> ## 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

> Media-platform storage with a generous free tier.

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.

## Configuration

### `dbdock.config.json`

```json theme={null}
{
  "storage": {
    "provider": "cloudinary",
    "cloudinary": {
      "cloudName": "your-cloud-name"
    }
  }
}
```

### `.env`

```bash theme={null}
DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your-api-key
DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your-api-secret
```

Find your credentials in the [Cloudinary Console](https://console.cloudinary.com/) dashboard.

## Setup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a Cloudinary account">
    Sign up at [cloudinary.com](https://cloudinary.com/). Free tier is fine for getting started.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Get your credentials">
    Console → Dashboard → Account Details.

    * **Cloud name** → `cloudName` in config
    * **API Key** → `DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_KEY`
    * **API Secret** → `DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET`
  </Step>

  <Step title="Test">
    ```bash theme={null}
    npx dbdock test
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

Backups land in the `dbdock_backups/` folder of your Media Library.

## When to pick Cloudinary

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="You don't have AWS/Cloudflare" icon="user-plus">
    Sign up in 2 minutes, start backing up.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Free tier" icon="gift">
    25 GB for small teams, indefinitely.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Already using it" icon="image">
    If you host images/videos on Cloudinary already, reuse the account.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Web UI browsing" icon="eye">
    The Media Library lets you browse/download backups through a friendly UI.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## 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.

## 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.

## Common errors

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Invalid API credentials">
    * Double-check `DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_KEY` and `DBDOCK_CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET`
    * Make sure `cloudName` matches the "Cloud name" field exactly (case sensitive)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Upload fails silently">
    * Check Cloudinary account usage — you may have hit the free tier quota
    * Verify the API key has "Media library" access
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="File not found on restore">
    * The file must be in `dbdock_backups/` folder (DBDock writes here by default)
    * Filename must match the standard pattern
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## 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.

## See also

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="AWS S3" icon="aws" href="/storage/s3">
    Cheaper for large databases.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cloudflare R2" icon="cloudflare" href="/storage/r2">
    Zero egress fees.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>