Node.js SDK
Last updated: Aug-27-2023
This page provides an in-depth introduction to the Node.js SDK.
Overview
Cloudinary's Node.js SDK provides simple, yet comprehensive image and video upload, transformation, optimization, and delivery capabilities that you can implement using code that integrates seamlessly with your existing Node.js application.
For details on all new features and fixes from previous versions, see the CHANGELOG.
Quick example: Transformations
Take a look at the following transformation code and the image it delivers:

This relatively simple code performs all of the following on the original front_face.jpg image before delivering it:
- Crop to a 150x150 thumbnail using face-detection gravity to automatically determine the location for the crop
- Round the corners with a 20 pixel radius
- Apply a sepia effect
- Overlay the Cloudinary logo on the southeast corner of the image (with a slight offset). The logo is scaled down to a 50 pixel width, with increased brightness and partial transparency (opacity = 60%)
- Rotate the resulting image (including the overlay) by 10 degrees
- Convert and deliver the image in PNG format (the originally uploaded image was a JPG)
And here's the URL that would be included in the image tag that's automatically generated from the above code:
In a similar way, you can transform a video.
- See all possible transformations in the Transformation URL API reference.
- See more examples of image and video transformations using the Cloudinary Node.js library.
Quick example: File upload
The following Node.js code uploads the dog.mp4
video to the specified sub-folder using the public_id, my_dog
. The video will overwrite the existing my_dog
video if it exists. When the video upload is complete, the specified notification URL will receive details about the uploaded media asset.
Node.js SDK features
- Build URLs for image and video transformation
- Node.js helper methods for embedding and transforming images
- API wrappers: file upload, administration, sprite generation and more
- Server-side file upload + direct unsigned file upload from the browser using the jQuery plugin
- TypeScript support. View the TypeScript declaration file.
Node.js SDK installation and configuration video tutorial
Watch this video tutorial to see how to install and configure the Node.js SDK:
Tutorial contents
Installation and setup
Cloudinary's Node.js integration library is available as an open-source NPM. To install the Cloudinary NPM, run:
Include Cloudinary's Node.js classes in your code:
cloudinary.v2...
. In your own code, it is recommended to include v2
of the Node.js classes as follows:
Alternatively, from within a module, you can use an ES6 import statement:
Following either of these, your upload and Admin API calls should omit the .v2
shown in the code examples of this guide.
For example, a simple image upload:
Configuration
To use the Cloudinary Node.js library, you have to configure at least your cloud_name
. Your api_key
and api_secret
are also needed for secure API calls to Cloudinary (e.g., image and video uploads). You can find your product environment configuration credentials in the Dashboard page of the Cloudinary Console.
In addition to the required configuration parameters, you can define a number of optional configuration parameters if relevant.
Setting the configuration parameters can be done globally, using either an environment variable or the config
method, or programmatically in each call to a Cloudinary method. Parameters set in a call to a Cloudinary method override globally set parameters.
secure
configuration parameter is false
. However, for most modern applications, it's recommended to configure the secure
parameter to true
to ensure that your transformation URLs are always generated as HTTPS.Setting the CLOUDINARY_URL environment variable
You can configure the required cloud_name
, api_key
, and api_secret
by defining the CLOUDINARY_URL environment variable. The CLOUDINARY_URL value is available in the Dashboard page of the Cloudinary Console. When using Cloudinary through a PaaS add-on (e.g., Heroku or AppFog), this environment variable is automatically defined in your deployment environment. For example:
Set additional parameters, for example upload_prefix and cname, to the environment variable:
Setting configuration parameters globally
Here's an example of setting configuration parameters globally in your Node application:
Node.js capitalization and data type guidelines
When using the Node.js SDK, keep these guidelines in mind:
- Parameter names:
snake_case
. For example: public_id - Classes:
PascalCase
. For example: PreloadedFile - Methods:
snake_case
. For example: image_upload_tag - Pass parameter data as:
Object
Sample projects
For additional useful code samples and to learn how to integrate Cloudinary with your Node.js applications, take a look at our Sample Projects.
- Basic Node.js sample: Uploading local and remote images to Cloudinary and generating various transformation URLs.
- Node.js Photo Album: A fully working web application that allows you to upload photos, maintain a database with references, list images with their metadata, and display them using various cloud-based transformations. Image uploading is performed both from the server side and directly from the browser using a jQuery plugin.
- Try out the Node.js SDK using the quick start.
- Learn more about uploading images and videos using the Node.js SDK.
- See examples of powerful image and video transformations using Node.js code, and see our image transformations and video transformation docs.
- Check out Cloudinary's asset administration capabilities, for example, renaming and deleting assets, adding tags and metadata to assets, and searching for assets.
- Stay tuned for updates, tips and tutorials in Product Updates and Blog Posts.