---
layout: post
title: "Create your first Appwrite Storage bucket and upload a file"
description: "Create an Appwrite Storage bucket, choose who can upload and see files, then upload a file from your app and show it to your users."
date: 2026-11-03
cover: /images/blog/upload-your-first-file-to-appwrite-storage/cover.avif
timeToRead: 4
author: atharva
category: tutorials
featured: false
faqs:
  - question: "What is the difference between getFileView, getFileDownload and getFilePreview?"
    answer: "getFileView shows the file in the browser, which suits img and video tags and PDFs. getFileDownload sends the file as a download with its original name. getFilePreview returns a resized or converted image, and on Appwrite Cloud it needs the Pro or Scale plan. In the Web SDK, all three return a URL string."
  - question: "How do I make one file in my bucket public?"
    answer: "Open the file on the bucket's **Files** tab, go to its **Permissions** tab, add the **Any** role with **Read**, and click **Update**. Anyone with the file's URL can then see it, signed in or not."
  - question: "How large can an uploaded file be?"
    answer: "Up to the bucket's **Maximum file size**, which you set on its **Settings** tab. Your plan sets the ceiling: 50 MB on Free and 5 GB on Pro. The SDK uploads large files in chunks for you."
  - question: "How do I share a private file with someone who has no account?"
    answer: "Create a file token on the file's **Tokens** tab in the Console and copy its URL. Anyone with that URL can open that one file, so pick an expiry when you create it. See [File tokens](/docs/products/storage/file-tokens)."
---

Appwrite Storage holds the files your users upload, like profile photos, receipts, and documents, and serves them back to your app. Files live in **buckets**, and each bucket decides who can upload to it and who can see what's inside.

In this guide, you'll create a bucket, let signed-in users upload to it, and show an uploaded image in your app. Each file is visible only to the user who uploaded it.

**Building with an AI coding agent?**

Your agent can do every step in this guide for you through the Appwrite MCP server. [Connect your AI coding agent to Appwrite](/blog/post/connect-ai-coding-assistant-to-appwrite), then describe what you want in the chat.

You need an Appwrite project and a web app where your users can sign in. If you don't have them yet, the [Web quick start](/docs/quick-starts/web) sets up both.

# Step 1: Create a bucket

![Create bucket dialog with the name Uploads and the bucket ID uploads](/images/blog/upload-your-first-file-to-appwrite-storage/create-bucket.avif)

1. Open your project in the [Console](/sign-in), go to **Storage**, and click **Create bucket**.
2. Enter a **Name**, such as `Uploads`.
3. Under **Bucket ID**, click **Auto-generated** and type `uploads`. Your app uses this ID to reach the bucket.
4. Click **Create**.

The bucket opens on its **Files** tab. On its **Settings** tab, you can set the **Maximum file size** and the **File extensions** it accepts, such as `jpg`, `png`, and `pdf`.

# Step 2: Choose who can upload and see files

![Bucket Security tab with All users granted only Create and File level security turned on](/images/blog/upload-your-first-file-to-appwrite-storage/bucket-security.avif)

A new bucket starts with no permissions, so you decide who gets in. Open the bucket's **Security** tab:

1. Under **Permissions**, click **Add role**, choose **All users**, tick **Create**, and click **Update**.
2. Turn on **File level security** and click **Update**.

**All users** means anyone signed in to your app, so your users can now upload. File level security gives each file its own permissions.

When a user uploads a file, Appwrite gives that user read, update, and delete access to it. Each user sees only their own files.

# Step 3: Upload a file from your app

![Files tab of the Uploads bucket with fjord-viewpoint.jpg open on its Permissions tab, where Priya Sharma has Read, Update and Delete](/images/blog/upload-your-first-file-to-appwrite-storage/file-permissions.avif)

Add a file input to your page, and send the file your user picks to the bucket with `createFile`:

```js
import { Client, Storage, ID } from 'appwrite';

const client = new Client()
    .setEndpoint('https://<REGION>.cloud.appwrite.io/v1')
    .setProject('<PROJECT_ID>');

const storage = new Storage(client);

// Your page has <input type="file" id="uploader">
const input = document.getElementById('uploader');

input.addEventListener('change', async () => {
    const uploaded = await storage.createFile({
        bucketId: 'uploads',
        fileId: ID.unique(),
        file: input.files[0]
    });

    console.log(uploaded.$id);
});
```

Sign in to your app and pick an image. It appears on the bucket's **Files** tab, and its **Permissions** tab shows the user who uploaded it.

Save `uploaded.$id` with the record it belongs to, such as the user's profile, so your app can show the file later. The SDK uploads large files in chunks for you.

# Step 4: Show the file in your app

Pass the file ID to `getFileView` to get the file's URL, and use it as the image source:

```js
const url = storage.getFileView({
    bucketId: 'uploads',
    fileId: '<FILE_ID>'
});

document.getElementById('photo').src = url;
```

`getFileView` builds the URL without making a request, so you can use it in an `<img>`, a `<video>`, or a link that opens a PDF. For a download button, call `getFileDownload` the same way. It sends the file with its original name.

Your users now see the images they uploaded, right in your app.

For thumbnails and avatars, you don't need the full-size original. On the Pro and Scale plans, `getFilePreview` takes the same IDs plus a `width` and returns a resized image. See [Image transformations](/docs/products/storage/images).

# Keep building

Your bucket is ready for your users' uploads. These guides take it further:

- [Create your first Appwrite database](/blog/post/create-your-first-appwrite-database) to store each file ID with the row it belongs to.
- [Image transformations](/docs/products/storage/images) to resize and convert images, such as to WebP.
- [File tokens](/docs/products/storage/file-tokens) to share a file with someone who has no account.
- [Storage permissions](/docs/products/storage/permissions) to see how bucket and file permissions work together.