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Manage hosted images with Workers

A binding connects your Worker to external resources on the Developer Platform, like Images, R2 buckets, or KV namespaces.

When managing hosted images, the Images binding lets your Worker upload, list, retrieve, update, and delete hosted images without calling the REST API directly. The hosted namespace exposes storage and management operations. This binding can also be used to optimize hosted images.

Bindings can be configured in the Cloudflare dashboard for your Worker or in the Wrangler configuration file in your project's directory.

Setup

To bind Images to your Worker, add the following to your Wrangler configuration file:

JSONC
{
  "images": {
    "binding": "IMAGES", // available in your Worker on env.IMAGES
  },
}

Within your Worker code, you can manage hosted images using the env.IMAGES.hosted namespace.

Methods

The env.IMAGES.hosted namespace lets you upload and list images across your account. To manage a specific image, call .image(imageId) to get a handle, then call a method on it.

.upload(image, options)

Uploads a new image to your account. You can pass image bytes as a stream or an ArrayBuffer. Returns ImageMetadata.

Accepts the following options as an ImageUploadOptions object:

  • id string — A custom ID to assign to the image. If omitted, Cloudflare generates a UUID. Refer to Upload to a custom path.
  • filename string — The filename to associate with the image.
  • requireSignedURLs boolean — Sets whether the image should require a signed URL to view. Defaults to false.
  • metadata Record<string, unknown> — Arbitrary metadata to store alongside the image.
  • creator string — A user-defined identifier for the image creator.
  • encoding 'base64' — Set to base64 if the provided bytes are base64-encoded. The binding will decode them before upload.

.list(options)

Lists images in your account with pagination. Returns ImageList.

Accepts the following options as an ImageListOptions object:

  • limit number — The maximum number of images to return in a page.
  • cursor string — The continuation token returned by the previous list() call. Omit on the first page.
  • sortOrder 'asc' | 'desc' — The order to sort results in by uploaded timestamp. Defaults to asc.
  • creator string — Filter results to images uploaded with this creator identifier.

.image(imageId)

Returns a handle for a single hosted image. The imageId can be the Cloudflare-generated UUID or a custom ID.

The handle itself does not make a network request, so it is cheap to construct.

.image(imageId).details()

Gets the metadata for an image. Returns ImageMetadata or null if no image with the given ID exists.

.image(imageId).bytes()

Gets the raw bytes of an image. Returns ReadableStream<Uint8Array> or null if no image with the given ID exists. This streams the original uploaded file. Pass the image bytes to .input() to optimize before serving, or use the URLs returned in ImageMetadata.variants or the image delivery URL to serve a predefined variant.

.image(imageId).update(options)

Updates the metadata or access controls for an image. All fields are optional; only the specified fields will be changed. Returns ImageMetadata with the updated values.

Accepts the following options as an ImageUpdateOptions object:

  • requireSignedURLs boolean — Whether signed URLs should be required to view the image. Cannot be set to true on an image that was uploaded with a custom ID.
  • metadata Record<string, unknown> — Replacement metadata for the image. This replaces the existing metadata rather than merging into it.
  • creator string — A user-defined identifier for the image creator.

.image(imageId).delete()

Deletes an image. Returns true if the image was deleted or false if no image with the given ID existed.

Examples

Upload an image from a request body

JavaScript
export default {
  async fetch(request, env) {
    if (!request.body) {
      return new Response("Missing body", { status: 400 });
    }


    const image = await env.IMAGES.hosted.upload(request.body, {
      filename: "upload.jpg",
      metadata: { source: "worker" },
      requireSignedURLs: false,
    });


    return Response.json(image);
  },
};

Upload a base64-encoded image

Set encoding: "base64" and the binding will decode the body for you before uploading.

JavaScript
export default {
  async fetch(request, env) {
    if (!request.body) {
      return new Response("Missing body", { status: 400 });
    }


    const image = await env.IMAGES.hosted.upload(request.body, {
      encoding: "base64",
      filename: "upload.png",
    });


    return Response.json(image);
  },
};

List images with pagination

JavaScript
export default {
  async fetch(request, env) {
    let cursor;
    const ids = [];


    do {
      const page = await env.IMAGES.hosted.list({ limit: 100, cursor });
      ids.push(...page.images.map((image) => image.id));
      cursor = page.cursor;
    } while (cursor);


    return Response.json({ count: ids.length, ids });
  },
};

Get the details for a single image

JavaScript
export default {
  async fetch(request, env) {
    const details = await env.IMAGES.hosted.image("IMAGE_ID").details();
    if (!details) {
      return new Response("Not found", { status: 404 });
    }
    return Response.json(details);
  },
};

Stream the original bytes for an image

JavaScript
export default {
  async fetch(request, env) {
    const bytes = await env.IMAGES.hosted.image("IMAGE_ID").bytes();
    if (!bytes) {
      return new Response("Not found", { status: 404 });
    }
    return new Response(bytes);
  },
};

Update image metadata

JavaScript
export default {
  async fetch(request, env) {
    const updated = await env.IMAGES.hosted.image("IMAGE_ID").update({
      metadata: { reviewed: true },
    });
    return Response.json(updated);
  },
};

Delete an image

JavaScript
export default {
  async fetch(request, env) {
    const deleted = await env.IMAGES.hosted.image("IMAGE_ID").delete();
    return new Response(deleted ? "Deleted" : "Not found", {
      status: deleted ? 200 : 404,
    });
  },
};

Ingest a remote image into Images storage

This example fetches an image from a remote URL, uploads it into your Images account, and returns the first variant URL.

JavaScript
export default {
  async fetch(request, env) {
    const upstream = await fetch("https://example.com/photo.jpg");
    if (!upstream.ok || !upstream.body) {
      return new Response("Upstream fetch failed", { status: 502 });
    }


    const image = await env.IMAGES.hosted.upload(upstream.body, {
      filename: "photo.jpg",
      metadata: { source: "example.com" },
    });


    return Response.json({
      id: image.id,
      variant: image.variants[0],
    });
  },
};

Type definitions

ImageMetadata

Returned by operations that retrieve, create, or update an image.

  • id string
    • The unique identifier for the image.
  • filename string optional
    • The original filename supplied at upload time.
  • uploaded string optional
    • The date and time the image was uploaded, as an ISO 8601 string.
  • requireSignedURLs boolean
  • meta Record<string, unknown> optional
    • User-supplied metadata associated with the image.
  • variants Array<string>
    • Fully-formed URLs for each variant configured on your account. Refer to Create variants.
  • draft boolean optional
    • Whether the image is in a draft state (no bytes uploaded yet). Drafts are typically only seen on accounts using Direct Creator Uploads.
  • creator string optional
    • A user-defined identifier for the image creator.

ImageList

Returned by list().

  • images Array<ImageMetadata>
    • The images in this page of results.
  • cursor string optional
    • A continuation token to pass to the next list() call. Only present when there are more results.
  • listComplete boolean
    • true when there are no further pages, false otherwise.

Error handling

Methods that fail throw an ImagesError — .upload(), .list(), .update() — with the following properties:

  • code number
    • A numeric error code that identifies the failure mode.
  • message string
    • A human-readable description of the error.

Methods that fetch a single image — .details(), .bytes(), and .delete() — return null or false for "not found" rather than throwing.

You may want to wrap operations that can throw in a try...catch block.

Local development

When you run wrangler dev, operations for managing hosted images are served by a local mock that stores images in an embedded KV namespace. The mock supports every method documented on this page, so you can develop and test your Worker offline.

The mock is only suitable for local development. To exercise the real Images service from your local environment, run wrangler dev --remote.