Create Attachment from Base64 string

[LaskiBear]

Is there any possibility to create attachment file to CouchDB table from Base64 string ?
I found it hard to upload pdf from external api to couchDB. Now in test app just gonne iclude the link to file and that way got list of attachments, but rather i would like to pull them to own table.

[mjashanks]

It will be possible, via the Budibase API - which is only usable if you self host at the moment.

We have not documented our API, so you'd have to figure it out by replicating what happens when you manually upload a file via an app (i.e. you can copy what happens in your dev-tools network tab).

It's not ideal, but that's the only way at the moment. We plan to open up our API as soon as we can.

FYI the file itself will end up getting stored in MinIO - the file storage engine in our stack.

[LaskiBear]

Ok thanks ill look in to that 👍

[LaskiBear]

One more thing maybe stupid question but how can i access dev-tool, im self hosting Budibase. But can't find any information from documents realated to dev-tool?

[LaskiBear]

nothing anymore, just understood that :) You are talking about the browser dev-tool :)

[LaskiBear]

have done sevaral test but any ideas how to give text base payload to webhook in automation. Cause cant give data for multiform content-type in json or atleast i dont know how the payload should be build.

[mjashanks]

So you won't be able to upload an attachment via an automation. You should use the same API endpoints that are used when uploading an attachment directly from the apps:

PG.Test.-.20.December.2021.mp4

To authenticate, you will either need to use the same cookie as in the request, or use the INTERNAL_API_KEY (self-host only) - as described here: #1915 (comment)

[xnohat]

Now Budibase can upload file to attachment through Budibase Public API. I wrote a simple nodejs script here for demo

const fs = require('fs');
const fetch = require('node-fetch'); //node-fetch@2.6.1
const FormData = require('form-data');

//budibase api conf
const bbapikey = '473fc3f164a9662f8c27402375ca3e26-e200caba55ec73e0d0cb00347b2045462e13cda7a47614e8666e80ac1b505c8801d5c1b0e02c2586';
const bbappid = 'app_2d2b460e23f7400b90a94e94190d6ff2'; //make use using Prod App ID with data from Prod or you must re-Publish app first
const bbtableid = 'ta_0c307ee1d8e64e8481e7202a9ba84984';
const bbrowid = 'ro_ta_0c307ee1d8e64e8481e7202a9ba84984_b4d6764a8d91483a98b02bdd7a0f9bb3';

//Upload File
const filePath = `thereaderlogo.jpg`;
const form = new FormData();
const stats = fs.statSync(filePath);
const fileSizeInBytes = stats.size;
const fileStream = fs.createReadStream(filePath);
form.append('file', fileStream, { knownLength: fileSizeInBytes });

async function uploadtoBudi() {

const options_for_upload = {
    "method": "POST",
    "headers": {
        "x-budibase-app-id": bbappid,
        "x-budibase-api-key": bbapikey,
    },
    "body": form,
    };

var uploadedfile = await (await fetch(`https://budibase.app/api/attachments/${bbtableid}/upload`, { ...options_for_upload })).json();

//Update Row with file uploaded
const options_for_update_row = {
    "method": "PUT",
    "headers": {
        "Accept": 'application/json',
        "Content-Type": 'application/json',
        "x-budibase-app-id": bbappid,
        "x-budibase-api-key": bbapikey
    },
    "body": JSON.stringify({
                "_id": bbrowid,
                "tableId": bbtableid,
                "type": "row",
                "Audio File": uploadedfile
             }),
  };

var updatedrow = await (await fetch(`https://budibase.app/api/public/v1/tables/${bbtableid}/rows/${bbrowid}`, { ...options_for_update_row })).json();

return updatedrow;

}

//Execute
uploadtoBudi()
    .then(data => console.log(data))
    .catch(reason => console.log(reason.message));

[AlejandroFNadal]

Important for those coming here, the api key that you have to use is not the one from your username in budibase, is the one in your .env file called INTERNAL_API_KEY.
If you use the normal api key it will say that you are missing a CSRF token
Also, I had to convert the method to a POST method from a PUT method, and remove the _id element from the body, as it would otherwise not work.

