# Dynamic File Storage **URL:** \ **Category:** Getting Started\ **Created:** [July 27, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075 "2025-07-27T15:28:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![csirmazbendeguz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/csirmazbendeguz/32/19797_2.png) [@csirmazbendeguz](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/csirmazbendeguz)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/1 "2025-07-27T15:28:13Z")
Hello Djangonauts, I’m working on file uploads, using django-storages 1. I want to be able to upload files to either FileSystemStorage or GoogleCloudStorage. It depends on the configuration, for production environments I would like to upload files to Cloud Storage, for test & development environments, I would like to upload files to the local filesystem 2. I want to use different buckets for different file types. For example, user avatars should have their own bucket. I don’t want to use a “default” bucket 3. I want to use an abstract base class to achieve this. It would be nice if I could calculate the storage dynamically based on the model - or I would be ok with a similar DRY solution What’s the best way to achieve this? ---
**Author:** ![carltongibson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/carltongibson/32/267_2.png) [@carltongibson](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/carltongibson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 7:02am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/2 "2025-07-28T07:02:15Z")
Hi @csirmazbendeguz You want to configure [multiple storages](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/ref/settings/#std-setting-STORAGES) and then [set the appropriate one on your model’s FileField.storage](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/5.2/ref/models/fields/#django.db.models.FileField.storage). This covers point 2. For 1, you can make the `STORAGES` value conditional on the env. 3 sounds like you’ve got something half in mind already. It’s a simple matter of programming I imagine. Ultimately you have to set the `storage` on the `FileField`. How you do that is up to you, and probably quite project specific. Difficult to say more given what’s there. Sounds fun! ---
**Author:** ![csirmazbendeguz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/csirmazbendeguz/32/19797_2.png) [@csirmazbendeguz](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/csirmazbendeguz)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 9:57am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/3 "2025-07-28T09:57:03Z")
Thanks @carltongibson ! Yes, I’ve been hacking around this, I just can’t arrive to a solution I’m happy with 🤔 ```auto For 1, you can make the STORAGES value conditional on the env. ``` I’ve done it like this in the past. I just don’t like that the `FileField.storage` appears in the migrations ---
**Author:** ![carltongibson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/carltongibson/32/267_2.png) [@carltongibson](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/carltongibson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 10:23am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/4 "2025-07-28T10:23:35Z")
> [@csirmazbendeguz](#): > > I just don’t like that the `FileField.storage` appears in the migrations Can you wrap it in a callable, so as to mask that it changes? 🤔 (Or else it’s a FileField subclass to override `deconstruct`, maybe, but 😬 — I’m sure it’s fine 🙂) ---
**Author:** ![csirmazbendeguz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/csirmazbendeguz/32/19797_2.png) [@csirmazbendeguz](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/csirmazbendeguz)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/5 "2025-07-28T15:30:07Z")
The issue is the callable is resolved in `FileField. __init__ `. Maybe Django could resolve `FileField.storage` lazily instead? It would solve my use-case I wonder if I’m missing something, I can’t see any related tickets. I don’t think my use-case is that complex, it’s pretty standard, isn’t it? Do you handle file uploads differently? ---
**Author:** ![carltongibson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/carltongibson/32/267_2.png) [@carltongibson](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/carltongibson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/6 "2025-07-28T15:36:20Z")
So different storages per field, yes. Different ones per environment, yes. But both of those are doable even if the callable is resolved at model definition time. That’s essentially once per-process. It’s sounds like you’re wanting to do it per-request… — which I’d have to play with. ? ---
**Author:** ![csirmazbendeguz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/csirmazbendeguz/32/19797_2.png) [@csirmazbendeguz](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/csirmazbendeguz)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/7 "2025-07-28T15:46:09Z")
I don’t mean per request, it’s doable yes, it’s just incorrect in the migrations edit: I checked and you’re right, if storage is a callable, it sets it to the callable correctly in the migrations too ---
