Rails upload files to AWS

There is a very easy way to upload files to AWS S3, however you can easily get lost with different gems and options available. My favorite way is using paperclip with aws-sdk. Here are some quick steps to get you started, look at the gems homepages for more information.

Gemfile

gem 'aws-sdk'
gem 'paperclip'

Then run bundler

bundle install

config/initializers/aws.rb

AWS.config({
  :access_key_id => 'REPLACE_WITH_ACCESS_KEY_ID',
  :secret_access_key => 'REPLACE_WITH_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY',
})

Example of what your model might look like:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_attached_file :photo,
    :storage => :s3,
    :bucket => 'mybucket',
    :s3_credentials => {
      :access_key_id => ENV['S3_KEY'],
      :secret_access_key => ENV['S3_SECRET']
    }
end

Migration:

class AddPhotoColumnsToUser < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    change_table :users do |t|
      t.has_attached_file :photo
    end
  end
end

Note: has_attached_file does not seem to work with create_table

This is how to put it in your form

<%= form.file_field :avatar %>

You also need a create action in your controller. Assuming you used a scaffold, it should work just fine. Enjoy!