File Uploads Without Framework Lock-In: Multipart in DaloyJS

# Symptoms that your upload code grew into a small framework of its own:
#
# - You wrote a "uploadHandler" wrapper that buffers the whole file into a
#   Buffer, then re-emits it as a stream to S3. Memory usage during deploys
#   tracks how many users hit "send" simultaneously.
#
# - Your MIME check is a regex against the filename extension. Someone
#   uploaded "invoice.png.exe" and you only found out from a security audit.
#
# - The image-only endpoint accepts video/quicktime because nobody added
#   the allowlist to the new route last quarter. Discovered when storage
#   alerts fired at 02:13 on a Tuesday.
#
# - You ported the API to Cloudflare Workers and the entire upload
#   subsystem broke because it relied on a Node-only multipart parser.

// The pattern most Node frameworks teach. It looks reasonable until
// you try to run it on an edge runtime, or someone uploads a 4 GB MOV.
import multer from "multer";
import express from "express";

const upload = multer({
  dest: "/tmp/uploads",                       // disk! on a stateless deploy!
  limits: { fileSize: 50 * 1024 * 1024 },
  fileFilter: (req, file, cb) => {
    if (!file.mimetype.startsWith("image/")) return cb(new Error("nope"));
    cb(null, true);
  },
});

const app = express();
app.post("/avatars", upload.single("file"), async (req, res) => {
  // req.file is a multer-shaped object. Not a standard Web File.
  // To get it to S3 you fs.createReadStream(req.file.path) — disk roundtrip.
  // To get it OUT of /tmp you remember to delete it (or you don't, and
  // /tmp fills up on every cold start).
});

// src/routes/avatars.ts — the DaloyJS version.
// Two helpers do all the work, both Standard Schema compatible.
import { z } from "zod";
import { App, fileField, multipartObject } from "@daloyjs/core";

const AvatarUpload = multipartObject(
  {
    file: fileField({
      maxBytes: 5 * 1024 * 1024,              // 5 MB hard cap
      accept: ["image/png", "image/jpeg", "image/webp"],
      filename: (name) => /\.(png|jpe?g|webp)$/i.test(name),
    }),
    alt: z.string().min(1).max(140),         // ← non-file fields use Zod (or any
                                             //   Standard-Schema-compatible lib)
    isPrimary: z.coerce.boolean().default(false),
  },
  { strict: true },                          // reject unknown form fields
);

app.route({
  method: "POST",
  path: "/avatars",
  operationId: "uploadAvatar",
  tags: ["Avatars"],
  request: { body: AvatarUpload },
  responses: {
    201: {
      description: "Avatar uploaded",
      body: z.object({ url: z.string().url() }),
    },
  },
  handler: async ({ body }) => {
    // body.file is a Web File / Blob — every runtime has it.
    // body.alt is a string. body.isPrimary is a real boolean.
    const url = await uploadToObjectStorage({
      stream: body.file.stream(),            // ← streams. no buffer-the-world.
      type:   body.file.type,
      size:   body.file.size,
      name:   body.file.name ?? "avatar",
    });
    return { status: 201, body: { url } };
  },
});

# Send a too-big WebP that's secretly a video disguised as one:
curl -sS -X POST http://localhost:3000/avatars \
  -F file=@./vacation.mov;type=video/quicktime \
  -F alt="My profile picture" -F isPrimary=true | jq .

# HTTP/1.1 422 Unprocessable Entity
# Content-Type: application/problem+json
{
  "type":   "https://daloyjs.dev/errors/validation",
  "title":  "Request validation failed",
  "status": 422,
  "detail": "Invalid body",
  "errors": [
    { "path": "file", "message": "File type \"video/quicktime\" not in accept list: image/png, image/jpeg, image/webp" },
    { "path": "file", "message": "File name \"vacation.mov\" rejected by filename matcher" }
  ]
}
# Zero handler code involved. The framework rejected the request before
# a single byte hit your business logic. Memory-safe by construction.

// fileField(options) — every knob, in one place.
fileField({
  maxBytes: 10 * 1024 * 1024,                // hard cap on file.size
  accept:   ["image/*", "application/pdf"],  // exact or "type/*" wildcard
  filename: (name) => name.length <= 200,    // your custom predicate
  optional: true,                            // accept null/undefined as well
  format:   "binary",                        // OpenAPI hint, default "binary"
});

// Wildcard matching is lower-cased before comparison, so:
//   accept: ["IMAGE/PNG"]  ✓ matches image/png
//   accept: ["image/*"]    ✓ matches image/jpeg, image/webp, image/svg+xml
//   accept: ["*/*"]        ✓ matches anything (use sparingly; mostly for tests)

// Need an array of files? Wrap fileField() in your validator's array
// helper. Standard Schema is the only contract — Zod, Valibot, ArkType
// all work. Per-file rules still apply to every entry.
import { z } from "zod";
import { fileField, multipartObject } from "@daloyjs/core";

const GalleryUpload = multipartObject({
  // Browsers send <input type="file" multiple /> as a single field with
  // multiple parts. Whatever runtime adapter you're on, FormData.getAll()
  // gives you an array — and the framework hands it to your array schema.
  images: z.array(
    fileField({
      maxBytes: 20 * 1024 * 1024,
      accept: ["image/*"],
    }),
  ).min(1).max(50),
  albumId: z.string().uuid(),
});