**Author:** ![carltongibson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/carltongibson/32/267_2.png) [@carltongibson](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/carltongibson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/8 "2025-07-28T19:41:48Z")
@csirmazbendeguz let me know what you come up with. Maybe there’s API we’re missing here. ---
**Author:** ![csirmazbendeguz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/csirmazbendeguz/32/19797_2.png) [@csirmazbendeguz](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/csirmazbendeguz)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/9 "2025-07-28T20:23:13Z")
So, for context I have an abstract base class, and my goal is to get something like this working: ```auto class File(Model): STORAGE = "" file = models.FileField(...) extension = models.CharField(...) mime_type = models.CharField(...) ... class Meta: abstract = True class UserAvatar(File): STORAGE = "user_avatar" ``` I went with your suggestion to use a callable for `FileField.storage`, so the migrations display a callable instead of a specific storage. The `Storage` instance is created by this callable, so no need to define anything in `STORAGES`. The question is, how do I set `FileField.storage` dynamically from the `File.STORAGE` attribute. I tried multiple solutions, the best (or least hacky) way I found is to create the `FileField` dynamically like this: ```auto class FileBase(ModelBase): def __new__ (cls, name, bases, attrs, **kwargs): new_class = super(). __new__ (cls, name, bases, attrs, **kwargs) if new_class.STORAGE: new_class.add_to_class( "file", models.FileField( ..., storage=partial(get_storage, new_class.STORAGE), ), ) return new_class class File(Model, metaclass=FileBase): ... ``` ---
**Author:** ![carltongibson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/carltongibson/32/267_2.png) [@carltongibson](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/carltongibson)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 7:39am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/10 "2025-07-29T07:39:08Z")
> [@csirmazbendeguz](#): > > ```auto > class FileBase(ModelBase): > def __new__ (cls, name, bases, attrs, **kwargs): > ... > models.FileField( > ..., > storage=partial(get_storage, new_class.STORAGE), > ), > > ``` I’m still not quite seeing the benefit of that over just: ```auto class UserAvatar(Model): file = models.FileField(..., storage=partial(get_storage, "user_avatar")) ... ``` Or even just `storage=settings.STORAGES["user_avatar"]`. (I’m imagining `get_storage` mapping to `settings.STORAGES` but you can create them dynamically, sure. I’m wondering if using `settings.STORAGES. __getItem__ ` would do there.) In either case the storage is resolved at class definition time. No doubt there’s some extra configuration that you’re wanting that I’m not seeing here? If you need it, I don’t see too much wrong with your solution. ---
**Author:** ![csirmazbendeguz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/csirmazbendeguz/32/19797_2.png) [@csirmazbendeguz](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/csirmazbendeguz)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 8:10am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/11 "2025-07-29T08:10:41Z")
Yes, `get_storage` could refer to `STORAGES`, it’s up to the developer ```auto def get_storage(alias: str) -> Storage: if is_gs_enabled(): bucket_name = settings.GS_BUCKET_NAMES[alias] return GoogleCloudStorage(bucket_name=bucket_name) else: location = f"{settings.MEDIA_ROOT}/{alias}" return FileSystemStorage(location=location) ``` > [@carltongibson](#): > > No doubt there’s some extra configuration that you’re wanting that I’m not seeing here? Yes, it’s just so I don’t have to repeat the `FileField` config yes (I like to set things like `verbose_name`, `db_comment`, `help_text` for example). The lengths I go to keep things DRY… 😅 ```auto models.FileField( db_comment="The saved file's folder & name.", help_text="e.g. user-avatars/my-avatar.png", storage=partial(get_storage, s), ) ``` ---
**Author:** ![carltongibson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.djangoproject.com/carltongibson/32/267_2.png) [@carltongibson](https://forum.djangoproject.com/u/carltongibson)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 8:17am UTC](https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/dynamic-file-storage/42075/12 "2025-07-29T08:17:41Z")
> [@csirmazbendeguz](#): > > The lengths I go to keep things DRY… Overriding the meta class is some lengths certainly 😅 Nothing wrong with it… I might explore (just) a `FileField` subclass first, but as long as you can find where the magic is later, no problem 😉 C.