S3 cloud storage integration in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

S3 Cloud Storage Integration with Laravel

📖 Scenario: You are building a Laravel application that needs to store user-uploaded files securely in the cloud. Amazon S3 is a popular choice for cloud storage. This project will guide you step-by-step to set up S3 storage integration in Laravel.

🎯 Goal: By the end, you will have configured Laravel to connect to Amazon S3 and written code to upload a file to the S3 bucket.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create the S3 disk configuration in Laravel's filesystems config

Add AWS credentials as environment variables

Write code to upload a file to the S3 disk

Use Laravel's Storage facade to complete the upload

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Many web applications store user files like images, documents, or backups in cloud storage for reliability and scalability. Amazon S3 is a common choice.

💼 Career

Knowing how to integrate cloud storage like S3 with Laravel is a valuable skill for backend developers working on scalable web applications.

1

Set up AWS credentials in the .env file

Add these exact lines to your .env file to set AWS credentials and bucket name:
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-access-key-id
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret-access-key
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_BUCKET=your-bucket-name

Laravel

# Add the AWS credentials and bucket name to your .env file
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Open the .env file in your Laravel project root and add the lines exactly as shown.

2

Configure the S3 disk in config/filesystems.php

In config/filesystems.php, add the S3 disk configuration inside the 'disks' array exactly as:
's3' => [
'driver' => 's3',
'key' => env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),
'secret' => env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'),
'region' => env('AWS_DEFAULT_REGION'),
'bucket' => env('AWS_BUCKET'),
],

Laravel

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-access-key-id
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret-access-key
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_BUCKET=your-bucket-name

// Add the S3 disk configuration inside the 'disks' array in config/filesystems.php
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Open config/filesystems.php and find the 'disks' array. Add the S3 disk config exactly as shown.

3

Write code to upload a file to S3 using Laravel's Storage facade

In your controller or route, write code to upload a file called example.txt with content 'Hello S3!' to the S3 disk using Laravel's Storage facade:
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
Storage::disk('s3')->put('example.txt', 'Hello S3!');

Laravel

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-access-key-id
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret-access-key
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_BUCKET=your-bucket-name

// In config/filesystems.php inside 'disks' array
's3' => [
    'driver' => 's3',
    'key' => env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),
    'secret' => env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'),
    'region' => env('AWS_DEFAULT_REGION'),
    'bucket' => env('AWS_BUCKET'),
],

// Add code to upload a file to S3
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use Laravel's Storage facade and call disk('s3')->put() with the file name and content.

4

Complete by setting the default filesystem disk to S3

In config/filesystems.php, set the 'default' key to 's3' so Laravel uses S3 by default:
'default' => 's3',

Laravel

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-access-key-id
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret-access-key
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_BUCKET=your-bucket-name

// In config/filesystems.php inside 'disks' array
's3' => [
    'driver' => 's3',
    'key' => env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),
    'secret' => env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'),
    'region' => env('AWS_DEFAULT_REGION'),
    'bucket' => env('AWS_BUCKET'),
],

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;

Storage::disk('s3')->put('example.txt', 'Hello S3!');

// Set the default filesystem disk to s3
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Find the 'default' key in config/filesystems.php and change its value to 's3'.