// In your handler:
//   for (const img of body.images) {
//     await uploadToObjectStorage({ stream: img.stream(), ... });
//   }

// Streaming is the whole point. file.stream() returns a Web standard
// ReadableStream — the same shape on Node, Bun, Deno, Cloudflare
// Workers, and Vercel Edge. Pipe it to any compatible writer:

// 1) Cloudflare R2 (Workers binding):
await env.AVATARS.put(key, body.file.stream(), {
  httpMetadata: { contentType: body.file.type },
});

// 2) AWS S3 v3 SDK on Node/Bun:
import { Upload } from "@aws-sdk/lib-storage";
await new Upload({
  client: s3,
  params: {
    Bucket: "avatars",
    Key: key,
    Body: body.file.stream(),
    ContentType: body.file.type,
    ContentLength: body.file.size,
  },
}).done();

// 3) Disk on a long-lived Node instance:
import { Writable } from "node:stream";
import { createWriteStream } from "node:fs";
await body.file.stream().pipeTo(
  Writable.toWeb(createWriteStream("/var/data/" + key)),
);

// 4) Forward to another service over HTTP — no buffering at all:
await fetch(`${UPSTREAM}/store/${key}`, {
  method: "PUT",
  headers: { "content-type": body.file.type, "content-length": String(body.file.size) },
  body: body.file.stream(),
  // @ts-expect-error  half-duplex hint — Node 18+ needs this for streaming bodies
  duplex: "half",
});

// generated/openapi.json — what the spec looks like for the AvatarUpload route.
// Notice the "multipart/form-data" content type and the "binary" format hint
// on the file field. Every OpenAPI tool understands this shape.
{
  "paths": {
    "/avatars": {
      "post": {
        "operationId": "uploadAvatar",
        "requestBody": {
          "required": true,
          "content": {
            "multipart/form-data": {
              "schema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": ["file", "alt"],
                "properties": {
                  "file":      { "type": "string", "format": "binary" },
                  "alt":       { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "maxLength": 140 },
                  "isPrimary": { "type": "boolean", "default": false }
                },
                "additionalProperties": false
              },
              "encoding": {
                "file": { "contentType": "image/png, image/jpeg, image/webp" }
              }
            }
          }
        },
        "responses": { "201": { /* ... */ } }
      }
    }
  }
}
// In Scalar's /docs UI the "Try it" panel renders a real file picker.
// In the Hey API generated SDK, uploadAvatar({ body: { file, alt, isPrimary } })
// is typed against the browser File type. No surprise stringification.

// tests/avatars.test.ts — test the upload end-to-end without a port.
// FormData and File are part of Node 18+ (and every other modern runtime),
// so this works in your existing node:test setup.
import { test } from "node:test";
import assert from "node:assert/strict";
import { buildApp } from "../src/build-app.ts";

test("uploadAvatar accepts a PNG and returns a URL", async () => {
  const app = buildApp();
  const png = new File(
    [new Uint8Array([0x89, 0x50, 0x4e, 0x47])],         // a 4-byte "PNG"
    "me.png",
    { type: "image/png" },
  );
  const fd = new FormData();
  fd.set("file", png);
  fd.set("alt", "Me at the fjord");
  fd.set("isPrimary", "true");

  const res = await app.request("/avatars", { method: "POST", body: fd });
  assert.equal(res.status, 201);
  const body = await res.json();
  assert.match(body.url, /^https?:\/\//);
});

test("uploadAvatar rejects a too-big or wrong-type file as RFC 9457 422", async () => {
  const app = buildApp();
  const oversize = new File([new Uint8Array(6 * 1024 * 1024)], "huge.png", { type: "image/png" });
  const fd = new FormData();
  fd.set("file", oversize);
  fd.set("alt", "n/a");

  const res = await app.request("/avatars", { method: "POST", body: fd });
  assert.equal(res.status, 422);
  assert.equal(res.headers.get("content-type"), "application/problem+json");
});

# A small checklist that has saved me from production-fire postmortems:

# 1) Always set maxBytes per field. The framework's bodyLimitBytes is the
#    OUTER limit on the whole request; fileField.maxBytes is per file.
#    Both should be set. The smaller one wins for a single-file upload.

# 2) Always set accept. "We'll figure it out later" is how you end up
#    hosting random EXEs and DMGs for free. Make the allowlist
#    aggressively narrow; expand only when you have a real use case.

# 3) Use strict: true on multipartObject. Extra form fields are almost
#    always a misconfigured frontend or an enumeration attempt.

# 4) Trust file.type for routing decisions; DO NOT trust it as a security
#    boundary. Run server-side magic-byte detection AFTER the upload if
#    the file ends up rendered or executed. (For static-only uploads to
#    a CDN bucket, the MIME allowlist is enough.)

# 5) Stream. Never new Uint8Array(await file.arrayBuffer()) unless you're
#    SURE the file is small. That line is the single biggest cause of
#    "why does my Workers script run out of memory at 25 MB?" in the wild.

# 6) Pick a deterministic key. file.name comes from the client. Use a
#    crypto.randomUUID() and store the original name as metadata instead.