🚀 Automate Media Uploads to Cloudinary with Node.js: A Complete Guide

Managing media uploads manually can be a pain — especially when you're dealing with hundreds of images and videos. Whether you're a content creator, developer, or business owner, storing media in the cloud should be fast, organized, and reliable.

That's where Cloudinary Uploader comes in.

Built with Node.js, this open-source tool automates the process of uploading images and videos from a local folder to Cloudinary. It supports batch processing, multi-format handling, retry logic, and more.

Let’s dive into how it works and how you can get started in minutes.

🌟 Why Use This Uploader?

Here’s what makes Cloudinary Uploader stand out:

🔄 Bulk Upload: Upload dozens or even hundreds of media files in one go.
☁️ Cloud Storage: Securely store media on Cloudinary.
🧠 Smart Detection: Automatically detects and separates images from videos.
📦 Batch Processing: Upload files in customizable batch sizes.
♻️ Retry Mechanism: Automatically retries failed uploads.
📊 Detailed Summary: Get a clear report of success and failure rates.

⚙️ Features at a Glance

Feature	Description
Supported Formats	Images: PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, WebP, etc. Videos: MP4, AVI, MOV, etc.
Organized Uploads	Uploads are organized into `images/` and `videos/` folders in Cloudinary
Retry Logic	Configurable retry attempts for failed uploads
Batch Configuration	Upload files in batches (default: 10 per batch)
CLI Monitoring	Real-time progress updates in the terminal

📁 Project Structure

cloudinary-uploader/
├── images/           # Place your media files here
├── index.js          # Main script
├── .env              # Your Cloudinary credentials (not committed)
├── .env.example      # Example for setting up your env file
├── package.json      # Project metadata and dependencies
└── README.md         # Project documentation

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/manthanank/cloudinary-uploader.git
cd cloudinary-uploader

2. Install Dependencies

npm install

3. Configure Environment Variables

Create a .env file based on the provided .env.example:

CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloud_name
CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_api_key
CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret

Find these credentials in your Cloudinary dashboard.

🖼️ Uploading Media

Place all your images and videos inside the images/ folder.
Run the uploader:

npm start

You’ll see real-time logs like:

📁 Found 150 media files to upload
🖼️  Images: 120
🎥 Videos: 30
⚙️  Processing in batches of 10 files
🔄 Retry attempts: 3
...
🎥 Uploaded video1.mp4 (video): https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/video/upload/videos/video1.mp4

🛠️ Customization Options

📐 Batch Size & Retry Attempts

You can adjust these in index.js:

const BATCH_SIZE = 10;       // Upload 10 files per batch
const RETRY_ATTEMPTS = 3;    // Retry failed uploads 3 times
const RETRY_DELAY = 2000;    // Delay between retries (in ms)

➕ Add More File Types

To support additional formats, modify the extension arrays:

const IMAGE_EXTENSIONS = [...];
const VIDEO_EXTENSIONS = [...];

🧪 Error Handling & Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
❌ Folder not found	Ensure `images/` exists
❌ Invalid credentials	Check your `.env` file
❌ Upload failed	Check file format, size, internet connection
❌ Resource type error	Verify correct file extension

📊 Upload Summary

At the end of each run, you’ll see a detailed summary:

📊 Upload Summary:
🖼️  Images - ✅ Successful: 118, ❌ Failed: 2
🎥 Videos - ✅ Successful: 30, ❌ Failed: 0
📈 Overall Success Rate: 98.7%

🔐 Security Best Practices

Never commit your .env file to version control
Store your credentials securely (e.g., use CI/CD secrets in production)
Cloudinary uses secure URLs by default for all media

📦 Tech Stack

Node.js: Core runtime
Cloudinary SDK: Media upload API
dotenv: Load environment variables
fs & path: File system utilities

🧑‍💻 Contributing

Want to improve this project?

Fork the repo
Create a new feature branch
Commit and push your changes
Submit a pull request 🚀

📘 Final Thoughts

If you're tired of dragging and dropping files into a web dashboard, Cloudinary Uploader offers a powerful alternative. With just one command, you can upload hundreds of images and videos into organized Cloudinary folders — complete with progress tracking and error handling.

Give it a try and streamline your media management today.

🔗 GitHub Repository: manthanank/cloudinary-uploader
🧑‍💻 Author: Manthan Ankolekar

Manthan Ankolekar @manthanank