Digital Asset Management
Upload assets in a React app (video tutorial)
Last updated: Mar-21-2025
Overview
Add asset upload capabilities to your React app using the Cloudinary Upload widget. Learn how to install and configure the Upload widget including how to make the widget work with the intricacies of a React application.
Video tutorial
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You can find the code from this tutorial in GitHub.Tutorial contents
This tutorial presents the following topics. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.
Introduction to the Upload widget
 0:05 |
Cloudinary has many ways to upload files to your Media Library to take advantage of Cloudinary's extensive features and capabilities. In a React app you can use the Upload widget as a quick and easy way to provide a full upload experience. |
Add the Upload widget script to your React app
| 0:24 |
Start with an empty React application and add the Upload widget JavaScript file. Paste the code, which you can find in the Upload widget documentation, into the <head> section of index.html. |
Add a new component for the Upload widget
| 1:15 |
In your components folder, add a new file called UploadWidget.js in which you can create a component for the Upload widget. You can include the component in your App.js file. |
Initialize the Upload widget
| 3:06 |
Use the createUploadWidget method to initialize the widget. Pass in your cloud name (which you can find in the Console Dashboard) and an unsigned upload preset. |
Create an upload preset
| 3:44 |
In your Cloudinary Console, navigate to Settings > Upload > Upload presets to create a new unsigned upload preset. |
Create a callback function
| 4:17 |
Create a new callback function to handle the response from the Upload widget. |
Add a button to open the Upload widget
| 4:32 |
Return a simple button from the component to open the Upload widget when clicked. |
Test it out
| 5:21 |
Click the button to open the Upload widget and upload a file to your Media Library. You can open the Media Library to see that it successfully uploaded. |
Take a look at these code examples:
- Using the Upload widget with upload presets in React
- Using the Upload widget for signed uploads in Next.js
- Using the Upload widget with upload presets in Next.js
Keep learning
Related topics
- Read our Upload widget guide and reference, covering every available parameter option.
- Check out an Upload widget code explorer that you can fork for trying out some sample configuration changes.
- Take a look at our React SDK to learn how to transform your images and videos.
- Watch more Dev Hints videos on the Cloudinary YouTube channel.
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