> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cloudinary.com/documentation/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Upload assets with Server Actions in a Next.js app (video tutorial)

[githublink]: https://github.com/cloudinary-community/cloudinary-examples/tree/main/examples/nextjs-server-actions-upload

## Overview

Add asset upload capabilities to your Next.js application using Server Actions. 

## Video tutorial

  This video is brought to you by Cloudinary's video player - embed your own!Use the controls to set the playback speed, navigate to chapters of interest and select subtitles in your preferred language.

> **TIP**: :title=View the code

You can find the code from this tutorial in [GitHub][githublink].
## Tutorial contents
This tutorial presents the following topics. Click a timestamp to jump to that part of the video.
### Introduction to Server Actions
{table:class=tutorial-bullets}|  | 
| --- | --- |
|{videotime:id=media :min=0 :sec=00 :player=cld} | Server Actions allow you to add server-side capabilities to your Next.js or React app. In this tutorial you'll learn how to upload files to Cloudinary inside a Server Action.

### Using Server Components
{table:class=tutorial-bullets}|  | 
| --- | --- |
|{videotime:id=media :min=0 :sec=12 :player=cld} | Server Actions are built on top of React Actions and give you server-side capabilities inside of a component. Use Server Components to make your app more performant and leverage other benefits. 
|

### Create a Server Action
{table:class=tutorial-bullets}|  | 
| --- | --- |
|{videotime:id=media :min=1 :sec=21 :player=cld} | In your Next.js app, create a new async function to be your Server Action, and pass the form data to the function to get the image to upload.  Note that `image` is the name assigned to the form input.
|

```js
async function create(formData: FormData) {
  'use server';
  const file = formData.get('image');
}
```

### Convert the image to a buffer
{table:class=tutorial-bullets}|  | 
| --- | --- |
|{videotime:id=media :min=2 :sec=50 :player=cld} | To upload the image to Cloudinary you need to turn the file into an array of bytes using an `ArrayBuffer`.
|

```js
async function create(formData: FormData) {
  'use server';
  const file = formData.get('image') as File;
  const arrayBuffer = await file.arrayBuffer();
  const buffer = new Uint8Array(arrayBuffer);
}
```

### Upload the image to Cloudinary
{table:class=tutorial-bullets}|  | 
| --- | --- |
|{videotime:id=media :min=3 :sec=22 :player=cld} | To upload the image to Cloudinary, use the [Node.js SDK](node_integration). [Install and configure](node_configuration_tutorial) the Node.js SDK, then use the [upload_stream](node_image_and_video_upload#node_js_upload_stream) method, wrapped in a promise, to upload the image.
|

```js
async function create(formData: FormData) {
  'use server';
  const file = formData.get('image') as File;
  const arrayBuffer = await file.arrayBuffer();
  const buffer = new Uint8Array(arrayBuffer);
  await new Promise ((resolve, reject) => {
    cloudinary.uploader.upload_stream({}, function (error, result){
      if ( error ) {
        reject(error);
        return;
      }
      resolve(result);
    }).end(buffer);
  })
}
```

### Display the uploaded images
{table:class=tutorial-bullets}|  | 
| --- | --- |
|{videotime:id=media :min=4 :sec=43 :player=cld} | The images that are displayed on the site are selected based on a tag. Ensure that the uploaded files have that same tag by adding it to the upload call. Then make sure to invalidate and refresh the page, using `revalidatePath` so the new images are displayed.
|

```js
import { revalidatePath } from 'next/cache';

...

async function create(formData: FormData) {
  'use server';
  const file = formData.get('image') as File;
  const arrayBuffer = await file.arrayBuffer();
  const buffer = new Uint8Array(arrayBuffer);
  await new Promise ((resolve, reject) => {
    cloudinary.uploader.upload_stream({tags: ['nextjs-server-actions-upload-sneakers']}, function (error, result){
      if ( error ) {
        reject(error);
        return;
      }
      resolve(result);
    }).end(buffer);
  })
  revalidatePath('/');
}
```

## Keep learning

> **READING**:
>
> * Find all upload options in the [Upload API reference](image_upload_api_reference).

> * See what's possible with the [Cloudinary Next.js SDK](nextjs_integration).

> * Watch more [Dev Hints videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dVGjLA2oMpaTbvoKCaRNBMQzBUIv7N8) on the [Cloudinary YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/cloudinary).

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