Currently, all S3 compatible storage providers are supported, including AWS S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, Cloudflare R2, Supabase Storage, and others. Here’s how to switch the default storage provider to AWS S3 compatible. You can learn more about S3 service configuration in the official AWS documentation or your specific storage provider’s documentation.

​
Permissions

Before you start managing files, make sure you have configured storage. Most S3-compatible storage providers allow you to configure bucket permissions and access policies. It’s crucial to properly set these up to secure your files and control who can access them. Here are some key security recommendations:
  • Keep your bucket private by default
  • Use IAM roles and policies to manage access
  • Enable server-side encryption for sensitive data
  • Configure CORS settings appropriately for client-side uploads
  • Regularly audit bucket permissions and access logs
  • Making your bucket public is strongly discouraged as it can expose sensitive data and lead to unauthorized access and unexpected costs from bandwidth usage.
For detailed guidance on configuring bucket policies and permissions, refer to your storage provider’s documentation:

​
1. Update the environment variables

Next, add these environment variables to your .env.local file:
apps/app/.env

// Add this:
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=""
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=""
AWS_BUCKET_NAME=""
AWS_REGION=""
AWS_ENDPOINT=""

​
2. Update the existing storage files

Update the index.ts and client.ts to use the new uploadthing packages:
packages/storage/index.ts
export * from './providers/s3';

​
3. Prepare upload endpoint

As explained on the overview page, ShipThing uses the presigned URLs to upload files to your storage provider. So what we need to do first is to implement the api/signed-upload-url API route to be able to upload files to the documents bucket.
apps/api/server/api/routes/upload/index.ts
export const uploadsRouter = new Hono().basePath("/uploads").post(
	"/signed-upload-url",
    // using the authMiddleware will make sure the user is authenticated
	authMiddlewareWrap,
	validator(
		"query",
		z.object({
			bucket: z.string().min(1),
			path: z.string().min(1),
		}),
	),
 // ...
	async (c) => {
		const { bucket, path } = c.req.valid("query");
 
  // ...
 
	  const signedUrl = await getSignedUploadUrl(path, { bucket });
		return c.json({ signedUrl });
 
		throw new HTTPException(403);
	},
);

​
4. Upload files from the UI

Then, you can use it to upload files to the generated presigned URL from your frontend code:
upload.tsx
const upload = useMutation({
    mutationFn: async (data: { file?: File }) => {
      const extension = data.file?.type.split("/").pop();
      const path = `files/${crypto.randomUUID()}.${extension}`;
 
      const { url: uploadUrl } = await handle(api.upload.signedUploadUrl.$get)({
        query: { path },
      });
 
      const response = await fetch(uploadUrl, {
        method: "PUT",
        body: data.file,
        headers: {
          "Content-Type": data.file?.type ?? "",
        },
      });
 
      if (!response.ok) {
        throw new Error("Failed to upload file!");
      }
    },
    onError: (error) => {
      toast.error(error.message});
    },
    onSuccess: async ({ publicUrl, oldImage }, _b, context) => {
      toast.success("File uploaded!");
    },
  });