Parse Server S3 File Adapter

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The official AWS S3 file storage adapter for Parse Server. See Parse Server S3 File Adapter Configuration for more details.

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• Getting Started
  • Installation
  • Compatibility
    • Parse Server
    • Node.js
  • AWS Credentials
  • Deprecated Configuration
• Usage with Parse Server
  • Parameters
  • Using a Config File
  • Using Environment Variables
  • Passing as an Instance
  • Adding Metadata and Tags
• Compatibility with other Storage Providers
  • Digital Ocean Spaces

Getting Started

Installation

npm install --save @parse/s3-files-adapter

Compatibility

Parse Server

Version	End-of-Life	Compatible
<=5	December 2023	✅ Yes
6	December 2024	✅ Yes
7	December 2025	✅ Yes

Node.js

This product is continuously tested with the most recent releases of Node.js to ensure compatibility. We follow the Node.js Long Term Support plan and only test against versions that are officially supported and have not reached their end-of-life date.

Version	Latest Version	End-of-Life	Compatible
Node.js 18	18.20.4	April 2025	✅ Yes
Node.js 20	20.15.1	April 2026	✅ Yes
Node.js 22	22.4.1	April 2027	✅ Yes

AWS Credentials

⚠️ The ability to explicitly pass credentials to this adapter is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.

You may already be compatible with this change. If you have not explicitly set an accessKey and secretKey and you have configured the environment variables AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, then you're all set and this will continue to work as is.

If you explicitly configured the environment variables S3_ACCESS_KEY S3_SECRET_KEY

OR

If you explicitly configured the accessKey and secretKey in your adapter configuration, then you'll need to...

For non AWS hosts:

• Run aws configure in a terminal which will step you through configuring credentials for the AWS SDK and CLI

For an AWS host:

• Ensure that the role that your host is running as has permissions for your s3 bucket

Then

• remove the accessKey and secretKey from your configuration

If for some reason you really need to be able to set the key and secret explicitly, you can still do it using s3overrides as described below and setting accessKeyId and secretAccessKey in the s3Overrides object.

Deprecated Configuration

Although it is not recommended, AWS credentials can be explicitly configured through an options object, constructor string arguments or environment variables (see below). This option is provided for backward compatibility and will be removed in the forthcoming version 2.0 of this adapter.

The preferred method is to use the default AWS credentials pattern. If no AWS credentials are explicitly configured, the AWS SDK will look for credentials in the standard locations used by all AWS SDKs and the AWS CLI. More info can be found in the docs. For more information on AWS best practices, see IAM Best Practices User Guide.

Usage with Parse Server

Parameters

(This list is still incomplete and in the works, in the meantime find more descriptions in the chapters below.)

Parameter	Optional	Default value	Environment variable	Description
fileAcl	yes	undefined	S3_FILE_ACL	Sets the Canned ACL of the file when storing it in the S3 bucket. Setting this parameter overrides the file ACL that would otherwise depend on the directAccess parameter. Setting the value 'none' causes any ACL parameter to be removed that would otherwise be set.
presignedUrl	yes	false	S3_PRESIGNED_URL	If true a presigned URL is returned when requesting the URL of file. The URL is only valid for a specified duration, see parameter presignedUrlExpires.
presignedUrlExpires	yes	undefined	S3_PRESIGNED_URL_EXPIRES	Sets the duration in seconds after which the presigned URL of the file expires. If no value is set, the AWS S3 SDK default Expires value applies. This parameter requires presignedUrl to be true.

Using a Config File

{
  "appId": 'my_app_id',
  "masterKey": 'my_master_key',
  // other options
  "filesAdapter": {
    "module": "@parse/s3-files-adapter",
    "options": {
      "bucket": "my_bucket",
      // optional:
      "region": 'us-east-1', // default value
      "bucketPrefix": '', // default value
      "directAccess": false, // default value
      "fileAcl": null, // default value
      "baseUrl": null, // default value
      "baseUrlDirect": false, // default value
      "signatureVersion": 'v4', // default value
      "globalCacheControl": null, // default value. Or 'public, max-age=86400' for 24 hrs Cache-Control
      "presignedUrl": false, // Optional. If true a presigned URL is returned when requesting the URL of file. The URL is only valid for a specified duration, see parameter `presignedUrlExpires`. Default is false.
      "presignedUrlExpires": null, // Optional. Sets the duration in seconds after which the presigned URL of the file expires. Defaults to the AWS S3 SDK default Expires value.
      "ServerSideEncryption": 'AES256|aws:kms', //AES256 or aws:kms, or if you do not pass this, encryption won't be done
      "validateFilename": null, // Default to parse-server FilesAdapter::validateFilename.
      "generateKey": null // Will default to Parse.FilesController.preserveFileName
    }
  }
}

Note By default Parse.FilesController.preserveFileName will prefix all filenames with a random hex code. You will want to disable that if you enable it here or wish to use S3 "directories".

