Next.js (Legacy) Page Router Setup

No shame in using Page Router still! We still use it for a lot of things at Ping 😊. If your code is still mostly served from the pages/ directory, this is where you want to be

Setting up your environment

Install the packages

npm install uploadthing @uploadthing/react

Add env variables

UPLOADTHING_SECRET=... # A secret key for your app (starts with sk_live_)

⚠️

If you don't already have a uploadthing secret key, sign up (opens in a new tab) and create one from the dashboard! (opens in a new tab)

Set Up A FileRouter

Creating your first FileRoute

All files uploaded to uploadthing are associated with a FileRoute. The following is a very minimalistic example, with a single FileRoute "imageUploader". Think of a FileRoute similar to an endpoint, it has:

Permitted types ["image", "video", etc]
Max file size
(Optional) middleware to authenticate and tag requests
onUploadComplete callback for when uploads are completed

To get full insight into what you can do with the FileRoutes, please refer to the File Router API.

server/uploadthing.ts

import type { NextApiRequest, NextApiResponse } from "next";
 
import { createUploadthing, type FileRouter } from "uploadthing/next-legacy";
import { UploadThingError } from "uploadthing/server";
 
const f = createUploadthing();
 
const auth = (req: NextApiRequest, res: NextApiResponse) => ({ id: "fakeId" }); // Fake auth function
 
// FileRouter for your app, can contain multiple FileRoutes
export const ourFileRouter = {
  // Define as many FileRoutes as you like, each with a unique routeSlug
  imageUploader: f({ image: { maxFileSize: "4MB" } })
    // Set permissions and file types for this FileRoute
    .middleware(async ({ req, res }) => {
      // This code runs on your server before upload
      const user = await auth(req, res);
 
      // If you throw, the user will not be able to upload
      if (!user) throw new UploadThingError("Unauthorized");
 
      // Whatever is returned here is accessible in onUploadComplete as `metadata`
      return { userId: user.id };
    })
    .onUploadComplete(async ({ metadata, file }) => {
      // This code RUNS ON YOUR SERVER after upload
      console.log("Upload complete for userId:", metadata.userId);
 
      console.log("file url", file.url);
 
      // !!! Whatever is returned here is sent to the clientside `onClientUploadComplete` callback
      return { uploadedBy: metadata.userId };
    }),
} satisfies FileRouter;
 
export type OurFileRouter = typeof ourFileRouter;

Create a Next.js API route using the FileRouter

File path here doesn't matter, you can serve this from any route. We recommend serving it from /api/uploadthing.

pages/api/uploadthing.ts

import { createRouteHandler } from "uploadthing/next-legacy";
 
import { ourFileRouter } from "~/server/uploadthing";
 
export default createRouteHandler({
  router: ourFileRouter,
 
  // Apply an (optional) custom config:
  // config: { ... },
});

See configuration options in server API reference

Add UploadThing's Styles

Wrap your Tailwind config with the withUt helper. You can learn more about our Tailwind helper in the "Theming" page

tailwind.config.ts

import { withUt } from "uploadthing/tw";
 
export default withUt({
  // Your existing Tailwind config
  content: ["./src/**/*.{ts,tsx,mdx}"],
  ...
});

Create The UploadThing Components (Recommended)

src/utils/uploadthing.ts

import {
  generateUploadButton,
  generateUploadDropzone,
} from "@uploadthing/react";
 
import type { OurFileRouter } from "~/server/uploadthing";
 
export const UploadButton = generateUploadButton<OurFileRouter>();
export const UploadDropzone = generateUploadDropzone<OurFileRouter>();

Mount A Button And Upload!

The @uploadthing/react package includes an "UploadButton" component that you can simply drop into your app, and start uploading files immediately.

app/example-uploader.tsx

import { UploadButton } from "~/utils/uploadthing";
 
export default function Home() {
  return (
    <main className="flex min-h-screen flex-col items-center justify-between p-24">
      <UploadButton
        endpoint="imageUploader"
        onClientUploadComplete={(res) => {
          // Do something with the response
          console.log("Files: ", res);
          alert("Upload Completed");
        }}
        onUploadError={(error: Error) => {
          // Do something with the error.
          alert(`ERROR! ${error.message}`);
        }}
      />
    </main>
  );
}

🎉 You're Done!

Want to customize the components? Check out the "Theming" page

Want to make your own components? Check out our useUploadThing hook