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File

A file is a container for data and is primarily identified by its file name. A file could be a spreadsheet, an image, PDF, video, or just binary data. Tape supports various file formats to be attached to resources like records, comments and chat messages.

info

There are many reasons why a file upload via HTTP can fail (file too large, bad network connection, ...). To prevent critical operations like creating a record from failing due to an unsuccessful upload, attaching a file to a resource is a two-step process:

  1. The file is uploaded to Tape and the server returns a unique file ID.
  2. The file ID is used to attach the uploaded file to a resource (record, comment, ...).

Files can be uploaded to Tape via the API by using the multipart/form-data HTTP content type. Once uploaded, file objects have a unique file_id, a name, size and link. The link URL will expire after some hours, after which the file cannot be downloaded anymore via that URL. You can retrieve the file again to obtain a fresh link.

Files that have been attached to a resource are deleted and can only be retrieved in the context of the resource. Files that are uploaded but not attached to a resource will be deleted automatically after 24 hours.

Upload a file​

POSThttps://api.tapeapp.com/v1/file/upload

A single file can be uploaded via the /file/upload endpoint via the file field:

➡️    Request
curl https://api.tapeapp.com/v1/file/upload \
  -u user_key_replace_with_your_api_key: \
  -F 'file=@./filename.txt'

The response will be a file object containing information of the uploaded file:

⬅️    Response
{
  "file_id": "temporary-file-1",
  "name": "filename.txt",
  "size": 20,
  "mimetype": "text/plain",
  "created_on": "2022-01-01 12:00:00",
  "link": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-attachments/9d43730ffad8d249e3ac313193cd83?Expires=1648134130&Signature=VzrbvlfI35hp4iU7jMa%2BK%2FnutPU%3D",
  "thumbnail": {
    "small": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/def09e9319ca30e9ab2bc13e061982",
    "medium": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/82f3c2669deca95c16d1ad955734e0",
    "large": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/f8f105f4daaced0f3f714b5ebb76ae"
  }
}

The thumbnail property is optional and will only be available if a thumbnail could be generated for the uploaded file (e.g., if it is an image).

Upload multiple files​

POSThttps://api.tapeapp.com/v1/file/upload

Multiple files can be uploaded at the same time via the /file/upload endpoint by providing the file field multiple times:

➡️    Request
curl https://api.tapeapp.com/v1/file/upload \
  -u user_key_replace_with_your_api_key: \
  -F 'file=@./filename1.txt' \
  -F 'file=@./filename2.txt'

The response will be an array of file objects containing information of the uploaded files:

⬅️    Response
[
  {
    "file_id": "temporary-file-2",
    "name": "filename1.txt",
    "size": 20,
    "mimetype": "text/plain",
    "created_on": "2022-01-01 12:00:00",
    "link": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-attachments/d429d8095b14a641f05a1a45e946c9?Expires=1648134279&Signature=5fS7eq7HVBXNauF94KpejfIZbjo%3D"
  },
  {
    "file_id": "temporary-file-3",
    "name": "filename2.txt",
    "size": 20,
    "mimetype": "text/plain",
    "created_on": "2022-01-01 12:00:00",
    "link": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-attachments/fab57aefe677c3c07c6e6425c441cf?Expires=1648134325&Signature=Zx1ENKO%2FcHOqvAJSOYzv7Dta%2F1U%3D",
    "thumbnail": {
      "small": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/def09e9319ca30e9ab2bc13e061982",
      "medium": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/82f3c2669deca95c16d1ad955734e0",
      "large": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/f8f105f4daaced0f3f714b5ebb76ae"
    }
  }
]

The thumbnail property is optional and will only be available if a thumbnail could be generated for the uploaded file (e.g., if it is an image).

If you intended to upload multiple files but only provided one, you receive a single file object instead of an array. The API will always return a file object if only one file was uploaded and an array of file objects if more than one file was uploaded.

Thumbnails​

Tape tries to generate thumbnail images for uploaded files in multiple sizes. Thumbnails are optimized for displaying them as a user avatar, a file thumbnail or something similar. Thumbnails will be available in different sizes depending on their use:

  • small: JPG with 100px width and 100px height
  • medium: JPG with 200px width and 200px height
  • large: JPG with the image's original width and height

An example thumbnail object:

{
  "small": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/def09e9319ca30e9ab2bc13e061982",
  "medium": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/82f3c2669deca95c16d1ad955734e0",
  "large": "https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/tape-thumbnails/f8f105f4daaced0f3f714b5ebb76ae"
}

Upload limits​

The following limits are enforced for all file upload endpoints:

VariableLimit
Maximum file size100MB

Rate limit credits​

File uploads are rate limited based on their file size. For uploading multiple files, the sum of all file sizes is used. The file size limit for a single file is 100MB. Uploading a file always costs at least 2x the credits of a normal request. Uploading a file with the maximum file size costs 4x credits. Uploading a file with half of the maximum file size costs 3x credits:

Uploading 1KB: 2x credits
Uploading 50MB: 3x credits
Uploading 100MB: 4x credits
Uploading 150MB: 5x credits
Uploading 200MB: 6x credits
Uploading 300MB: 8x credits
...

As you can see, uploading multiple files at once costs fewer credits than uploading every file individually.

Validation errors​

A lot can go wrong when uploading files via HTTP. Tape handles most error cases and returns detailed error messages.

No file provided validation error
{
  "status_code": 400,
  "endpoint": "/v1/file/upload",
  "error_code": "validation",
  "error_message": "No file provided to upload endpoint '/v1/file/upload/' via multipart/form-data name: 'file'"
}