Using Environment Variables

Set your environment variables:

S3_BUCKET=bucketName

the following optional configuration can be set by environment variable too:

S3_SIGNATURE_VERSION=v4

And update your config / options

{
  "appId": 'my_app_id',
  "masterKey": 'my_master_key',
  // other options
  "filesAdapter": "@parse/s3-files-adapter"
}

Passing as an Instance

var S3Adapter = require('@parse/s3-files-adapter');

var s3Adapter = new S3Adapter(
  'accessKey',
  'secretKey',
  'bucket',
  {
    region: 'us-east-1'
    bucketPrefix: '',
    directAccess: false,
    baseUrl: 'http://images.example.com',
    signatureVersion: 'v4',
    globalCacheControl: 'public, max-age=86400',  // 24 hrs Cache-Control.
    presignedUrl: false,
    presignedUrlExpires: 900,
    validateFilename: (filename) => {
      if (filename.length > 1024) {
          return 'Filename too long.';
        }
        return null; // Return null on success
    },
    generateKey: (filename) => {
      return `${Date.now()}_${filename}`; // unique prefix for every filename
    }
  }
);

var api = new ParseServer({
  appId: 'my_app',
  masterKey: 'master_key',
  filesAdapter: s3adapter
})

Note: there are a few ways you can pass arguments:

S3Adapter("bucket")
S3Adapter("bucket", options)
S3Adapter("key", "secret", "bucket") -- Deprecated, see notice above
S3Adapter("key", "secret", "bucket", options) -- Deprecated, see notice above
S3Adapter(options) // where options must contain bucket.
S3Adapter(options, s3overrides)

If you use the last form, s3overrides are the parameters passed to AWS.S3.

In this form if you set s3overrides.params, you must set at least s3overrides.params.Bucket

or with an options hash

var S3Adapter = require('@parse/s3-files-adapter');

var s3Options = {
  "bucket": "my_bucket",
  // optional:
  "region": 'us-east-1', // default value
  "bucketPrefix": '', // default value
  "directAccess": false, // default value
  "baseUrl": null // default value
  "signatureVersion": 'v4', // default value
  "globalCacheControl": null, // default value. Or 'public, max-age=86400' for 24 hrs Cache-Control
  "presignedUrl": false, // default value
  "presignedUrlExpires": 900, // default value (900 seconds)
  "validateFilename": () => null, // Anything goes!
  "generateKey": (filename) => filename,  // Ensure Parse.FilesController.preserveFileName is true!
}

var s3Adapter = new S3Adapter(s3Options);

var api = new ParseServer({
  appId: 'my_app',
  masterKey: 'master_key',
  filesAdapter: s3Adapter
})

Adding Metadata and Tags

Use the optional options argument to add Metadata and/or Tags to S3 objects

const S3Adapter = require('@parse/s3-files-adapter');

const s3Options = {}; // Add correct options
const s3Adapter = new S3Adapter(s3Options);

const filename = 'Fictional_Characters.txt';
const data = 'That\'s All Folks!';
const contentType = 'text/plain';
const tags = {
  createdBy: 'Elmer Fudd',
  owner: 'Popeye'
};
const metadata = {
  source: 'Mickey Mouse'
};
const options = { tags, metadata };
s3Adapter.createFile(filename, data, contentType, options);

Note: This adapter will automatically add the "x-amz-meta-" prefix to the beginning of metadata tags as stated in S3 Documentation.

Compatibility with other Storage Providers

Digital Ocean Spaces

var S3Adapter = require("@parse/s3-files-adapter");
var AWS = require("aws-sdk");

//Configure Digital Ocean Spaces EndPoint
const spacesEndpoint = new AWS.Endpoint(process.env.SPACES_ENDPOINT);
var s3Options = {
  bucket: process.env.SPACES_BUCKET_NAME,
  baseUrl: process.env.SPACES_BASE_URL,
  region: process.env.SPACES_REGION,
  directAccess: true,
  globalCacheControl: "public, max-age=31536000",
  presignedUrl: false,
  presignedUrlExpires: 900,
  bucketPrefix: process.env.SPACES_BUCKET_PREFIX,
  s3overrides: {
    accessKeyId: process.env.SPACES_ACCESS_KEY,
    secretAccessKey: process.env.SPACES_SECRET_KEY,
    endpoint: spacesEndpoint
  }
};

var s3Adapter = new S3Adapter(s3Options);

var api = new ParseServer({
  databaseURI: process.env.DATABASE_URI || "mongodb://localhost:27017/dev",
  cloud: process.env.CLOUD_CODE_MAIN || __dirname + "/cloud/main.js",
  appId: process.env.APP_ID || "myAppId",
  masterKey: process.env.MASTER_KEY || "",
  serverURL: process.env.SERVER_URL || "http://localhost:1337/parse",
  logLevel: process.env.LOG_LEVEL || "info",
  allowClientClassCreation: false,
  filesAdapter: s3Adapter
});