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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dbdock.xyz/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Cloudinary is primarily a media platform, but its media library doubles as a convenient backup target. The free tier (25 credits/month, ~25 GB storage) covers most small-to-medium databases.

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Configuration

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dbdock.config.json

{
  "storage": {
    "provider": "cloudinary",
    "cloudinary": {
      "cloudName": "your-cloud-name"
    }
  }
}

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.env

DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your-api-key
DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your-api-secret
Find your credentials in the Cloudinary Console dashboard.

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Setup

1

Create a Cloudinary account

Sign up at cloudinary.com. Free tier is fine for getting started.
2

Get your credentials

Console → Dashboard → Account Details.
  • Cloud name → cloudName in config
  • API Key → DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_KEY
  • API Secret → DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET
3

Test

npx dbdock test
Backups land in the dbdock_backups/ folder of your Media Library.

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When to pick Cloudinary

You don't have AWS/Cloudflare

Sign up in 2 minutes, start backing up.

Free tier

25 GB for small teams, indefinitely.

Already using it

If you host images/videos on Cloudinary already, reuse the account.

Web UI browsing

The Media Library lets you browse/download backups through a friendly UI.

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When to NOT pick Cloudinary

  • Large databases. Past ~25 GB you’ll hit the free tier wall and paid plans aren’t cost-competitive with S3/R2 for pure storage.
  • High backup frequency. Every backup counts as a transformation. Daily backups are fine; per-hour backups will burn through credits.
  • Compliance (HIPAA, SOC 2). S3 has a more mature compliance story.

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File organization

Backups are stored as raw files under dbdock_backups/. Filenames follow DBdock’s standard format: 
dbdock_backups/backup-2026-04-16-08-00-00-abc123.sql
You can browse them in the Cloudinary Media Library, though they’re not useful to preview — they’re encrypted/compressed binary blobs.

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Common errors

  • Double-check DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_KEY and DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET
  • Make sure cloudName matches the “Cloud name” field exactly (case sensitive)
  • Check Cloudinary account usage — you may have hit the free tier quota
  • Verify the API key has “Media library” access
  • The file must be in dbdock_backups/ folder (DBdock writes here by default)
  • Filename must match the standard pattern

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Cost

Free tier covers:
  • 25 monthly credits (1 credit ≈ 1 GB of storage or ~1000 transformations)
  • Up to 25 GB total storage
Past that, the Plus plan ($99/month) gives 225 GB. If you’re at this level, S3 or R2 will be significantly cheaper for pure backup storage.

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See also

AWS S3

Cheaper for large databases.

Cloudflare R2

Zero egress fees.