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Hosting Images on Cloudinary

Use Cloudinary to host your app icons, descriptions, and screenshots.

We have had success with Cloudinary although the setup isn't straightforward:

  • Free tier with generous limits
  • Image optimization and transformation
  • Global CDN for fast loading
  • Reliability and uptime

🔐 1. Create a Cloudinary Account​

  1. Go to cloudinary.com
  2. Click Sign Up
  3. Choose the Individual account type (sufficient for developer/testnet use; upgrade later if needed)
  4. Use "Programmable Media" — not the "MediaFlows" or "DAM" options
  5. After signup, you'll land in the Media Library dashboard

📁 2. Organize Your Assets​

By default, Cloudinary generates a random public_id (e.g. v16839038/k3jhsdf8321), but you can override this to make URLs easier to reference in metadata.

Use a format like:

apps/your-app-slug/filename

Examples:

  • apps/mycoolapp/icon
  • apps/mycoolapp/screenshot-1
  • apps/mycoolapp/screenshot-2

This creates clean image URLs like:

https://res.cloudinary.com/your-cloud-name/image/upload/apps/mycoolapp/icon.png

🖼️ 3. Upload an Asset​

  1. Go to Cloudinary Media Library
  2. Click Upload button (top right)
  3. Choose your image file
  4. Important: Under Public ID, enter your custom path: apps/mycoolapp/icon
  5. Click Advanced if needed to disable automatic unique suffixes
  6. Complete the upload

Once uploaded, your image will be available at:

https://res.cloudinary.com/your-cloud-name/image/upload/apps/mycoolapp/icon.png

Replace your-cloud-name with your actual Cloudinary account name (found in your dashboard).

🧪 4. Get Your Public URL​

After upload:

  1. Click on your uploaded image in the Media Library
  2. Click the "Share" button
  3. Copy the public URL

Or construct it manually:

https://res.cloudinary.com/[your-cloud-name]/image/upload/[your-public-id].[extension]

✅ 5. Test the URL​

Open the generated URL in your browser to verify:

  • Image loads correctly
  • URL is publicly accessible (no authentication required)
  • Image displays at expected quality

You can now use this URL in your app metadata!