How to serve static images in NestJS

Question

I'm started to learning MEAN stack and when I went to Express I saw that existed a extra layer in the express framework that is called NestJS. It had all what I wanted and it had an Angular-like syntax so was perfect to me.

But every new step is a nightmare documentation isn't usefull at all. Now I'm fighting with the framework to achieve to serve images and dont use the API for this kind of calls.

I tried all that I found on Internet, for example:

main.ts

import { NestFactory } from '@nestjs/core';
import { AppModule } from './app.module';
import * as bodyParser from 'body-parser';
import * as express from 'express';
import { join } from 'path';

import { NestExpressApplication } from '@nestjs/platform-express';



declare const module: any;

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);

  app.useStaticAssets(join(__dirname, '..', 'public'));




  app.enableCors({
    origin: true,
    methods: 'GET,HEAD,PUT,PATCH,POST,DELETE,OPTIONS',
    credentials: true,
  });

//I tried this 2 options (https://docs.nestjs.com/techniques/mvc) (https://whatthecode.dev/serve-static-files-with-nest-js/)
  app.use('/resources', express.static(process.cwd() + '\resources'));
  app.useStaticAssets(join(__dirname, '..', '\public'));

  app.use(bodyParser.json({ limit: '50mb' }));
  app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ limit: '50mb', extended: true }));
 
  //console.log(process.cwd());


  await app.listen(3000);

  if (module.hot) {
    module.hot.accept();
    module.hot.dispose(() => app.close());
  }

}
bootstrap();

I tried to put it in the app.module as this (it worked but is always looking for an index.html not images):


import { AnimalsModule } from './animals/animals.module';
import { SpeciesModule } from './species/species.module';
import { AuthModule } from './auth/auth.module';
import { UsersModule } from './users/users.module';
import { BreedModule } from './breed/breed.module';
import { StateModule } from './state/state.module';
import { PhotoModule } from './photo/photo.module';


@Module({
  imports: [
    ServeStaticModule.forRoot({
      rootPath: join(__dirname, '..', 'public'),   // <-- path to the static files
    }),
    TypeOrmModule.forRoot({
      type: 'mysql',
      host: 'localhost',
      port: 3306,
      username: 'root',
      password: '',
      database: 'nest',
      entities: [__dirname + '/**/*.entity{.ts,.js}'],
      synchronize: true,
    }),
    AnimalsModule,
    SpeciesModule,
    BreedModule,
    StateModule,
    AuthModule,
    UsersModule,
    PhotoModule,
  ],
})

//It seems that ignores this register and just uses the method signature options
@Module({
  imports: [MulterModule.register({
    dest: './resources/tmp',
    limits: { fieldSize: 25 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024, fileSize: 25 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 }
  })],
  controllers: [AppController],
  providers: [AppService],
})
export class AppModule { }

How the hell I can serve images or files and avoid the api routing?

Thanks to all.

user_10385149 · Answer

This is what I've done:

in app.module.ts

 import { ServeStaticModule } from '@nestjs/serve-static/dist/serve-static.module';
 import { join } from 'path';

 @Module({
     imports: [
         ServeStaticModule.forRoot({
             rootPath: join(__dirname, '..', 'public'),
         }),
     ],
 })

Then I created "public" dir on the same level as "src", "dir" etc.
The file is available at: https://my-url/file.jpg

user_3955616 · Answer

Use the useStaticAssets() method (the ServeStaticModule is for serving static content like SPAs). So as a minimal example, your main.ts should look like the following):

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);
  app.useStaticAssets(join(__dirname, '..', 'public'));
  await app.listen(3000);
}

In the above example your assets are served from the root of your application (e.g. http://localhost:3000/example.png.

You can also pass options to the method in oder to configure the path from which the assets are served:

  app.useStaticAssets(join(__dirname, '..', 'public'), {
    prefix: '/public/',
  });

In this example your path is prefixed with public (e.g. http://localhost:3000/public/example.png)

user_2196513 · Answer

There are two ways to serve static content in NestJs. Either use 1 OR 2.

1.Using ServeStaticModule in app.module.ts

import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { ServeStaticModule } from '@nestjs/serve-static';
import { join } from 'path';
import { mainModule } from 'process'    
@Module({
  imports: [
    ServeStaticModule.forRoot({
      rootPath: join(__dirname, '..', 'public'),
    }),
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

2.Using NestExpressApplication in main.ts [Even by default Nest Js uses Express only]

import { NestFactory } from '@nestjs/core';
import { NestExpressApplication } from '@nestjs/platform-express';
import { join } from 'path';
import { AppModule } from './app.module';

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(
    AppModule,
  );

  app.useStaticAssets(join(__dirname, '..', 'public'));

  await app.listen(3000);
}
bootstrap();

user_4340751 · Answer

add this to main.ts replace "uploads" with your directory name app.use('/uploads',express.static(join(process.cwd(), 'uploads')));

user_4879301 · Answer

The idea of @pzabrocki brings me to the following minimal working repository: https://gitlab.com/hadrien-toma/nest-static-files

To play with it:

git clone https://gitlab.com/hadrien-toma/nest-static-files
yarn install
yarn run start

Then the my-file.json is served at http://localhost:3333/my-file.json.

user_8410290 · Answer

Separate module solution, then import it into AppModule.

import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { ServeStaticModule } from '@nestjs/serve-static';
import { resolve } from 'path';

@Module({
    imports: [
        ServeStaticModule.forRoot(
            (() => {
                const publicDir = resolve('./public/files/');
                const servePath = '/files';

                return {
                    rootPath: publicDir,
                    // serveRoot - if you want to see files on another controller,
                    // e.g.: http://localhost:8088/files/1.png
                    serveRoot: servePath,
                    exclude: ['/api*'],
                };
            })()
        ),
    ],
})
export class PublicModule {}

user_12677253 · Answer

The main method of document nest using the module is as follows:


 ServeStaticModule.forRoot({
    rootPath: join(__dirname, '..', 'upload'),   //  path to the static files image
 }),

But if you get the error for searching the index.html, you can use this method, which I also used

main.ts

import * as express from 'express';

app.use(express.static(join(__dirname, '../upload')))

user_5168099 · Answer

You can use express static module in nest js too.

// ...imports
import * as express from 'express';
import { join } from 'path';

async function bootstrap() {
    const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);
  
    // serve static assets from the client/dist folder, change this to the correct path for your project
    app.use(express.static(join(process.cwd(), '../client/dist/')));
  
    //... you config

   await app.listen(process.env.PORT);
 }
bootstrap();

Credit to : https://whatthecode.dev/serve-static-files-with-nest-js/

How to serve static images in NestJS

8 Answers