Uploads administration

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Uploads represent all user data that may be sent to GitLab as a single file. For example, avatars and note attachments are uploads. Uploads are integral to GitLab functionality and therefore cannot be disabled.

NOTE: Attachments added to comments or descriptions are deleted only when the parent project or group is deleted. Attachments remain in file storage even when the comment or resource (like issue, merge request, epic) where they were uploaded is deleted.

Using local storage

This is the default configuration. To change the location where the uploads are stored locally, use the steps in this section based on your installation method:

NOTE: For historical reasons, uploads for the whole instance (for example the favicon) are stored in a base directory, which by default is uploads/-/system. Changing the base directory on an existing GitLab installation is strongly discouraged.

For Linux package installations:

The uploads are stored by default in /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/uploads.

To change the storage path, for example to /mnt/storage/uploads, edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and add the following line:
```
gitlab_rails['uploads_directory'] = "/mnt/storage/uploads"
```
This setting only applies if you haven't changed the gitlab_rails['uploads_storage_path'] directory.
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect.

For self-compiled installations:

The uploads are stored by default in /home/git/gitlab/public/uploads.

To change the storage path, for example to /mnt/storage/uploads, edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml and add or amend the following lines:
```
uploads:
  storage_path: /mnt/storage
  base_dir: uploads
```
Save the file and restart GitLab for the changes to take effect.

Using object storage

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If you don't want to use the local disk where GitLab is installed to store the uploads, you can use an object storage provider like AWS S3 instead. This configuration relies on valid AWS credentials to be configured already.

Object Storage Settings

In GitLab 13.2 and later, you should use the consolidated object storage settings. This section describes the earlier configuration format.

For self-compiled installations, the following settings are nested under uploads: and then object_store:. On Linux package installations, they are prefixed by uploads_object_store_.

Setting	Description	Default
`enabled`	Enable/disable object storage	`false`
`remote_directory`	The bucket name where Uploads are stored
`proxy_download`	Set to `true` to enable proxying all files served. Option allows to reduce egress traffic as this allows clients to download directly from remote storage instead of proxying all data	`false`
`connection`	Various connection options described below

Connection settings

See the available connection settings for different providers.

For Linux package installations:

The uploads are stored by default in /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/uploads.

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and add the following lines by replacing with the values you want:

gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_enabled'] = true
gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_remote_directory'] = "uploads"
gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_connection'] = {
  'provider' => 'AWS',
  'region' => 'eu-central-1',
  'aws_access_key_id' => 'AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID',
  'aws_secret_access_key' => 'AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'
}

If you are using AWS IAM profiles, be sure to omit the AWS access key and secret access key/value pairs.

gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_connection'] = {
  'provider' => 'AWS',
  'region' => 'eu-central-1',
  'use_iam_profile' => true
}

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect.
Migrate any existing local uploads to the object storage with the gitlab:uploads:migrate:all Rake task.

For self-compiled installations:

The uploads are stored by default in /home/git/gitlab/public/uploads.

Edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml and add or amend the following lines, making sure to use the appropriate ones for your provider:

uploads:
  object_store:
    enabled: true
    remote_directory: "uploads" # The bucket name
    connection: # The lines in this block depend on your provider
      provider: AWS
      aws_access_key_id: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
      aws_secret_access_key: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
      region: eu-central-1

Save the file and restart GitLab for the changes to take effect.
Migrate any existing local uploads to the object storage with the gitlab:uploads:migrate:all Rake task.