### ‘vercel_blob’ — Unofficial Python Wrapper for Vercel Blob Storage API This article is a quick start on how to use **vercel_blob** with Python. --- ## 🐍 Python + Vercel Blob Storage ### In a hurry? — TL;DR * **Get all Blobs in the Storage:** ```python vercel_blob.list() ``` * **Upload a Blob in the Storage:** ```python vercel_blob.put('filename', f.read()) ``` * **Delete a Blob in the Storage:** ```python vercel_blob.delete('blob_url') ``` * **Copy a blob to a new location inside the storage:** ```python vercel_blob.copy("blob_url", "new/path/filename") ``` * **Download a file in the server to a specified Directory:** ```python vercel_blob.download_file('blob_url', 'path/to/directory/') ``` 📚 **Documentation & Source:** [https://github.com/SuryaSekhar14/vercel_blob](https://github.com/SuryaSekhar14/vercel_blob) ☕ **Support & Donations:** [https://buymeacoffee.com/suryasekhar](https://buymeacoffee.com/suryasekhar) --- ## Introduction Flask is a lightweight web framework in Python. It lets you handle different web addresses, uses templates to easily design your web pages, and even has a built-in server for testing during development. It is light and easy. On the other hand, a Blob Storage is a type of cloud storage designed for storing large amounts of unstructured data. We are obviously interested in Vercel’s Blob Storage offering. --- ## Setup the basic Flask Application This portion will be for people who are new to Flask and do not know how to set it up. If you are familiar, you can skip this part. We will be assuming you already have >=Python3.11 installed, along with the Flask package. Create a file named `app.py`, and open it in your favorite IDE. Create another folder named `templates` and place a file inside templates called `index.html`. In the interest of time, you can copy-paste the code below: ```python # app.py from flask import Flask, render_template app = Flask(__name__) @app.route("/") def hello_world(): # Prepare some data to pass to the template name = "World" return render_template("index.html", name=name) if __name__ == "__main__": app.run(debug=True) ``` ```html

Hello, {{ name }}!

``` If you wish to learn more about Flask, you can watch this video by freecodecamp. --- ## How to work with ‘vercel_blob’ Now for the meat of this whole article, go ahead and install `vercel_blob` using the command: ```bash pip3 install vercel_blob ``` We also need a frontend to view our files and interact with them. Copy and paste the `index.html` below to follow along with me: ```html Index Page

Files:

{% for file in files %} {% endfor %}

Content Disposition	Content Type	Pathname	Size	Uploaded At	URL	Actions
{{ file.contentDisposition }}	{{ file.contentType }}	{{ file.pathname }}	{{ file.size }}	{{ file.uploadedAt }}	{{ file.url }}	Download Delete

``` In the `app.py` file, let’s write our first API. Make sure to put your `BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN` in the `.env` file so that you can authenticate with the Blob Storage. If you do not have a Blob Store set up yet, create one right here. ```bash # .env BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN="supersecretkey" ``` ```python # app.py import vercel_blob from flask import Flask, request, render_template, redirect import dotenv app = Flask(__name__) dotenv.load_dotenv() @app.route('/') def index(): resp = vercel_blob.list() return render_template('index.html', files=resp.get('blobs')) if __name__ == '__main__': app.run() ``` In order to get all the blobs in the Blob Store, use the `.list()` method. Sometimes you might encounter something that looks like: ``` Request failed on attempt 1 (HTTPSConnectionPool(host=’blob.vercel-storage.com’, port=443): Read timed out. (read timeout=10)) ``` This is because Vercel Blob is still in Beta, and of course also because we are using an unofficial makeshift method :P But once this works, you will see something like the image below. --- ## Upload a new file to the Blob Store using `.put()` Let’s add a new API to the Flask app now. ```python @app.route('/upload', methods=['POST']) def upload(): file = request.files['file'] print(file.filename) vercel_blob.put(file.filename, file.read(), {}) return redirect('/') ``` Now when you upload a file to the input field on the webpage, and click on submit, your file will get uploaded to the blob store. --- ## Delete a file from the Blob Store using `.delete()` Here is the example API: ```python @app.route('/delete', methods=['GET']) def delete(): file_url = request.args.get('url') vercel_blob.delete(file_url) return redirect('/') ``` Now when you click the delete button, it will actually work and the file would be deleted from the Blob Store. --- ## Get all metadata about a file using `.head()` Suppose you want to make your user download the file. You would need to get the file metadata, and in the response JSON is your download URL. You need to extract that URL and redirect your client to that URL — and Voilà! For all that work, here is the API: ```python @app.route('/download', methods=['GET']) def download(): file_url = request.args.get('url') download_url = vercel_blob.head(file_url).get("downloadUrl") print(download_url) return redirect(download_url) ``` --- ## Download a file to the server using `.download_file()` Now you know how to make your client download the file. But what if you want to download it on the server itself? Suppose you want to download it in a folder called `cache/`? Here is the Python code to do that as well: ```python def download_a_file_on_the_server(blob_url): vercel_blob.download_file(blob_url, 'path/to/directory/') ``` As you might already understand by reading the single-line function, you just give it the Blob URL and the Path where it should download the file (Defaults to the script’s directory), and the job is done! --- ## Copy a file inside the Blob Store using `.copy()` Now here is a more refined use case. Suppose your user uploaded a file, but he wants to shift it to a new directory inside the Blob Store. There is just one single function that `vercel_blob` offers to help you with it. Let’s add an API for that too: ```python @app.route('/copy', methods=['GET']) def copy(): file_url = request.args.get('url') new_path = request.args.get('new_path') vercel_blob.copy(file_url, new_path) return redirect('/') ``` This method moves the specified Blob to the New Path inside the Blob Store. --- ## Conclusion Try playing around with the library and read about all the functionalities. There is much more to learn about Vercel Blob Storage, and you can check out their Official Page to learn more! Feel free to contribute to `vercel_blob`, and if there are any issues, please open an Issue on GitHub. Also maybe, Buy me a Coffee? ☕