ease-out, opacity 60ms 60ms ease-in;
  transform: translate3d(0, 0, 0);
}

.direct-upload--complete .direct-upload__progress {
  opacity: 0.4;
}

.direct-upload--error {
  border-color: red;
}

input[type=file][data-direct-upload-url][disabled] {
  display: none;
}

9.4 Integrating with Libraries or Frameworks

If you want to use the Direct Upload feature from a JavaScript framework, or you want to integrate custom drag and drop solutions, you can use the DirectUpload class for this purpose. Upon receiving a file from your library of choice, instantiate a DirectUpload and call its create method. Create takes a callback to invoke when the upload completes.

import { DirectUpload } from "@rails/activestorage"

const input = document.querySelector('input[type=file]')

// Bind to file drop - use the ondrop on a parent element or use a
//  library like Dropzone
const onDrop = (event) => {
  event.preventDefault()
  const files = event.dataTransfer.files;
  Array.from(files).forEach(file => uploadFile(file))
}

// Bind to normal file selection
input.addEventListener('change', (event) => {
  Array.from(input.files).forEach(file => uploadFile(file))
  // you might clear the selected files from the input
  input.value = null
})

const uploadFile = (file) => {
  // your form needs the file_field direct_upload: true, which
  //  provides data-direct-upload-url
  const url = input.dataset.directUploadUrl
  const upload = new DirectUpload(file, url)

  upload.create((error, blob) => {
    if (error) {
      // Handle the error
    } else {
      // Add an appropriately-named hidden input to the form with a
      //  value of blob.signed_id so that the blob ids will be
      //  transmitted in the normal upload flow
      const hiddenField = document.createElement('input')
      hiddenField.setAttribute("type", "hidden");
      hiddenField.setAttribute("value", blob.signed_id);
      hiddenField.name = input.name
      document.querySelector('form').appendChild(hiddenField)
    }
  })
}

If you need to track the progress of the file upload, you can pass a third parameter to the DirectUpload constructor. During the upload, DirectUpload will call the object's directUploadWillStoreFileWithXHR method. You can then bind your own progress handler on the XHR.

import { DirectUpload } from "@rails/activestorage"

class Uploader {
  constructor(file, url) {
    this.upload = new DirectUpload(this.file, this.url, this)
  }

  upload(file) {
    this.upload.create((error, blob) => {
      if (error) {
        // Handle the error
      } else {
        // Add an appropriately-named hidden input to the form
        // with a value of blob.signed_id
      }
    })
  }

  directUploadWillStoreFileWithXHR(request) {
    request.upload.addEventListener("progress",
      event => this.directUploadDidProgress(event))
  }

  directUploadDidProgress(event) {
    // Use event.loaded and event.total to update the progress bar
  }
}

10 Discarding Files Stored During System Tests

System tests clean up test data by rolling back a transaction. Because destroy is never called on an object, the attached files are never cleaned up. If you want to clear the files, you can do it in an after_teardown callback. Doing it here ensures that all connections created during the test are complete and you won't receive an error from Active Storage saying it can't find a file.

class ApplicationSystemTestCase < ActionDispatch::SystemTestCase
  driven_by :selenium, using: :chrome, screen_size: [1400, 1400]

  def remove_uploaded_files
    FileUtils.rm_rf("#{Rails.root}/storage_test")
  end

  def after_teardown
    super
    remove_uploaded_files
  end
end

If your system tests verify the deletion of a model with attachments and you're using Active Job, set your test environment to use the inline queue adapter so the purge job is executed immediately rather at an unknown time in the future.

You may also want to use a separate service definition for the test environment so your tests don't delete the files you create during development.

# Use inline job processing to make things happen immediately
config.active_job.queue_adapter = :inline

# Separate file storage in the test environment
config.active_storage.service = :local_test

11 Discarding Files Stored During Integration Tests

Similarly to System Tests, files uploaded during Integration Tests will not be automatically cleaned up. If you want to clear the files, you can do it in an after_teardown callback. Doing it here ensures that all connections created during the test are complete and you won't receive an error from Active Storage saying it can't find a file.

module RemoveUploadedFiles
  def after_teardown
    super
    remove_uploaded_files
  end

  private

  def remove_uploaded_files
    FileUtils.rm_rf(Rails.root.join('tmp', 'storage'))
  end
end

module ActionDispatch
  class IntegrationTest
    prepend RemoveUploadedFiles
  end
end

12 Implementing Support for Other Cloud Services

If you need to support a cloud service other than these, you will need to implement the Service. Each service extends ActiveStorage::Service by implementing the methods necessary to upload and download files to the cloud.

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