> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.archetypeai.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Direct-to-Cloud Uploads

While the basic file upload functions ([Upload File](/api-reference/files/upload) and [Upload Base64 File](/api-reference/files/upload-base64)) are limited to files of 255MB and less, you can upload files up to 250GB using the Direct-to-Cloud upload workflow.

## Step-by-Step

The direct-to-cloud workflow begins by using the Files API to request a list of presigned URLs: one for each chunk of the file to be uploaded. With those in hand, your code then performs an HTTPS `PUT` for each chunk, sending it to the corresponding presigned URL.

### Initiate the Upload

To start a direct-to-cloud upload, call the [Initiate Upload](/api-reference/files/initiate-upload) endpoint, providing the name of the file (`filename`), its MIME type (`file_type`), and its length in bytes (`num_bytes`).

This returns an ID for the upload (`upload_id`) and an array of `parts`. Each part in the array specifies the part number (`part_number`), the presigned URL to which the part data should be uploaded (`url`), the offset into the file at which the part begins (`offset`), and the part's length in bytes (`length`). The timestamp at which the presigned URL expires is also provided (`expires_at`).

### Upload the parts

Upload each part using HTTPS `PUT` to its presigned URL. Capture the each response header's `ETag`; this is the part's `part_token`.

Optionally, you can **checkpoint** completed parts with the [Checkpoint Upload Parts](/api-reference/files/checkpoint-parts) endpoint. Doing this lets you skip them if the upload is paused and then later resumed.

You can also optionally refresh any presigned URLs that are about to expire, using the [Generate Upload Part URLs](/api-reference/files/generate-part-urls) endpoint.

### Complete the Upload

Complete the upload using the [Complete Upload](/api-reference/files/complete-upload) endpoint, submitting part numbers and corresponding `part_token` for each uploaded part. Parts which have been checkpointed do not need to be included in the part list when calling the Complete Upload endpoint.

## Aborting an Upload

To abort an in-progress upload, use the [Abort Upload](/api-reference/files/abort-upload) endpoint, specifying the `upload_id` of the upload to abort. This releases the resources used on the server for the specified upload.

## Example

For an example including the use of direct-to-cloud uploads, see our [batch processing example repository](https://github.com/archetypeai/archetypeai-batch-examples-volve), which includes a script that uploads files using the direct-to-cloud endpoints.