Cloud Storage triggers


You can trigger a function in response to the uploading, updating, or deleting of files and folders in Cloud Storage.

Examples in this page are based on a sample function that triggers when image files are uploaded to Cloud Storage. This sample function demonstrates how to access event attributes, how to download a file to a Cloud Functions instance, and other fundamentals of handling Cloud Storage events.

Import the required modules

To get started, import the module required for handling Cloud Storage events:

Node.js

 const {onObjectFinalized} = require("firebase-functions/v2/storage");
index.js

Python

 from firebase_functions import storage_fn
main.py

To build out the full sample, also add the dependencies for the Firebase Admin SDK and image processing tools:

Node.js

 const {initializeApp} = require("firebase-admin/app");
const {getStorage} = require("firebase-admin/storage");
const logger = require("firebase-functions/logger");
const path = require("path");

// library for image resizing
const sharp = require("sharp");

initializeApp();
index.js

Python

 import io
import pathlib

from PIL import Image

from firebase_admin import initialize_app

initialize_app()
from firebase_admin import storage
main.py

Scope a Cloud Storage function

Use the following pattern to scope your function to a specific Cloud Storage bucket and set any desired options:

Node.js

// scope handler to a specific bucket, using storage options parameter
export archivedopts = onObjectArchived({ bucket: "myBucket" }, (event) => {
  //…
});

Python

# Scope handler to a specific bucket using storage options parameter
@storage_fn.on_object_archived(bucket="myBucket")
def archived_bucket(event: storage_fn.CloudEvent[storage_fn.StorageObjectData]):
    # ...

By contrast, the example thumbnail generator function is scoped to the default bucket for the project:

Node.js

exports.generateThumbnail = onObjectFinalized({cpu: 2}, async (event) => {
// ...
});

Python

@storage_fn.on_object_archived()
def generatethumbnail(event: storage_fn.CloudEvent[storage_fn.StorageObjectData]):
    # ...

Set the function location

A mismatch between locations can result in deployment failure. Also, distance between the location of a Cloud Storage bucket and the location of the function can create significant network latency. To avoid these situations, specify the function location so that it matches the bucket/trigger location in one of these ways:

  • Function location is the same as the trigger location
  • Function location is inside the trigger location (when the trigger region is dual/multi region)
  • Function may be in any location if the trigger region is set to us-central1

Handle Cloud Storage events

These handlers for responding to Cloud Storage events are available:

Node.js

  • onObjectArchived Only sent when a bucket has enabled object versioning. This event indicates that the live version of an object has become an archived version, either because it was archived or because it was overwritten by the upload of an object of the same name.
  • onObjectDeleted Sent when an object has been permanently deleted. This includes objects that are overwritten or are deleted as part of the bucket's lifecycle configuration. For buckets with object versioning enabled, this is not sent when an object is archived (see onArchive), even if archival occurs via the storage.objects.delete method.
  • onObjectFinalized Sent when a new object (or a new generation of an existing object) is successfully created in the bucket. This includes copying or rewriting an existing object. A failed upload does not trigger this event.
  • onMetadataUpdated Sent when the metadata of an existing object changes.

Python

  • on_object_archived Only sent when a bucket has enabled object versioning. This event indicates that the live version of an object has become an archived version, either because it was archived or because it was overwritten by the upload of an object of the same name.
  • on_object_deleted Sent when an object has been permanently deleted. This includes objects that are overwritten or are deleted as part of the bucket's lifecycle configuration. For buckets with object versioning enabled, this is not sent when an object is archived (see onArchive), even if archival occurs via the storage.objects.delete method.
  • on_object_finalized Sent when a new object (or a new generation of an existing object) is successfully created in the bucket. This includes copying or rewriting an existing object. A failed upload does not trigger this event.
  • on_metadata_updated Sent when the metadata of an existing object changes.

Access Cloud Storage object attributes

Cloud Functions exposes a number of Cloud Storage object attributes such as the object's size and content type for the file updated. The metageneration attribute is incremented whenever there's a change to the object's metadata. For new objects, the metageneration value is 1.