Here is the Python version:

import requests

upload_headers = {
            'x-budibase-app-id': os.getenv('BUDIBASE_APP'),
            'x-budibase-api-key': os.getenv('BUDIBASE_API_KEY')
            }
file_size = os.path.getsize('./app/test.txt')
url_upload = f"https://{budi_host}/api/attachments/{bbtableid}/upload"
files = {'file':('test.txt', open('./app/test.txt', 'rb'), 'text/plain', {'knownLength': file_size})}
response_for_upload = requests.post(url_upload, headers=upload_headers, files=files)
headers_for_update_row = {
            "Accept": 'application/json',
            "Content-Type": 'application/json',
            'x-budibase-app-id': os.getenv('BUDIBASE_APP'),
            'x-budibase-api-key': os.getenv('BUDIBASE_API_KEY')
        }
    body_for_update_row = {
            "tableID": bbtableid,
            "type": "row",
            "FileCol": response_for_upload.json()
    }
response_for_update = requests.post(f"https://{budi_host}/api/public/v1/tables/{bbtableid}/rows/", headers=headers_for_update_row, json=body_for_update_row)
updated_row = response_for_update.json()

[ArchonMegalon]

Hi! Can you somehow rework this into a plugin?

[ArchGalileu]

Hello @AlejandroFNadal

Trying to do it on n8n but gives me error of identation...

Any advice?

Best regards
ArcGalileu

[AlejandroFNadal]

Could you share the error? El mar, 10 jun 2025 a las 7:46, ArchGalileu ***@***.***>) escribió:

…

Hello @AlejandroFNadal <https://github.com/AlejandroFNadal> Trying to do it on n8n but gives me error of identation... Any advice? Best regards ArcGalileu — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3725 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AHZVOW3XL3BMVS7A2BZNRAL3CZWJ5AVCNFSM6AAAAABPZT7ENGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTGNBRGY4TMMQ> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[ArchGalileu]

Of course @AlejandroFNadal

SyntaxError: invalid syntax. Perhaps you forgot a comma?

{
  "errorMessage": "SyntaxError: invalid syntax. Perhaps you forgot a comma?\n",
  "errorDetails": {},
  "n8nDetails": {
    "nodeName": "Code",
    "nodeType": "n8n-nodes-base.code",
    "nodeVersion": 2,
    "n8nVersion": "1.94.1 (Self Hosted)",
    "binaryDataMode": "default",
    "stackTrace": [
      "Error: SyntaxError: invalid syntax. Perhaps you forgot a comma?",
      "",
      "    at PythonSandbox.getPrettyError (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/n8n-nodes-base@file+packages+nodes-base_@aws-sdk+credential-providers@3.808.0_asn1.js@5_12b981d6b49d407a163f4d5244314033/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/nodes/Code/PythonSandbox.ts:101:11)",
      "    at PythonSandbox.runCodeInPython (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/n8n-nodes-base@file+packages+nodes-base_@aws-sdk+credential-providers@3.808.0_asn1.js@5_12b981d6b49d407a163f4d5244314033/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/nodes/Code/PythonSandbox.ts:85:15)",
      "    at PythonSandbox.runCodeEachItem (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/n8n-nodes-base@file+packages+nodes-base_@aws-sdk+credential-providers@3.808.0_asn1.js@5_12b981d6b49d407a163f4d5244314033/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/nodes/Code/PythonSandbox.ts:51:27)",
      "    at ExecuteContext.execute (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/n8n-nodes-base@file+packages+nodes-base_@aws-sdk+credential-providers@3.808.0_asn1.js@5_12b981d6b49d407a163f4d5244314033/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/nodes/Code/Code.node.ts:182:14)",
      "    at WorkflowExecute.runNode (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/n8n-core@file+packages+core_openai@4.78.1_encoding@0.1.13_zod@3.24.1_/node_modules/n8n-core/src/execution-engine/workflow-execute.ts:1185:9)",
      "    at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/n8n-core@file+packages+core_openai@4.78.1_encoding@0.1.13_zod@3.24.1_/node_modules/n8n-core/src/execution-engine/workflow-execute.ts:1534:27",
      "    at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/.pnpm/n8n-core@file+packages+core_openai@4.78.1_encoding@0.1.13_zod@3.24.1_/node_modules/n8n-core/src/execution-engine/workflow-execute.ts:2098:11"
    ]
  }
}

Best regards
ArcGalileu

[ArchGalileu]

But, the javascript one seems to be ok....

I added the module fs, as docker config variable
NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_BUILTIN = fs

Then it does not give any error...

I will try at night ;) with real data ;)

Best regards
ArcGalileu