Objects

Objects in Neon Object Storage are files stored inside a bucket. Every object has a key (its path within the bucket), a body, a content type, and optional metadata. Objects branch with your database. Each branch inherits the parent's objects at the moment of forking without copying any data.

The examples below show both the Files SDK and the AWS S3 client. See Get started to configure either client, or Authentication if you need to create a credential.

Upload

TypeScript

import { files } from './client';

await files.upload('images/photo.jpg', fileBuffer, {
  contentType: 'image/jpeg',
  metadata: { 'uploaded-by': 'user-123' },
});

Bash

neon buckets object put my-bucket/images/photo.jpg --file ./photo.jpg
neon buckets object put my-bucket/images/photo.jpg --file ./photo.jpg --content-type image/jpeg

TypeScript

import { PutObjectCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';
import { client } from './client';

await client.send(new PutObjectCommand({
  Bucket: 'my-bucket',
  Key: 'images/photo.jpg',
  Body: fileBuffer,
  ContentType: 'image/jpeg',
  Metadata: {
    'uploaded-by': 'user-123',
  },
}));

Python

client.put_object(
    Bucket='my-bucket',
    Key='images/photo.jpg',
    Body=file_bytes,
    ContentType='image/jpeg',
    Metadata={'uploaded-by': 'user-123'},
)

Bash

aws s3 cp ./photo.jpg s3://my-bucket/images/photo.jpg \
  --content-type image/jpeg \
  --endpoint-url "$AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3"

Note: neon buckets object put uploads via a presigned URL and supports files up to the presign size limit. For large or streaming uploads use the AWS SDK with multipart upload.

Multipart upload

The maximum object size is currently 5 GiB, whether you upload it in a single request or as a multipart upload. Higher limits are planned: paid plans will follow standard S3 limits, with objects up to 5 TB and a 5 GB maximum for a single-request upload, so multipart upload is required for larger objects (AWS recommends it above 100 MB). For large files, the AWS SDK automatically uses multipart upload above a configurable threshold. You can also initiate multipart upload manually for fine-grained control. Multipart upload makes large uploads more reliable because each part is retried independently. For all size and capacity limits, see Limits.

TypeScript

import { Upload } from '@aws-sdk/lib-storage';
import { client } from './client';
import { createReadStream } from 'fs';

const upload = new Upload({
  client,
  params: {
    Bucket: 'my-bucket',
    Key: 'large-file.zip',
    Body: createReadStream('./large-file.zip'),
  },
  partSize: 10 * 1024 * 1024, // 10 MiB per part
});

await upload.done();

Python

import boto3

# boto3 handles multipart automatically via upload_file/upload_fileobj
client.upload_file(
    './large-file.zip',
    'my-bucket',
    'large-file.zip',
    Config=boto3.s3.transfer.TransferConfig(
        multipart_threshold=10 * 1024 * 1024,
        multipart_chunksize=10 * 1024 * 1024,
    ),
)

Download

Files SDK

import { files } from './client';

const result = await files.download('images/photo.jpg');
const buffer = await result.arrayBuffer();

neon

# Downloads to ./photo.jpg by default; use --file to specify a different path
neon buckets object get my-bucket/images/photo.jpg
neon buckets object get my-bucket/images/photo.jpg --file ./downloads/photo.jpg

S3 Client

import { GetObjectCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';
import { client } from './client';

const response = await client.send(new GetObjectCommand({
  Bucket: 'my-bucket',
  Key: 'images/photo.jpg',
}));

// Stream to a file
const stream = response.Body as NodeJS.ReadableStream;
stream.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('./photo.jpg'));

Python

response = client.get_object(Bucket='my-bucket', Key='images/photo.jpg')
with open('./photo.jpg', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(response['Body'].read())

AWS CLI

aws s3 cp s3://my-bucket/images/photo.jpg ./photo.jpg \
  --endpoint-url "$AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3"

You can use range requests for partial downloads:

TypeScript

const response = await client.send(new GetObjectCommand({
  Bucket: 'my-bucket',
  Key: 'video.mp4',
  Range: 'bytes=0-1048575', // first 1 MiB
}));

List objects

Use a prefix to filter results. The Files SDK returns a flat array of items; the S3 client supports a delimiter to simulate folder structure.

Files SDK

import { files } from './client';

const { items } = await files.list({ prefix: 'images/' });
for (const item of items) {
  console.log(item.key, item.size);
}

neon

# Folder-collapsed view by default (same as aws s3 ls)
neon buckets object list my-bucket

# List objects under a prefix
neon buckets object list my-bucket/images/

# Flat listing of every key, no folder collapsing
neon buckets object list my-bucket --recursive

S3 Client

import { ListObjectsV2Command } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';
import { client } from './client';

const response = await client.send(new ListObjectsV2Command({
  Bucket: 'my-bucket',
  Prefix: 'images/',
  Delimiter: '/',
}));

// Objects in images/
console.log(response.Contents);

// Sub-folders (common prefixes)
console.log(response.CommonPrefixes);

