Adonis Attachment

AdonisJS Attachment — core usage

@jrmc/adonis-attachment turns any field on a Lucid model into an attachment data type. Files are stored through @adonisjs/drive, metadata is saved as JSON in the column, and the package handles persistence, replacement and deletion automatically via model hooks.

Full documentation: https://adonis-attachment.jrmc.dev

Installation

Requires @adonisjs/drive (install and configure it first if missing).

node ace add @jrmc/adonis-attachment

Image variants require sharp (optional peer dependency):

npm install sharp

Database column

The column MUST use a JSON data type (metadata can exceed a string column length):

// migration
this.schema.createTable(this.tableName, (table) => {
  table.increments()
  table.json('avatar')
})

// or alter an existing column
this.schema.alterTable(this.tableName, (table) => {
  table.json('avatar').alter()
})

Model setup

⚠️ Do NOT combine @column() with @attachment() on the same property.

import { BaseModel } from '@adonisjs/lucid/orm'
import { attachment } from '@jrmc/adonis-attachment'
import type { Attachment } from '@jrmc/adonis-attachment/types/attachment'

class User extends BaseModel {
  @attachment()
  declare avatar: Attachment | null
}

Decorator options

class User extends BaseModel {
  @attachment({ folder: 'uploads/avatars', variants: ['thumbnail'], preComputeUrl: true })
  declare avatar: Attachment | null
}

Notes:

• Path params in folder accept string attributes only (lowercased, slugified); :id is not available on first save (autoincrement).
• rename functions can be async and can use :model_attribute placeholders (e.g. ':id.jpg').

Multiple files: @attachments

import { attachments } from '@jrmc/adonis-attachment'

class User extends BaseModel {
  @attachments()
  declare files: Attachment[] | null
}

Accepts the same options. ⚠️ Resource-intensive with many objects — prefer a Lucid hasMany relation with @attachment on the child model for large collections.

Creating attachments (controller)

All factories live on attachmentManager:

import { attachmentManager } from '@jrmc/adonis-attachment'

// From an uploaded file
user.avatar = await attachmentManager.createFromFile(request.file('avatar')!)

// From several uploaded files
user.files = await attachmentManager.createFromFiles(request.files('files'))

// From a Buffer
user.avatar = await attachmentManager.createFromBuffer(buffer, 'photo.jpg')

// From Base64 (data-uri prefix allowed)
user.avatar = await attachmentManager.createFromBase64(b64, 'photo.jpg')

// From a local path
user.avatar = await attachmentManager.createFromPath(app.makePath('me.jpg'), 'photo.jpg')

// From a URL
user.avatar = await attachmentManager.createFromUrl(new URL('https://site.com/picture.jpg'))

// From a stream
user.avatar = await attachmentManager.createFromStream(fs.createReadStream(path), 'video.mkv')

await user.save()

File writing, replacement (old file removal) and deletion on model delete are handled by model hooks — never write to drive manually for these columns.

Deleting a file

user.avatar = null
await user.save()

Serving files

Direct URLs (recommended, SEO-friendly)

Prefer direct drive URLs for public images: the path is stable and descriptive (e.g. /uploads/avatars/xxx.jpg), which is what you want for image SEO. In Edge:

<img src="{{ await user.avatar.getUrl() }}" />
<img src="{{ await user.avatar.getUrl('thumbnail') }}" />
<img src="{{ await user.avatar.getSignedUrl({ expiresIn: '30 mins' }) }}" />
<img src="{{ await user.avatar.getSignedUrl('thumbnail') }}" />

getSignedUrl options: expiresIn, contentType, contentDisposition.

preComputeUrl (Inertia, APIs)

With preComputeUrl: true (decorator or global config), URLs are available synchronously after SELECT queries:

<img src={user.avatar.thumbnail.url} />

For occasional needs, prefer computing on demand instead of enabling it globally:

await attachmentManager.computeUrl(user.avatar)
await attachmentManager.computeUrl(user.avatar.getVariant('thumbnail'), { expiresIn: '30 mins' })

Attachments route (v5+)

router.attachments() serves files through a controller and generates missing variants on the fly (query string ?variant=thumbnail):

// start/routes.ts
import router from '@adonisjs/core/services/router'

router.attachments() // default pattern: '/attachments/:key/:name?'
// custom: router.attachments('/assets/:key/*').as('assets')

<img src="{{ route('attachments', { key: user.avatar.getKeyId(), name: 'image.jpg' }, { qs: { variant: 'thumbnail' } }) }}" />

⚠️ Not recommended for public, SEO-sensitive images: URLs are opaque keys (/attachments/:key) with the variant in a query string, which indexes poorly compared to direct drive URLs. Use this route for private files, back-office screens, or when on-the-fly variant generation is the priority.

Attachment object

Properties: name, originalName, folder, path, size, extname, mimeType, meta (EXIF), url, variants. Methods: getUrl(variant?), getSignedUrl(...), getVariant(name), getKeyId(), getDisk(), getBytes(), getBuffer(), getStream().

Global config

config/attachment.ts — global defaults for meta, rename, preComputeUrl, plus timeout (default 30000 ms), queue.concurrency and converters:

import { defineConfig } from '@jrmc/adonis-attachment'
import { InferConverters } from '@jrmc/adonis-attachment/types/config'

const attachmentConfig = defineConfig({
  preComputeUrl: false,
  meta: true,
  rename: true,
  converters: {
    thumbnail: { resize: 300 },
  },
})

export default attachmentConfig

declare module '@jrmc/adonis-attachment' {
  interface AttachmentVariants extends InferConverters<typeof attachmentConfig> {}
}

For variants, converters (image/video/PDF/document thumbnails, blurhash), queue, events and regeneration, see the adonis-attachment-variants skill or https://adonis-attachment.jrmc.dev/guide/converters/autodetect.html

Error handling

Exceptions are importable: import { errors } from '@jrmc/adonis-attachment' — e.g. E_CANNOT_CREATE_ATTACHMENT, E_ISNOT_BUFFER, E_ISNOT_BASE64, E_CANNOT_CREATE_VARIANT, plus Drive errors (E_CANNOT_WRITE_FILE, ...). Handle them in the app ExceptionHandler.handle() with instanceof.