Uploadcare custom image loader for Next.js

The package helps you use the Uploadcare's transformation and CDN services from a Next.js app smoothly and easily.
It provides the uploadcareLoader
function, which you can use as a custom loader for the Next's Image component, and the UploadcareImage
component with the custom loader enabled by default.
Demo
Look at the demo here.
Dependencies
The only dependency is Next.js >= 10.0.5.
Installation
yarn add @uploadcare/nextjs-loader
Configuration
Inform Next that you're going to use a custom image loader through next.config.js
:
// next.config.js
module.exports = {
images: {
loader: "custom"
}
}
Add your public Uploadcare key to your .env*
config file. You can copy it from Dashboard -> API Keys -> Public key.
#.env
NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOADCARE_PUBLIC_KEY="YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY"
Alternatively, in case you're using a custom proxy endpoint, set the proxy domain.
#.env
NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOADCARE_CUSTOM_PROXY_DOMAIN="proxy.example.com"
Then set the app base url (to get relative image urls processed in Production):
#.env
NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOADCARE_APP_BASE_URL="https://example.com/"
That's it. You may now use @uploadcare/nextjs-loader
in your app (see Usage).
Below are optional parameters which you may not need:
#.env
# A comma-separated list of transformation parameters. Default: format/auto, stretch/off, progressive/yes
NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOADCARE_TRANSFORMATION_PARAMETERS="format/auto, stretch/off, progressive/yes"
# Uploadcare CDN domain. Default: ucarecdn.com
NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOADCARE_CUSTOM_CDN_DOMAIN="cdn.example.com"
Please note
NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOADCARE_TRANSFORMATION_PARAMETERS
override corresponding default parameters and keep others in place.
Usage
Option 1. Use the UploadcareImage
component and leave us the rest ;)
import UploadcareImage from '@uploadcare/nextjs-loader';
<UploadcareImage
alt="A test image"
src="https://your-domain/image.jpg"
width="400"
height="300"
quality="80"
/>
The UploadcareImage
component supports the same parameters as the Next Image
component.
Option 2. Pass uploadcareLoader
to the Image
component:
import Image from 'next/image';
import { uploadcareLoader } from '@uploadcare/nextjs-loader';
<Image
alt="A test image"
src="https://your-domain/image.jpg"
width="400"
height="300"
quality="80"
loader={uploadcareLoader}
/>
Option 3 (Next.js v13+ only). Use the loaderFile
setting to enable Uploadcare image loader for all images by default.
- Configure the
loaderFile
in yournext.config.js
like the following:
module.exports = {
images: {
loader: 'custom',
loaderFile: './node_modules/@uploadcare/nextjs-loader/build/loader.js',
},
}
- Use
Image
as usual, with Uploadcare loader enabled implicitly:
import Image from 'next/image';
<Image
alt="A test image"
src="https://your-domain/image.jpg"
width="400"
height="300"
quality="80"
/>
Option 4. Use the next-image-loader plugin to enable Uploadcare image loader for all images by default
In that case, you may not need the loader: "custom"
setting in your next.config.js
.
Install next-image-loader and enable it as described in its README.
Create
image-loader.config.js
in the project root (in the same directory asnext.config.js
) and add this code to it:
// image-loader.config.js
import { imageLoader } from 'next-image-loader/build/image-loader';
import { uploadcareLoader } from '@uploadcare/nextjs-loader';
imageLoader.loader = uploadcareLoader;
- Use
Image
as usual, with Uploadcare loader enabled implicitly:
import Image from 'next/image';
<Image
alt="A test image"
src="https://your-domain/image.jpg"
width="400"
height="300"
quality="80"
/>
Please note that you can still use any other loader for a separate image like this:
import Image from 'next/image';
import anotherLoader from '[another-loader-project-name]';
<Image
alt="A test image"
src="https://your-domain/image.jpg"
width="400"
height="300"
quality="80"
loader={anotherLoader}
/>
where anotherLoader
will be used instead of the Uploadcare loader for this particular image.
Props
placeholder
and blurDataURL
Read Next.js Image Component docs about placeholder
and blurDataURL
.
There are two possible use cases:
When src
is a string
If you pass placeholder="blur"
to the Image
or UploadcareImage
component, the blurDataURL
property will be used as the placeholder. In this case you must provide the blurDataURL
property using our getBlurDataURL
server-side helper.
Here is the getBlurDataURL
interface:
function getBlurDataURL(
src: string,
width = 10,
quality = 1
): Promise<string>
Usage example:
import UploadcareImage, { getBlurDataURL } from '@uploadcare/nextjs-loader';
const BLUR_IMAGE_URL = "https://your-domain/image.jpg"
export const getStaticProps = async () => {
const blurDataURL = await getBlurDataURL(BLUR_IMAGE_URL);
return {
props: { blurDataURL }
};
};
export default ({ blurDataURL }) => {
return (
<UploadcareImage
alt="Blurred image"
src={BLUR_IMAGE_URL}
width="400"
height="300"
placeholder="blur"
blurDataURL={blurDataURL}
/>
)
}
When src
is a static import
You can use both UploadcareImage
and Image
component with custom loader. In this case Next.js will generate base64 encoded image for blurDataURL
automatically during build time.
import staticImage from 'image.jpg'
<UploadcareImage
alt="A test image"
src={staticImage}
width="400"
height="300"
quality="80"
placeholder="blur"
/>
Notes
If you have jpegs larger than 3000px and you want loader to resize them up to 5000px, you need to pass filename with
jpeg
orjpg
extension to the src url. See Output image dimensions docs for more details. When no filename provided, we'll treat the image as non-jpeg and can resize it up to 3000px only.If you pass a local image url, the loader returns it AS IS if the app is run in the development mode or if the
NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOADCARE_APP_BASE_URL
is not set.Next.js Image component allows numeric only
quality
value. Uploadcare CDN supports string-based quality only (see our docs). So numeric quality values will be mapped onto string ones using the following intervals:- 1-38 - lightest
- 39-70 - lighter
- 71-80 - normal
- 81-88 - better
- 89-100 - best
Known Issues
Issue 1: Console warning like this:
Image with src "${src}" has a "loader" property that does not implement width. Please implement it or use the "unoptimized" property instead. Read more: https://nextjs.org/docs/messages/next-image-missing-loader-width
Next checks whether the image url which loader generates has the exact value which user passed through the width
property of the Image
component. And because the Uploadcare loader doesn't process SVG and GIF images, it just returns the same src
value without adding any transformation parameters to it (including width
). That's why Next reports the console warning.
Fix: Ignore the warning for now.