S3

Last updated Apr 21, 2026 R2 provides support for a S3-compatible API, which means you can use any S3 SDK, library, or tool to interact with your buckets. If you have existing code that works with S3, you can use it with R2 by changing the endpoint URL.

1. Create a bucket

A bucket stores your objects in R2. To create a new R2 bucket:

sh npx wrangler login

Create a bucket named my-bucket:

sh npx wrangler r2 bucket create my-bucket

If prompted, select the account you want to create the bucket in. 3. Verify the bucket was created:

sh npx wrangler r2 bucket list

In the Cloudflare Dashboard, go to R2 object storage. Go to Overview ↗
Select Create bucket.
Enter a name for your bucket.
Select a location for your bucket and a default storage class.
Select Create bucket.

2. Generate API credentials

To use the S3 API, you need to generate credentials and get an Access Key ID and Secret Access Key:

Go to the Cloudflare Dashboard ↗︎.
Select Storage & databases > R2 > Overview.
Select Manage in API Tokens.
Select Create Account API token or Create User API token
Choose Object Read & Write permission and Apply to specific buckets only to select the buckets you want to access.
Select Create API Token.
Copy the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key. Store these securely as you cannot view the secret again.

You also need your S3 API endpoint URL which you can find at the bottom of the Create API Token confirmation page once you have created your token, or on the R2 Overview page:

https://<ACCOUNT_ID>.r2.cloudflarestorage.com

3. Use an AWS SDK

The following examples show how to use Python and JavaScript SDKs. For other languages, refer to S3-compatible SDK examples for Go, Java, PHP, Ruby, and Rust.

Install boto3 ↗︎:

sh pip install boto3

Create a test file to upload:

sh echo 'Hello, R2!' > myfile.txt

Use your credentials to create an S3 client and interact with your bucket:

```python import boto3

s3 = boto3.client( service_name='s3', # Provide your R2 endpoint: https://.r2.cloudflarestorage.com endpoint_url='https://.r2.cloudflarestorage.com', # Provide your R2 Access Key ID and Secret Access Key aws_access_key_id='', aws_secret_access_key='', region_name='auto', # Required by boto3, not used by R2 )

# Upload a file s3.upload_file('myfile.txt', 'my-bucket', 'myfile.txt') print('Uploaded myfile.txt')

# Download a file s3.download_file('my-bucket', 'myfile.txt', 'downloaded.txt') print('Downloaded to downloaded.txt')

# List objects response = s3.list_objects_v2(Bucket='my-bucket') for obj in response.get('Contents', []): print(f"Object: {obj['Key']}") ```

Save this as example.py and run it:

sh python example.py

sh Uploaded myfile.txt Downloaded to downloaded.txt Object: myfile.txt

Refer to boto3 examples for more operations.

Install the @aws-sdk/client-s3 ↗︎ package:

sh npm install @aws-sdk/client-s3

Use your credentials to create an S3 client and interact with your bucket:

```js import { S3Client, PutObjectCommand, GetObjectCommand, ListObjectsV2Command, } from "@aws-sdk/client-s3";

const s3 = new S3Client({ region: "auto", // Required by AWS SDK, not used by R2 // Provide your R2 endpoint: https://.r2.cloudflarestorage.com endpoint: "https://.r2.cloudflarestorage.com", credentials: { // Provide your R2 Access Key ID and Secret Access Key accessKeyId: "", secretAccessKey: "", }, });

// Upload a file await s3.send( new PutObjectCommand({ Bucket: "my-bucket", Key: "myfile.txt", Body: "Hello, R2!", }), ); console.log("Uploaded myfile.txt");

// Download a file const response = await s3.send( new GetObjectCommand({ Bucket: "my-bucket", Key: "myfile.txt", }), ); const content = await response.Body.transformToString(); console.log("Downloaded:", content);

// List objects const list = await s3.send( new ListObjectsV2Command({ Bucket: "my-bucket", }), ); console.log( "Objects:", list.Contents.map((obj) => obj.Key), ); ```

Save this as example.mjs and run it:

sh node example.mjs

sh Uploaded myfile.txt Downloaded: Hello, R2! Objects: [ 'myfile.txt' ]

Refer to AWS SDK for JavaScript examples for more operations.

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

S3

S3

1. Create a bucket

2. Generate API credentials

3. Use an AWS SDK

Next steps

Presigned URLs

Public buckets

CORS

Object lifecycles

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