This feature requires the Upload plugin (installed by default).
:::
Thanks to the plugin `Upload`, you can upload any kind of files on your server or externals providers such as AWS S3.
## Usage
The plugin exposes a single route `POST /upload` to upload one or multiple files in a single request.
::: warning
Please send FormData in your request body
:::
**Parameters**
-`files`: The file(s) to upload. The value(s) can be a Buffer or Stream.
-`path`: (optional): The folder where the file(s) will be uploaded to (only supported on strapi-provider-upload-aws-s3 now).
-`refId`: (optional): The ID of the entry which the file(s) will be linked to.
-`ref`: (optional): The name of the model which the file(s) will be linked to (see more below).
-`source`: (optional): The name of the plugin where the model is located.
-`field`: (optional): The field of the entry which the file(s) will be precisely linked to.
## Models
To add a new file attribute in your models, it's like adding a new association. In the first example, you will be able to upload and attach one file to the avatar attribute. Whereas, in our second example, you can upload and attach multiple pictures to the product.
"field": "avatar" // Field name in the User model.
}
```
Here the request to make to associate the file (/path/to/pictures/avatar.jpg) to the user (id: 5a993616b8e66660e8baf45c) when the `User` model is provided by the `Users & Permissions` plugin.
```
curl -X POST -F 'files=@/path/to/pictures/avatar.jpg&refId=5a993616b8e66660e8baf45c&ref=user&source=users-permissions&field=avatar' http://localhost:1337/upload
```
## Install providers
By default Strapi provides a local file upload system. You might want to upload your files on AWS S3 or another provider.
You can check all the available providers developed by the community on npmjs.org - [Providers list](https://www.npmjs.com/search?q=strapi-provider-upload-)
Then, visit `/admin/plugins/upload/configurations/development` on your web browser and configure the provider.
## Create providers
If you want to create your own, make sure the name starts with `strapi-provider-upload-` (duplicating an existing one will be easier to create), modify the `auth` config object and customize the `upload` and `delete` functions.