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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/nayalsaurav/Storx/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Storx uses ImageKit as its file storage and CDN layer. When a user uploads a file, Storx sends the binary data to ImageKit and stores the returned delivery URL in Neon PostgreSQL. All subsequent file access goes directly through the ImageKit CDN — no file bytes are stored in the database or on the Next.js server.

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Creating an ImageKit Account

1

Sign up at imagekit.io

Go to imagekit.io and create a free account. The free tier includes 20 GB of storage and 20 GB of bandwidth per month, which is sufficient for development and small-scale use.
2

Locate your credentials

After signing in, open the Developer Options section in the ImageKit dashboard (or go to Settings → API Keys). You will find:
  • Public Key — safe to use in the browser
  • Private Key — server-only; never expose this to the client
  • URL Endpoint — the base URL for all files in your account, e.g. https://ik.imagekit.io/your_imagekit_id
3

Add the three values to .env.local

.env.local
NEXT_PUBLIC_IMAGEKIT_PUBLIC_KEY=public_...
IMAGEKIT_PRIVATE_KEY=private_...
NEXT_PUBLIC_IMAGEKIT_URL_ENDPOINT=https://ik.imagekit.io/your_imagekit_id

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How Storx Uses ImageKit

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ImageKit Instance

A single ImageKit client is initialised once in lib/imagekit.ts and imported wherever uploads or authentication parameters are needed:
lib/imagekit.ts
import ImageKit from "imagekit";

export const imagekit = new ImageKit({
  publicKey: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_IMAGEKIT_PUBLIC_KEY!,
  privateKey: process.env.IMAGEKIT_PRIVATE_KEY!,
  urlEndpoint: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_IMAGEKIT_URL_ENDPOINT!,
});

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Upload Path Structure

Every file is placed in a deterministic folder path inside ImageKit based on the uploading user’s Clerk ID and the optional parent folder ID:
ScenarioImageKit folder path
File at the root level/storex/{userId}/
File inside a nested folder/storex/{userId}/folder/{parentId}/
The filename itself is a UUID with the original file extension appended (e.g. 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000.pdf). This is generated server-side so filenames are always unique within a folder:
app/api/files/upload/route.ts
const folderPath = parentId
  ? `/storex/${userId}/folder/${parentId}`
  : `/storex/${userId}`;

const filename = `${uuidv4()}.${fileExtension}`;

const uploadResponse = await imagekit.upload({
  file: fileBuffer,
  fileName: filename,
  folder: folderPath,
  useUniqueFileName: false,
});
useUniqueFileName: false is explicitly set because Storx manages uniqueness itself via UUIDs. Letting ImageKit append its own suffix would make the stored filename unpredictable.

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Authentication Parameters

Client-side ImageKit uploads require a short-lived token that proves the request is authorised. Storx exposes a GET /api/imagekit-auth endpoint that:
  1. Validates the caller has an active Clerk session
  2. Calls imagekit.getAuthenticationParameters() on the server (using the private key)
  3. Returns the token, expire time, and signature to the browser
app/api/imagekit-auth/route.ts
import { imagekit } from "@/lib/imagekit";
import { auth } from "@clerk/nextjs/server";
import { NextResponse } from "next/server";

export async function GET() {
  try {
    const { userId } = await auth();
    if (!userId) {
      return NextResponse.json({ error: "unauthorized" }, { status: 401 });
    }

    const authParams = imagekit.getAuthenticationParameters();

    return Response.json({
      authParams,
    });
  } catch (error) {
    return NextResponse.json(
      { error: "failed to generate auth parameters for imagekit" },
      { status: 500 },
    );
  }
}
The endpoint returns 401 for unauthenticated callers and 500 if parameter generation fails.

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Supported File Types

Only two MIME type groups are accepted. Any other type is rejected at the upload API route before the file is sent to ImageKit:
AcceptedMIME pattern
Imagesimage/* (JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, SVG, …)
Documentsapplication/pdf
app/api/files/upload/route.ts
// Validate file type
if (!file.type.startsWith("image/") && file.type !== "application/pdf") {
  return NextResponse.json(
    { error: "Only images and PDF files are supported" },
    { status: 400 },
  );
}
Attempting to upload any other MIME type (e.g. .docx, .zip, .mp4) returns a 400 Bad Request response with the message "Only images and PDF files are supported".
ImageKit’s free tier provides 20 GB of storage and 20 GB of monthly bandwidth. For a production deployment with multiple users, monitor your usage in the ImageKit dashboard and upgrade to a paid plan before hitting the limits. Exceeding the free quota does not automatically delete files, but new uploads and CDN delivery may be restricted until the plan is upgraded.

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