Pull files straight from cloud storage - no local copy needed

MultipleUpload v5 ships a pluggable remote-source registry. Built-in: Google Drive Picker (OAuth implicit flow, no server broker). Extend via MultipleUpload.registerRemoteSource(name, source) for Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, or any custom provider. Each picked file's download URL flows into the existing importFromUrl() server-side pipeline with NDJSON live-progress.

Setup required. The Google Drive button renders disabled until you configure an API key + OAuth client ID:

Create a project at console.cloud.google.com, enable the Picker API.
Create an API key + OAuth 2.0 Client ID (Web application). Add your origin to "Authorized JavaScript origins".

Configure before instantiating:

MultipleUpload.configureRemoteSource('googledrive', {
 apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
 clientId: 'YOUR_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID'
});

Registering a custom source

MultipleUpload.registerRemoteSource('dropbox', {
 title: 'Dropbox',
 icon: '<svg viewBox=...>...</svg>',
 ready: () => !!window.Dropbox,

 pick: (uploader) => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
 window.Dropbox.choose({
 multiselect: true,
 linkType: 'direct',
 success: (files) => resolve(files.map(f => ({
 url: f.link, fileName: f.name, fileSize: f.bytes
 }))),
 cancel: () => reject(new Error('cancelled'))
 });
 })
});

new MultipleUpload('#uploader', {
 remoteSources: ['googledrive', 'dropbox']
});

`RemoteFile` shape returned from `pick()`

{
 url: 'https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/abc?alt=media',
 fileName: 'quarterly-report.pdf',
 fileSize: 2_457_600, // optional
 contentType: 'application/pdf', // optional
 headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer ya29...' } // optional (passed when fetching)
}

RemoteSource interface (TypeScript)

interface RemoteSource {
 title: string;
 icon?: string; // SVG markup or img URL
 pick(uploader: MultipleUpload, options?: any): Promise<RemoteFile | RemoteFile[]>;
 ready?(): boolean; // false -> render disabled
 configure?(config: Record<string, any>): void;
}

Wire flow

User clicks the source button in the uploader chrome.
Adapter's pick() runs - typically opens an OAuth popup + provider's native file picker.
On select -> resolves with a RemoteFile (or array).
Each item is handed to uploader.importFromUrl(url, { fileName, contentType, headers }).
Your server's /import-url endpoint fetches the URL (using any provided Authorization) and streams through with NDJSON progress.

Built-in Google Drive: no server broker needed

Uses Google Picker + Identity Services. The browser opens the OAuth popup, gets an access token, passes it to Picker, then forwards the token as Authorization when your server fetches the file from Drive's REST API. The token never persists on your server - just the URL + the bearer.

Roadmap

Built-in Dropbox + OneDrive adapters (same pattern as Drive) - coming in 5.1.
Server-side OAuth broker for flows where the browser shouldn't see the token - opt-in via remoteSourcesBroker: '/api/upload/remote-sources'.

This closes the biggest single feature gap vs Uppy - picking files from cloud storage was the marquee Companion feature.