Node.js

const fileBucket = event.data.bucket; // Storage bucket containing the file.
const filePath = event.data.name; // File path in the bucket.
const contentType = event.data.contentType; // File content type.
index.js

Python

bucket_name = event.data.bucket
file_path = pathlib.PurePath(event.data.name)
content_type = event.data.content_type
main.py

The thumbnail generation sample uses some of these attributes to detect exit cases in which the function returns:

Node.js

// Exit if this is triggered on a file that is not an image.
if (!contentType.startsWith("image/")) {
  return logger.log("This is not an image.");
}
// Exit if the image is already a thumbnail.
const fileName = path.basename(filePath);
if (fileName.startsWith("thumb_")) {
  return logger.log("Already a Thumbnail.");
}
index.js

Python

# Exit if this is triggered on a file that is not an image.
if not content_type or not content_type.startswith("image/"):
    print(f"This is not an image. ({content_type})")
    return

# Exit if the image is already a thumbnail.
if file_path.name.startswith("thumb_"):
    print("Already a thumbnail.")
    return
main.py

Download, transform, and upload a file

For some cases, it may not be necessary to download files from Cloud Storage. However, to perform intensive tasks such as generating a thumbnail image from a file stored in Cloud Storage, you need to download files to the functions instance—that is, the virtual machine that runs your code.

Using Cloud Functions together with image-processing programs like sharp for Node.js and Pillow for Python, you can perform manipulations on graphical image files. The following is an example of how to create a thumbnail image for an uploaded image file:

Node.js

/**
 * When an image is uploaded in the Storage bucket,
 * generate a thumbnail automatically using sharp.
 */
exports.generateThumbnail = onObjectFinalized({cpu: 2}, async (event) => {

  const fileBucket = event.data.bucket; // Storage bucket containing the file.
  const filePath = event.data.name; // File path in the bucket.
  const contentType = event.data.contentType; // File content type.

  // Exit if this is triggered on a file that is not an image.
  if (!contentType.startsWith("image/")) {
    return logger.log("This is not an image.");
  }
  // Exit if the image is already a thumbnail.
  const fileName = path.basename(filePath);
  if (fileName.startsWith("thumb_")) {
    return logger.log("Already a Thumbnail.");
  }

  // Download file into memory from bucket.
  const bucket = getStorage().bucket(fileBucket);
  const downloadResponse = await bucket.file(filePath).download();
  const imageBuffer = downloadResponse[0];
  logger.log("Image downloaded!");

  // Generate a thumbnail using sharp.
  const thumbnailBuffer = await sharp(imageBuffer).resize({
    width: 200,
    height: 200,
    withoutEnlargement: true,
  }).toBuffer();
  logger.log("Thumbnail created");

  // Prefix 'thumb_' to file name.
  const thumbFileName = `thumb_${fileName}`;
  const thumbFilePath = path.join(path.dirname(filePath), thumbFileName);

  // Upload the thumbnail.
  const metadata = {contentType: contentType};
  await bucket.file(thumbFilePath).save(thumbnailBuffer, {
    metadata: metadata,
  });
  return logger.log("Thumbnail uploaded!");
});
index.js

Download the file to a temporary directory on your Cloud Functions instance. In this location, you can process the file as needed and then upload to Cloud Storage. When performing asynchronous tasks, make sure you return a JavaScript promise in your callback.

Python

@storage_fn.on_object_finalized()
def generatethumbnail(event: storage_fn.CloudEvent[storage_fn.StorageObjectData]):
    """When an image is uploaded in the Storage bucket, generate a thumbnail
    automatically using Pillow."""

    bucket_name = event.data.bucket
    file_path = pathlib.PurePath(event.data.name)
    content_type = event.data.content_type

    # Exit if this is triggered on a file that is not an image.
    if not content_type or not content_type.startswith("image/"):
        print(f"This is not an image. ({content_type})")
        return

    # Exit if the image is already a thumbnail.
    if file_path.name.startswith("thumb_"):
        print("Already a thumbnail.")
        return

    bucket = storage.bucket(bucket_name)

    image_blob = bucket.blob(str(file_path))
    image_bytes = image_blob.download_as_bytes()
    image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(image_bytes))

    image.thumbnail((200, 200))
    thumbnail_io = io.BytesIO()
    image.save(thumbnail_io, format="png")
    thumbnail_path = file_path.parent / pathlib.PurePath(f"thumb_{file_path.stem}.png")
    thumbnail_blob = bucket.blob(str(thumbnail_path))
    thumbnail_blob.upload_from_string(thumbnail_io.getvalue(), content_type="image/png")
main.py

This code creates a 200x200 thumbnail for the image saved in a temporary directory, then uploads it back to Cloud Storage.