Python

response = client.list_objects_v2(
    Bucket='my-bucket',
    Prefix='images/',
    Delimiter='/',
)

# Objects in images/
print(response.get('Contents', []))

# Sub-folders
print(response.get('CommonPrefixes', []))

AWS CLI

aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket/images/ \
  --endpoint-url "$AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3"

For buckets with more than 1,000 objects, paginate using ContinuationToken:

TypeScript

let token: string | undefined;
do {
  const response = await client.send(new ListObjectsV2Command({
    Bucket: 'my-bucket',
    ContinuationToken: token,
  }));
  for (const obj of response.Contents ?? []) {
    console.log(obj.Key);
  }
  token = response.NextContinuationToken;
} while (token);

Delete objects

Single object:

Files SDK

import { files } from './client';

await files.delete('images/photo.jpg');

neon

neon buckets object delete my-bucket/images/photo.jpg

S3 Client

import { DeleteObjectCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';

await client.send(new DeleteObjectCommand({
  Bucket: 'my-bucket',
  Key: 'images/photo.jpg',
}));

Python

client.delete_object(Bucket='my-bucket', Key='images/photo.jpg')

AWS CLI

aws s3 rm s3://my-bucket/images/photo.jpg \
  --endpoint-url "$AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3"

Batch delete (up to 1,000 objects per request):

Files SDK

import { files } from './client';

await files.delete(['images/photo1.jpg', 'images/photo2.jpg']);

S3 Client

import { DeleteObjectsCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';

await client.send(new DeleteObjectsCommand({
  Bucket: 'my-bucket',
  Delete: {
    Objects: [
      { Key: 'images/photo1.jpg' },
      { Key: 'images/photo2.jpg' },
    ],
  },
}));

Python

client.delete_objects(
    Bucket='my-bucket',
    Delete={
        'Objects': [
            {'Key': 'images/photo1.jpg'},
            {'Key': 'images/photo2.jpg'},
        ]
    },
)

Delete a folder (all objects under a prefix):

neon

# The prefix must end with /
neon buckets object delete my-bucket/images/ --recursive

Neon API

curl -X DELETE \
  "https://console.neon.tech/api/v2/projects/{project_id}/branches/{branch_id}/buckets/my-bucket/objects-by-prefix?prefix=images/" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEON_API_KEY"

Presigned URLs

Generate a time-limited URL that allows a browser or unauthenticated client to upload or download a specific object, without exposing your credentials.

Presigned GET (download):

Files SDK

import { files } from './client';

const url = await files.url('report.pdf', { expiresIn: 3600 }); // 1 hour
console.log(url); // share this URL — no credentials needed

S3 Client

import { GetObjectCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';
import { getSignedUrl } from '@aws-sdk/s3-request-presigner';
import { client } from './client';

const url = await getSignedUrl(
  client,
  new GetObjectCommand({ Bucket: 'my-bucket', Key: 'report.pdf' }),
  { expiresIn: 3600 }, // 1 hour
);

console.log(url); // share this URL — no credentials needed

Python

url = client.generate_presigned_url(
    'get_object',
    Params={'Bucket': 'my-bucket', 'Key': 'report.pdf'},
    ExpiresIn=3600,  # 1 hour
)
print(url)

Presigned PUT (upload from browser):

Files SDK

import { files } from './client';

// Returns { url, method, headers } — pass all three to fetch on the client side
const { url, method, headers } = await files.signedUploadUrl('uploads/user-avatar.png', {
  contentType: 'image/png',
  expiresIn: 300, // 5 minutes
});

// On the client side:
// await fetch(url, { method, headers, body: file });

S3 Client

import { PutObjectCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3';
import { getSignedUrl } from '@aws-sdk/s3-request-presigner';
import { client } from './client';

const url = await getSignedUrl(
  client,
  new PutObjectCommand({
    Bucket: 'my-bucket',
    Key: 'uploads/user-avatar.png',
    ContentType: 'image/png',
  }),
  { expiresIn: 300 }, // 5 minutes
);

// On the client side:
// await fetch(url, { method: 'PUT', body: file, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'image/png' } });

Python

url = client.generate_presigned_url(
    'put_object',
    Params={
        'Bucket': 'my-bucket',
        'Key': 'uploads/user-avatar.png',
        'ContentType': 'image/png',
    },
    ExpiresIn=300,
)
print(url)

Object branching

Objects branch with your database. When you fork a branch, the child can immediately read every object that existed in the parent's buckets at that point in time, using the same copy-on-write model Neon uses for branching Postgres data, so nothing is duplicated upfront. From that point:

Uploading a new object to a child branch, or overwriting or deleting one that existed at fork time, is only visible on that branch and its descendants.
Deleting an object on a child branch does not affect the parent.
The parent's objects remain unchanged regardless of what happens on child branches.

Next steps

Buckets: set access levels, understand bucket branching
Authentication: credential scopes and read vs write access
Trigger on an object upload: run a function when an object is created

Need help?

Join our Discord Server to ask questions or see what others are doing with Neon. For paid plan support options, see Support.